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Lothar Wolleh
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Lothar Wolleh
Lothar Wolleh (January 20, 1930 – September 28, 1979) was a well-known German photographer.
Until the end of the sixties, Lothar Wolleh worked as a commercial photographer. He made portraits of international contemporary painters, sculptors and performance artists. Altogether, he photographed around 109 artists, including known personalities such as Georg Baselitz, Joseph Beuys, Dieter Roth, Jean Tinguely, René Magritte and his wife Georgette, Günther Uecker, Gerhard Richter, Edward Kienholz, Otto Piene, Niki de Saint Phalle, and Christo.
Lothar Wolleh was born in Berlin-Wedding, the first of four sons of the unmarried worker Else Martha Wolleh.[citation needed] He spent the World War II years in Berlin, suffering the heavy Allied bombing campaign that finished the long struggle. The death of his uncle's family as well as his participation "in the last squad" during the final battle for Berlin in April and May 1945 left deep psychological scars.[citation needed] In the grim, post-war years from 1946 to 1947, he studied "concrete painting" in the elementary school class at the Hochschule für angewandte Kunst ("University of applied arts") in Berlin-Weißensee.
From December 1947 to October 1949, he lived in “Boys Town” in Bad Vilbel, in a camp run by the US Army for uprooted young Germans, based on the model of Father Edward J. Flanagan. A few months after his return to Berlin in July 1950, he was arrested by the Soviet occupying forces and sentenced by a special court "OSO" (remote judgement from Moscow) to 15 years in a forced labor camp, for alleged espionage and diversion under Articles 58.6 and 58.9 of the USSR.[citation needed]
For the next six years, Wolleh was confined in the GULAG labor camp Vorkutlag in the USSR, where he did forced labor in a coal mine. Wolleh was able to return to Berlin in 1956, after Konrad Adenauer's successful negotiations for the return of German prisoners of war. Torture after his arrest, and the long hard detention and working conditions in coal mining, left behind physical damage and post-traumatic disorders. However, the GULAG labor camp Vorkutlag allowed Wolleh's first contact with photography and his mythical worship of light.[citation needed]
After his return from exile, from 1956 to 1957 Wolleh resumed his education in the Lette-Verein, a continuation school for photography, design, and fashion in Berlin. He took part in a regular monthly recovery program of the World Council of Churches for war-damaged youth.[citation needed] This program made it possible for him to visit the Swedish island of Gotland in 1958, which was an inspiration for his lifelong strong affinity towards Sweden, its culture, landscape, and people.
From 1962 until his death he lived and worked in Düsseldorf as a freelance photographer. Initially, he worked primarily in advertising, but later focused on his artistic work. In 1964 he married his wife Karin.[citation needed] His son Oliver was born in 1965, and his daughter Anouchka in 1966.
In 1979 Lothar Wolleh died after an asthma attack in London, shortly after he had photographed Henry Moore. His grave is on Gotland in Sweden.
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Lothar Wolleh
Lothar Wolleh (January 20, 1930 – September 28, 1979) was a well-known German photographer.
Until the end of the sixties, Lothar Wolleh worked as a commercial photographer. He made portraits of international contemporary painters, sculptors and performance artists. Altogether, he photographed around 109 artists, including known personalities such as Georg Baselitz, Joseph Beuys, Dieter Roth, Jean Tinguely, René Magritte and his wife Georgette, Günther Uecker, Gerhard Richter, Edward Kienholz, Otto Piene, Niki de Saint Phalle, and Christo.
Lothar Wolleh was born in Berlin-Wedding, the first of four sons of the unmarried worker Else Martha Wolleh.[citation needed] He spent the World War II years in Berlin, suffering the heavy Allied bombing campaign that finished the long struggle. The death of his uncle's family as well as his participation "in the last squad" during the final battle for Berlin in April and May 1945 left deep psychological scars.[citation needed] In the grim, post-war years from 1946 to 1947, he studied "concrete painting" in the elementary school class at the Hochschule für angewandte Kunst ("University of applied arts") in Berlin-Weißensee.
From December 1947 to October 1949, he lived in “Boys Town” in Bad Vilbel, in a camp run by the US Army for uprooted young Germans, based on the model of Father Edward J. Flanagan. A few months after his return to Berlin in July 1950, he was arrested by the Soviet occupying forces and sentenced by a special court "OSO" (remote judgement from Moscow) to 15 years in a forced labor camp, for alleged espionage and diversion under Articles 58.6 and 58.9 of the USSR.[citation needed]
For the next six years, Wolleh was confined in the GULAG labor camp Vorkutlag in the USSR, where he did forced labor in a coal mine. Wolleh was able to return to Berlin in 1956, after Konrad Adenauer's successful negotiations for the return of German prisoners of war. Torture after his arrest, and the long hard detention and working conditions in coal mining, left behind physical damage and post-traumatic disorders. However, the GULAG labor camp Vorkutlag allowed Wolleh's first contact with photography and his mythical worship of light.[citation needed]
After his return from exile, from 1956 to 1957 Wolleh resumed his education in the Lette-Verein, a continuation school for photography, design, and fashion in Berlin. He took part in a regular monthly recovery program of the World Council of Churches for war-damaged youth.[citation needed] This program made it possible for him to visit the Swedish island of Gotland in 1958, which was an inspiration for his lifelong strong affinity towards Sweden, its culture, landscape, and people.
From 1962 until his death he lived and worked in Düsseldorf as a freelance photographer. Initially, he worked primarily in advertising, but later focused on his artistic work. In 1964 he married his wife Karin.[citation needed] His son Oliver was born in 1965, and his daughter Anouchka in 1966.
In 1979 Lothar Wolleh died after an asthma attack in London, shortly after he had photographed Henry Moore. His grave is on Gotland in Sweden.
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