Hein Gorny

Hein Gorny, self-portrait, around 1930

Hein Gorny (born April 21, 1904 in Witten ; † June 14, 1967 in Hanover ) was a German photographer who, in the spirit of the New Objectivity , mainly made experimental photography, advertising photos, portrait studies, animal photography, material and industrial photos.

biography

In 1922 Hein Gorny went to Hanover after breaking off an apprenticeship as a carpenter. There he had contact with the "Kröpcke-Kreis" and got to know the manager of the Kestnergesellschaft at the time , Hanns Krenz. Two years later, while traveling to Italy and Egypt, Hein Gorny took his first photos. Brokered by Hanns Krenz, they were published in the Hannoversche Anzeiger . In 1925 Hein Gorny portrayed the well-known cultural philosopher Theodor Lessing in Hanover. At this meeting he also met his daughter Ruth Lessing, who later became his wife. Another formative encounter was his acquaintance with Albert Renger-Patzsch in 1927 , who was preparing an exhibition at the Kestnergesellschaft at that time. As an autodidact, Hein Gorny began working as a photographer in 1929 and received his first orders. During this time he opened his own photo studio in Hanover. Hein Gorny came into contact with the intellectual circle in Hanover. A year later he traveled to Leningrad and Moscow with Erich Ohser and Erich Kästner . He was friends with the photographer Otto Umbehr ( Umbo ).

In 1931 Hein Gorny moved to Berlin with Ruth Lessing. The two married a year later. Hein Gorny's father-in-law Theodor Lessing was assassinated in Marienbad in 1933. In 1934 Hein Gorny tried to get a work permit in Paris. This failed. On recommendation, he then worked in St. Moritz for the cultural administration. Hein Gorny has meanwhile returned to Hanover for photographic reports and promotional shots, where he a. a. Created reports for Bahlsen and Feldmühle. In 1935 he and his wife moved to Lindenallee 4, Berlin. In the same year his son Peter Hanns was born. Also in the same year Hein Gorny took over Lotte Jacobi's studio at Kurfürstendamm 35 together with the photographer Karl Theodor Gremmler after she had emigrated to the USA. Ruth Gorny managed the archive and did the laboratory work. Hein Gorny was appointed to the Gesellschaft Deutscher Lichtbildner and was a member from 1936 to 1938.

In 1938 a publication in the magazine Das Schwarze Korps resulted in Hein Gorny being denounced. The Reich Press Chamber asked him to divorce his Jewish wife. Hein Gorny refused this. Financed by Bruckmann Verlag, he traveled to New York to start a new life there, while Ruth Gorny prepared her departure and sold the studio. However, her final resettlement in the USA failed because Ruth Gorny was not granted a residence permit. For this reason, Hein Gorny returned to Germany in 1939 and resumed work in his old photo studio. The daughter Katrin Barbara was born. In 1941 Gorny was classified as "unworthy of defense" because of his marriage to a Jewish woman and was therefore not conscripted into military service. Nevertheless, he was able to continue working as a photographer, albeit with restrictions. His friend Werner Kube, who worked for the Bruckman Verlag, placed him in 1942 with an important military contract for a book about mountain troops. Because of this activity, Gorny was released from the labor service. In 1943 the house at Kurfürstendamm 35 was hit by bombs, the photo studio was preserved, but the extinguishing water destroyed part of the negative archive. In 1944 the Gorny family's apartment was destroyed. In January 1945, Hein Gorny divorced and married his photo lab assistant Bayerle. In April he moved with his new wife to Caputh, where he was arrested on April 25, 1945 by Soviet troops as a civilian prisoner. He was released in mid-May and moved back to Berlin. He divorced Bayerle and married Ruth a second time in the fall. In 1946 the two divorced again.

In the following years Hein Gorny was active in the art trade and for a short time became a partner in a studio for advertising photography in Kassel. As a result of an illness that had already emerged in the last years of the war, he was taken to a clinic in Hanover. In the sanatorium in Ilten he was still occasionally active in photography, but he could no longer complete the projects he had started. Seriously injured in a room fire, he died on June 14, 1967.

Work and reception

In the New Objectivity style , Hein Gorny made advertising photographs for companies from Hanover, among others. a. for Bahlsen , Pelikan AG , AEG and Feldmühle. In 1929 Kurt Schwitters worked together for üstra , the Hannoversche Verkehrsbetriebe. Gorny's photographs illustrated the tram signs that Schwitters designed in conjunction with the MERZ advertising center. Schwitters' advertising graphics replaced the old Üstra enamel signs. From 1930 to 1940 his advertising photographs appeared in the Edition Arts et Métiers graphiques , "Photography and Photo Ciné Graphie" and in the commercial art: International Advertising Art , now a novelty . With 29 publications in the French magazine "Photographie" by Arts et Métiers Graphiques , Hein Gorny is the most represented photographer of his time. In his Berlin years he mainly published illustrated books on animals and landscapes. As an illustration photographer, he created illustrations for an author's already finished text. In the 1930s, Gorny worked together with the writer Paul Eipper on several animal and landscape books, for example the publication " The Yellow Dogge Senta " published in 1936 . Two years later, Gorny's best-known publication, “A Horse Book” (with a foreword by Wolf von Baudissin ) appeared, which was published nine times. During this time Gorny also worked as a fashion photographer. A number of swimwear photographs were taken in Prerow. Gorny's work, however, encompassed a wide range of subjects; In 1935 he began to commission Hans-Hasso von Veltheim to include his castle in Ostrau and dogs in a series of photographs. In 1935 he was commissioned by Feldmühle , Germany's largest paper manufacturer, to illustrate the publication for the 50th anniversary. Over 240 photographs were taken in different production facilities. In the same year the publication for the anniversary of Pelikan was published, which also contains recordings by Hein Gorny. In 1939, Bahlsen also hired him as a photographer for the anniversary publication. Another publication should also be created for ROGO Strumpfwerke. Hein Gorny made numerous recordings between 1942 and 1943. After all, ROGO didn't publish a book. In 1945 and 1946, Gorny and the American photographer Adolph C. Byers photographed Berlin, which was in ruins, from the air and on the ground. The plan to publish the extensive series of rubble images in a book entitled “In Memoriam” could not be realized.

In 1972 a retrospective on Hein Gorny's photographic work took place in the premises of the Spectrum Photo Gallery in Hanover. The photographer and founder of the Spectrum Photo Gallery Heinrich Riebesehl selected Gorny's photographs for the gallery's opening exhibition.

“Especially in his early work, the joy of experimentation and the openness to everything new and unusual is clearly visible. His positive attitude towards life, his carefree, almost exuberant way of using the medium of photography made him - consciously or unconsciously - adopt the taste of the times. "

- Heinrich Riebesehl

Most of his works are in the Preußischer Kulturbesitz picture archive , the Sprengel Museum (permanent loan from the Pelikan archive ), the Bahlsen company archive , the Berlinische Galerie and the Regard Berlin Collection. There are also some photographs in the holdings of the Folkwang Museum and the Museum of Art and Industry in Hamburg, and further prints are in the Museum of Modern Art in San Francisco .

Exhibitions

• 1930 Munich The photograph
• 1935 Paris Salon International d´Art Photographique
• 1936 Paris Exposition Internationale de la Photographie Contemporaine (Musée des Arts Décoratifs, Pavillon de Marsan)
• 1972 Hanover (Spectrum Photo Gallery, today in the Sprengel Museum Hanover )
• 1973 Hamburg (Landesbildstelle Hamburg)
• 1975 Hanover (Spectrum Photo Gallery, today in the Sprengel Museum Hanover )
• 1982 Berlin ( Berlinische Galerie )
• 1991 USA THE HORSE PHOTOGRAPHIC IMAGES, 1839 TO THE PRESENT The Palmer Museum of Art (Pennsylvania State University)
• 1996 Paris Plaisirs visuels et nouvelle vision (Galerie Françoise Paviot)
• 1997 Bonn ( Art and Exhibition Hall of the Federal Republic of Germany )
• 1999–2000 Madrid (FOTOGRAFIA PUBLICA Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofia)
• 2001 Munich The Elegance of Dictatorship Fashion photographs in German magazines 1936–1943 (Munich City Museum)
• 2011 Berlin Hommage à Berlin (Collection Regard)
• 2012 Berlin Hein Gorny and Heinrich Riebesehl: Hein Gorny in the Spectrum Photo Gallery Hannover, 1972 (Collection Regard)
• 2014 Berlin On the fleeting charm of movement Photographs by Peter Thomann and Hein Gorny (Collection Regard)
• 2015 Bologna Hein Gorny, New Objectivity and Industr in the Palazzo Pepoli (Historical Museum) as part of FOTO / Industria 2015
• 2015 Berlin Art in Berlin 1880–1980. From the Collection (Berlinische Galerie)
• 2015 Arles Collection Regard - Salon Photographique (FOTOHAUS)
• 2015 Berlin Europe under construction: Berlin 1945–2015 (Gallery 36)
• 2016 Berlin Hein Gorny, New Objectivity and Industry (Collection Regard)
• 2016 Moscow Hein Gorny, New Objectivity and Industry (Multimedia Art Museum Moskow, Photobiennale 2016)
• 2016 Arles Collection Regard - Salon Photographique (FOTOHAUS)
• 2016 Paris Nature and Industry - Manfred Paul & Hein Gorny (Galerie Binome)
• 2017 Arles Collection Regard - Salon Photographique (FOTOHAUS)
• 2018 Hannover Revonnah. Avant-garde art in Hanover 1912–1933 (Sprengel Museum)
• 2018 Hamburg [SPACE] STREET. LIFE. PHOTOGRAPHY. SEVEN DECADES OF STREET PHOTOGRAPHY (Deichtorhallen Hamburg) as part of the Triennale of Photography Hamburg
• 2018 Arles Collection Regard - Salon Photographique (FOTOHAUS)
• 2019 Paris PHOTO: HEIN GORNY ( Librairie Métamorphoses / Collection Regard)

literature

Photo images of Hein Gorny in books and notebooks

• Wolf H. Döring: Portraits - inside and outside. Hall 1939.
• Wilhelm Knapp: camera on skis. Hall 1937.
• Paul Eipper: Your forest. Autumn and winter. Berlin 1932.
• Paul Eipper: Splendid summer in the German forest. Berlin 1933.
• Paul Eipper: love for animals. Experienced and seen. Berlin 1937.
• Paul Eipper: The yellow mastiff Senta. Munich 1951.
• Hein Gorny: The chronicle of the field mill. Szczecin 1935.
• Hein Gorny, Karl Thurner: The Haflinger - our German mountain horse. Munich 1942.
• Hein Gorny, Karl Thurner: Horses on the Geltscher . Munich 1942.
• Hein Gorny: A horse book. Munich 1938.
• Hein Gorny: A dog book. Munich 1941.
• Hein Gorny, HE Trieb: Photo success on the beach. Hall 1941.
• Julius Kempf: Colorful Trachtenbüchlein Oberbayern. Munich 1954.
• Ilse Obrig: Dachshund Jüttje and the kitten. Stuttgart 1952.
• HL Oeser: Paradise never lost. From German forests, meadows and gardens. A picture of the plant kingdom. Berlin 1934.
• Hanns Reich: horse. A terra magica illustrated book. Düsseldorf 1967.
• Reichsinnungsverband des Schlosserhandwerk Berlin (Ed.): The key opens up interesting things for you to design your house, home and yard. (Advertising leaflet). Berlin. OJ
• Alexander Schmook: In the green area - hunting and animal stories. Berlin 1936.
• Georg Thurmaier, Josef Rick: The light sail. Freiburg 1936.
• HE Trieb: Through woods and fields. Hall 1939.
• Karl Zorn: In the Westerwald and Taunus: From the experiences and memories of a wild master. Hamburg / Berlin 1966.
• Jean-Claude Gautrand, préface P. Borhan: Visions du sport. Photographies 1860-1960. Admira (F) 1989, ISBN 2-907658-02-6 .
• Gerald Lang, Elizabeth Atwood Lawrence, Lee Marks: The Horse: Photographic Images, 1839 to the Present. Harry N. Abrams, New York 1991, ISBN 0-8109-3407-8 .
• Martin Knechtges, Jörg Schenuit (ed.): Irritating forces. Eros & Paideia. (= Fuge (magazine) . Journal for Religion and Modernity. Volume 10). Paderborn 2012, ISBN 978-3-506-77545-0 .
• Günther Wagner (Ed.): "Company history, economic history, writing implements, catalogs - Pelikan. Hanover 1938.
• Norbert Jacques: Bahlsen biscuit factory 1889–1939. For the 50th birthday of the company's existence. Hanover 1939.
• U. Pohlmann, S. Förster: The elegance of the dictatorship fashion photographs in German magazines 1936–1943. Munich 2001.

Catalogs

• HG Hannover 1972. (Cat. Spectrum Photo Gallery)
• La Photography sous la Republique de Weimar. Une exposition de l`Institut pour les Relations Culturelles avec l´Etranger (Institute for Foreign Relations). Stuttgart 1980.
• Van Deren Coke: Avantgarde Photography in Germany, 1919–1939, Munich 1982, pp. 68/69.
• Berlin photographic: Photography in Berlin 1860–1982. Berlin 1982. (Cat. Berlinische Galerie )
• Photographic perspectives from the twenties (twenties). Catalog of the 1994 exhibition in the Museum of Art and Industry in Hamburg. Foreword by Wilhelm Hornbostel From the series Documents of Photography, Volume 4. Hamburg 1994. (Cat. Museum of Art and Industry)
• German photography. Power of a medium 1870–1970. Cologne 1997. (Cat. Art and Exhibition Hall BRD, Bonn)
• And they ... had to leave Germany. Photographers and their pictures 1928–1997. Bonn 1997. (Exhibition cat. Rheinisches Landesmuseum)
• Horacio Fernández / Centro de arte Reina Sofia Madrid & Aldeasa: Fotografia Publica. Photography in Print 1919–1939, 1999
• Eugenia Parry Janis: At the Still Point. Photographs from the Manfred Heiting Collection. Volume II, Part 1 1915-1968. 2000
• Homage to Berlin. Hein Gorny - Adolph C. Byers - Friedrich Seidenstücker. Berlin 2011. (Cat. Collection Regard) ISBN 978-3-00-033886-1 .
• Hein Gorny and Heinrich Riebesehl: Hein Gorny in the Spectrum Photo Gallery Hanover, 1972. Berlin 2012. (Cat. Collection Regard) ISBN 978-3-00-039556-7 .
• Hein Gorny, New Objectivity and Industry Berlin 2015. (Cat. Collection Regard)
• PHOTO: HEIN GORNY Berlin 2019. (Cat. Collection Regard)

Magazines

• Hannoverscher Anzeiger. 1924.
• Westermann's monthly books. 77th year 153rd volume 1st and 2nd part September 1932 to February 1933. Issue 913–918. Braunschweig 1932.
• Usage graphics. 1933.
• La photo pour tous. jan: G. Chambertrand 'Bilan 1933'. 1934.
• Arts et Metiers Graphiques. Photograph. Paris 1932, 1933-1934, 1935, 1936, 1937, 1938, 1939.
• The German Photo (1932). Annual show 1932. Berlin 1931.
• The German Photo (1934). Annual show 1934. Berlin 1933.
• The German Photo (1935). Annual show 1935. Berlin 1934.
• The German Photo (1936). Annual show 1936. Berlin 1935.
• Arts et Metiers Graphiques. Paris 1936.

• Rolleiflex Revue. (F) 3 / fev. In: Photos modern. (F) 35, 1936.
• Photo success on the beach. (= Photo advice on trips. Vol. 8). (HG) Wilhelm Knapp, Halle 1937.
• The army. Special edition Maneuver 1937. (HG) Reich Ministry of War. Berlin 1937.
• Camera on skis. (= Photo advice on trips. Vol. 9). (HG) Wilhelm Knapp. Hall 1937.
• The German Photo (1938). 1938 Annual Review. Berlin / Stuttgart 1938.
• Photo ABP Bruxelles (B) 1 / 1fev. Fotograficky Obzor (CZ) 2. Photographika Kodak (D) 19. The Black Corps (D. 1938.
• People and world. Issue 2, February 1939. Germany's monthly book. Hanover 1939. (HG. Oppermann)
• Through woods and meadows. (= Photo advice on trips. Vol. 11). (HG) Wilhelm Knapp. Hall 1939.
• Arts et Metiers Graphiques. Photograph. Born 1930–1940.
• Coronet. (USA) jan. 1940.
• Belles photos de plages. (= Photo Conseil. Vol. 5). (HG) Wilhelm Knapp. Hall 1942.
• Camera CJ Bucher, Lucerne (CH) avr: les indépendants, mécanisme et expression. 1967.
• Almut Klingbeil: Theodor Lessing, Hein Gorny and the New Objectivity. In: Photo history. Contributions to the history and aesthetics of photography. Vol. 19, No. 73, 1999, pp. 29-38.
• DGPh internal (D) year beginning 25 / mar. 2002.

Lexicons

• M. Auer: Encyclopédie Internationale des Photographes de 1839 à nos jours. Hermance 1985, ISBN 2-903671-04-4 .
• M. Auer: Encyclopédie internationale des photographes. (= Auer index ). Hermance 1992, ISBN 2-903671-09-5 .
• Michel Guillemot (Ed.): Dictionnaire mondial de la photographie. Larousse (F) 1994, ISBN 2-03-511315-6 .
• J.-P. Breuille: Dictionnaire de la photo. Paris 1996, ISBN 2-03-750014-9 .
• M. Auer: Encyclopédie internationale des photographes des débuts à nos jours. CD-ROM. Ides et Calendes, Neuchâtel (CH) 1997, ISBN 2-8258-0126-7 .
• J. Krichbaum: Lexicon of Photographers. Fischer-Taschenbuch-Verlag, Frankfurt am Main 1981, ISBN 3-596-26418-9 .
• HM. Koetzle: The Lexicon of Photographers 1900 to Today. Munich 2002, ISBN 3-426-66479-8 .
• Reinhold Mißelbeck (Ed.): Prestel-Lexicon of Photographers. From the beginning in 1839 to the present. Munich / Berlin / London / New York 2002, ISBN 3-7913-2529-9 .
• Collection M. + M. Auer: une histoire de la photographie. Hermance (CH) 2003, ISBN 2-903671-14-1 .
• Renaud Vercouter, Max von Bismarck (ed.): Europe under construction, Berlin 1945–2015. Verlag Chaussée 36, Berlin 2015, ISBN 978-3-9817566-0-9 .

Web links

• Hein Gorny at Collection Regard
• Hein Gorny at Fotografwiki
• Hein Gorny at Spiegel Online
• Stephan von Bothmer's composition based on Hein Gorny's pictures

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Volker Rattemeyer, Dietrich Helms (ed.): Friedrich Vordemberge-Gildewart. Typography and advertising design. (= Typography can possibly be art. 2). Exhib. Catalog. Wiesbaden 1990, ISBN 3-89258-010-3 , p. 28.
2. ^ Karl Klaus Walther: Hans-Hasso von Veltheims help for the persecuted and the distressed. In: John Palatini, Georg Rosentreter (Ed.): Old Adel, New Spirit - Studies on the biography and work of Hans-Hasso von Veltheim. (= Writings of the Ostrauer Society. Vol. 1). Halle (Saale) 2012, ISBN 978-3-89812-838-4 , pp. 56-76, p. 60.
3. ↑ H.-M. Koetzle: The Lexicon of Photographers 1900 to Today. Munich 2002, p. 174.