Fritz Peyer

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Fritz Peyer (* 1919 in Munich ; † December 2001 in Hamburg ) was a German theater photographer and photojournalist specializing in opera , ballet and equestrian sports .

State Opera Director Rolf Liebermann at a photo exhibition by Fritz Peyer (left)

Life

Peyer began training as a technician, but was drafted into the military before he could finish. After the Second World War he came to the theater by chance, where he initially helped out as a lighting technician and stage worker at the Hamburger Kammerspiele . Rosemarie Clausen , who worked there as a theater photographer, recognized his talent as a photographer. Peyer had acquired the necessary knowledge self-taught . First he worked for her as a volunteer , then as an assistant and was able to accompany all productions at the Hamburger Kammerspiele as a freelance photographer from 1952 to 1955.

Later, the artistic director Günther Rennert brought him to the Hamburg State Opera , where he photographed personalities such as Marlene Dietrich , the young Juliette Gréco or the choreographer George Balanchine in his unmistakable way.

But he didn't just take photos at the theater. He also had his camera with him at horse races, tennis games, fashion shows or anti-nuclear power demonstrations. This resulted in a number of illustrated books that are out of print today [2009]. In 1963 he won first prize in the World Press Photo competition as a sports photographer , and in 1996 the city of Hamburg awarded him the Alexander Zinn Prize for journalists.

His objectifying, completely unadulterated style, however, geared towards scenic, moving highlights and the rejection of dramatic staging earned him respect and attention, not least his graffiti documentaries.

Peyer explains his converted violin case to a colleague

His trademark was a converted old violin case in which he transported his photographic equipment. The first time he used it for camouflage, when he secretly photographed Marlene Dietrich at rehearsals, as she had strictly forbidden him to take photos.

Large parts of his artistic estate are in the Deutsches Theatermuseum in Munich. His horse pictures are archived in the German Horse Museum in Verden an der Aller . Around seven hundred photos, negatives and contacts from the field of ballet can be found in the German Dance Archive in Cologne .

He was married to the photographer Traute Peyer (1924 - 2018).

“The photographer shouldn't take himself so seriously that he staged something in his photos. The task of photography is to reproduce a situation unadulterated. "

- Fritz Peyer

Exhibitions

Works

  • Hans Joachim Köhler : From the paddock to victory , photos by Fritz Peyer. Illustrated book. Kornett-Verlag, Verden (Aller) approx. 1955.
  • Hans-Joachim Köhler: Famous riders face to face , color photos: Fritz Peyer u. Werner Menzendorf. Kornett Verlag, Verden (Aller) 1959.
  • Torkild Hinrichsen : foolish hands ...?. Graffiti . Photographs by Fritz Peyer. Photo book for the exhibition. Altonaer Museum, Hamburg (1991) ISBN 3-927637-09-2 .
  • Bernd Küster : Fritz Peyer. Photographs. Photo book for the exhibition with 101 images. Donat Verlag, Bremen (2002) ISBN 3-934836-41-0 .

literature

Web links

Commons : Fritz Peyer  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Fritz Peyer. In: Theater der Zeit , issues 1–6. Association of Theater Professionals in the GDR, Henschel, 2003, p. 74
  2. ↑ German Dance Archive [1]
personal data
SURNAME Peyer, Fritz
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German photographer
DATE OF BIRTH 1919
PLACE OF BIRTH Munich
DATE OF DEATH December 2001
Place of death Hamburg