Martin Höhlig

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Martin Höhlig (born April 2, 1882 in Zwickau , † December 17, 1948 in Berlin , Charlottenburg ) was a German photographer.

Life

It can be assumed that he completed an apprenticeship as a photographer and acquired his excellent technical skills in the studios of well-known photographers. The focus of his early professional activity was traditional portrait photography, the main source of income for photographers of the 19th and early 20th centuries. He also earned his living producing photographic templates for postcards. He remained true to portrait photography throughout his life. Albert Einstein was portrayed by him in March 1923 for the society magazine Vanity Fair . In addition, he made portraits of other great minds of Jewish origin, for example of the psychiatrist and writer Sigmund Freud and of the prominent lawyer and playwright Erich Frey . The well-known Havelland painter Karl Hagemeister also stood in front of his camera. He photographed greats of the political life of the Empire and the Weimar Republic, such as Kaiser Wilhelm II . in Doorner exile, the Reich President Field Marshal Paul von Hindenburg and Field Marshal August von Mackensen .

Around 1920 Höhlig founded his own studio in the immediate vicinity of Potsdamer Platz, at Bellevuestrasse 21. The prominent photographer Nicola Perscheid also had his studio on the same street . The noble, exposed location of the studio and his excellent contacts to well-known personalities of social life identify him as a photographer of the upper social class.

From 1933 to 1937 Höhlig was a member and photographer of the Association for the History of Berlin . In 1937 all members of Jewish origin were expelled. In the same year Höhlig also left the club. It can be assumed that because of the Jewish personalities he portrayed and the extensive portrayal of Jewish business life in his photographic work, he was branded as a “Jew friend” and feme, so that he voluntarily left the association or was also expelled.

Furthermore, Höhlig was a member of the Association for the History of Berlin eV, founded in 1865.

After the war, Höhlig's life and that of so many other artists were marked by a lack of prospects and stagnation. A lack of commissions allowed him only sparsely to make a living. Increasingly he fell into depression. He passed his life by suicide on December 17, 1948. He shot himself in his Charlottenburg apartment at Havelstrasse 15.

plant

Höhlig was a master of light. He knew like few others how to convey the beauty and aesthetics of the objects and subjects he photographed to the recipient. Through effective use of light, he often even achieved that the artistic expression, the artistic effect of what is depicted were exaggerated and exaggerated. The quality of his material photos was expressed in sharpness, precision and the display of contrasts, especially light and shadow. His works testify to a careful selection of objects and subjects as well as an internal processing that resulted in identification and individual interpretation.

Alongside Sasha Stone , Willy Römer , Mario von Bucovich and László Willinger, Höhlig is an important photographic chronicler of Berlin's cosmopolitan years. With his work he comprehensively depicts the social upheaval of this time. We are offered a kaleidoscopic overall view of a young, modern, ambitious, future-oriented and cosmopolitan city that is of inestimable cultural-historical and social documentary value. This city panorama is a unique advertisement for the cosmopolitan city of Berlin. The main focus is on the attractive aspects of urbanization. Above all, the sophisticated, consumer-oriented, pleasure-addicted-voluptuous and luxurious sides of the capital are shown, the way of life, which is also known as “dancing on the volcano”. He apparently oriented himself to the American way of life, which he found exemplary. In contrast to the works of contemporary photographers such as August Sander , Willy Pragher and Willy Römer, the dark sides of urbanization, the social hot spots, the living space of the masses, the position of people in society have been largely left out. You are limited to the illustration of a few small neighborhood shops. This need not necessarily be viewed as critical, as Höhlig saw the concern and focus of his work in conveying a positive and optimistic view of the development of Berlin. In this context, it should also be noted that the clients of his work were mainly industrialists, architects, merchants, builders and public institutions. The center and climax of Höhlig's photographic work is reflected in the works that were created as part of the major social event “Berlin in the Light”. The week of light, which advertised with this very motto, took place from October 13th to 18th, 1928 in the Reich capital. From 7 p.m. to 1 a.m., large areas of the city, especially in the center and in the business and entertainment districts, were illuminated. Fixed lighting specially installed for this purpose complemented each other with existing functional and advertising lighting that was also created for the event. The festival of lights was organized by the Association of Berlin Merchants and Industrialists and the Berlin City Administration. The main sponsors were the major Berlin electronics companies Osram , Siemens , AEG , Telefunken and Bewag . The aim of this festive campaign was to showcase the efficiency of German industry, especially the electrical industry, to boost retail sales through concerted neon advertising and, above all, to present Berlin as an attractive cosmopolitan city. Höhlig documented the festival of lights on behalf of sponsors and organizers in photo albums each with 10, a total of one hundred different photos, which represented the cityscape during the event. The albums were entitled "Berlin in the Light". About 80 percent of the photos in the individual albums were identical, the rest of the photos varied in their representation of different retail stores.

The spectrum of Höhlig's photographic work includes the areas of architecture, culture, art, entertainment, business life and consumption, as well as transport and industrial development. Höhlig pays special attention to architectural photography. Berlin has developed sporadically and discontinuously in the course of its history and does not have the architectural homogeneity of other global cities. Therefore, Höhlig concentrated on the illustration of outstanding individual structures from six centuries. The photos of architectural monuments by important architects, such as Andreas Schlüter ( Charlottenburg Palace , City Palace ), Georg Wenzeslaus von Knobelsdorff ( St. Hedwig's Cathedral , Unter den Linden State Opera ) and Karl Friedrich Schinkel ( Altes Museum , Staatliches Schauspielhaus , National Monument im Victoriapark), convey the full beauty and aesthetics of the objects to the viewer through their photographic design and thus emphasize their importance. A particular concern of his architectural photography was the representation of the integration of new, modern buildings into the cityscape of Berlin. With obvious joy and enthusiasm, he devoted himself to depicting buildings in the New Objectivity style , which since 1925 had increasingly shaped Berlin.

literature

• Fred Richter (ed.): The cosmopolitan city in light, Berlin night photographs by Martin Höhlig from the years 1925–1932. Bussert & Stadeler, 2019, ISBN 978-3-942115-86-5
• A master of light. Berlin Week, December 5, 2019 (article about Martin Höhlig)

Individual evidence

1. ^ Russel Smith: A Shot at Fame. Retrieved December 11, 2019 . 
2. ↑ [1]
3. ↑ [2]
4. ↑ unknown: 1935 - building blocks for a history of the association during National Socialism. Accessed December 11, 2019 (German). 
5. ↑ [3]
6. ^ ^{A b} Fred Richter: Die Weltstadt im Licht, Berlin night photographs by Höhlig from 1925 to 1932 . Ed .: Fred Richter. 1st edition. Bussert & Stadeler, Quedlinburg 2019, ISBN 978-3-942115-86-5 , p. 276 .
7. ↑ [4]
8. ↑ [5]
9. ↑ Christoph & Unmack AG: trade journal "Das Tischlergewerbe" No. 31/30: Museum Niesky Forum Konrad-Wachsmann-Haus: museum-digital: sachsen. Retrieved December 11, 2019 .