John Høegh

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John "Ujuukulooq" Otto Abel Jens Høegh (born March 26, 1890 in Qaqortoq ; † 1966 ) was a Greenlandic blacksmith , photographer and councilor .

Life

John Høegh was born as one of nine children in the largest city in South Greenland, but his oldest sister had died before he was born. His nickname translates as "little John". After graduating from school he was employed as a kiffaq (helper) at Den Kongelige Grønlandske Handel . There he was trained as a carpenter and carpenter . During this time he also began to be interested in photography and acquired the necessary technology in 1910. Also at the beginning of the 1910s the number of motorboats in Greenland began to increase and John Høegh decided to move to Denmark to be trained as a locksmith and thus be able to take over the maintenance of the boat engines. In October 1913 he went to Denmark with the Hans Egede . It is possible that his decision was influenced by the fact that his big brother Pavia was already a carpenter and it was foreseeable that he would later take on the position of carpenter at KGH. In Denmark he was employed as an apprentice in the Danmark engine factory in Rudkøbing . During his stay he devoted himself increasingly to photography. In 1917, after completing his training, he returned to Greenland and began to work for his father in the blacksmith's shop for the KGH. He continued to take photos and took over his father's forge in the early 1920s. In 1932 he made the fountain in Qaqortoq, which his brother Pavia had designed and which is now a listed building.

The last picture taken by John Høegh was taken in 1945. His photographs are of professional quality, but still show little artistic skill. However, they show the development of Qaqortoq in the first half of the 20th century and are therefore important contemporary documents. 370 glass negatives of his photographs have been collected by the museum in Qaqortoq. Exhibitions of his pictures took place at the end of the 1990s at Katuaq in Nuuk , Det Grønlandske Hus in Aarhus and Norræna húsið in Reykjavík .

John Høegh was also politically active: shortly after his return to Greenland, he became chairman of the local council. He held the office for a total of 35 years. During this time, the first swimming pool in Greenland, the first old people's home, the first Danish school and the country's first fresh water supply system were built in the up-and-coming Qaqortoq . From 1923 to 1926 he was also a long term of a member of the South Greenlandic provincial government . In 1947 he was appointed Dannebrogsmand . He died in 1966 at the age of 76 after a long illness.

family

John Høegh was the son of the gunsmith Peter Billiam Gerhard Høegh (1857-1939) and his wife Amalie Cecilie Agathe Nanna Thaarup (1858-1936). His siblings include the carpenter and architect Pavia Høegh (1886–1956) and the printer and editor Frederik Høegh (1895–1970). His sister Augusta (1901–1995) was married to the politician Elias Lauf (1894–1981). John Høegh married on July 20, 1919 Marie Augusta Hanne Chemnitz (1896–1972), daughter of the pastor and catechist Jens Anton Barsilai Ignatius Chemnitz (1853–1929) and his wife Ane Marie Jacobine Cathrine Holm (1858–1929). As a result, he was the brother-in-law of the interpreter Jørgen Chemnitz (1890-1956). From his marriage, John Høegh had the children Astrid (1921–1936), Erling (1924–1993), Ingvar (1927–2007), Oluf (1927–2018), Knud (1928–2007), Jens John (1929–1999) and Emma (1931-1942). In addition to John, his brothers Pavia and Frederik also sat in Grønlands Landsråd, as did his brothers-in-law Elias Lauf and Jørgen Chemnitz and his sons Erling and Oluf, while Ingvar was a member of Inatsisartut , the Greenland parliament from 1979.

Web links

  • qangagooq.gl (National Museum digital archive; searchable for over 300 photos of John Høegh)

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Church registers Qaqortoq 1903–1908 (Confirmed boys p. 78)
  2. ↑ a b c d John Høegh - manden bag julebillederne in the Atuagagdliutit of December 19, 2018 (p. 40)
  3. ^ Pavia Høegh in Weilbach's artist lexicon
  4. ↑ Ujuukulooq's billeder in the Atuagagdliutit of September 25, 1997
  5. ↑ Grønlandsk sommernat i Århus in the Atuagagdliutit of July 9, 1998
  6. ↑ Ljósmyndir Ujuukulooqs at mbl.is
  7. ↑ Axel Kjær Sørensen: Denmark-Greenland in the Twentieth Century (= Meddelelser om Grønland . Man and Society. 34). Danish Polar Center, Copenhagen 2006, ISBN 87-90369-89-0 , ( digital copy (PDF; 3.35 MB) ).
  8. ↑ Dannebrogsmændenes Hæderstegn in Grønlandsposten from November 1, 1947
  9. ↑ Smedemester Jon Høegh in Atuagagdliutit from June 9, 1966
  10. ↑ Church registers Qaqortoq 1916–1927 (married p. 138)
personal data
SURNAME Høegh, John
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Høegh, John Otto Abel Jens (full name); Ujuukulooq (nickname)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Greenlandic blacksmith, photographer and councilor
DATE OF BIRTH March 26, 1890
PLACE OF BIRTH Qaqortoq
DATE OF DEATH 1966