Matthias du Vinage

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Matthias du Vinage (birth name: Matthias Wisch; born June 12, 1918 in Bremen , † October 5, 1987 in Hamburg ) was a German photojournalist .

Live and act

Born in Bremen as the son of the bank director Claus Hinrich Wisch and his wife Anna Marie Rogge, he studied natural sciences at the University of Hamburg from 1947 to 1953 after military service and several years of imprisonment. During this time he got to know the photographer Gabriele du Vinage , with whom he professionalized his knowledge in the field of photography as a student and assistant. They married in 1952, and the future joint artist name was "du Vinage", which was also included in the official identity cards for Matthias du Vinage by the residents' registration office on the written recommendation of the Hanseatic city's cultural office. A common copyright stamp "foto: du Vinage", which only lists the first names "Gabriele and Matthias du Vinage" in the subline next to the address, makes it difficult for outsiders in individual cases to distinguish between the authorship, especially since it (especially in the Hamburg theater photography) even gave events that both of them attended and photographed together.

Matthias du Vinage quickly made a name for himself as a photojournalist in Hamburg. For decades he was out and about in the city every day, photographing special events and personalities. The scope of his activity is evidenced by the scope of his archive, which includes more than 350 overfull files in the area of ​​small picture negatives and contact sheets. The focus of his work was on culture: opera, drama, ballet and dance, visual arts, music, cabaret, literature, film etc. Some examples from the abundance of names are: Marlene Dietrich , Zarah Leander , Trude Herr , Otto Waalkes , Alfred Hitchcock , Louis Armstrong , Duke Ellington , Count Basie , Ray Charles , Otto Dix , Henry Moore , Oskar Kokoschka , David Hockney , Horst Janssen , The Beatles , Jimi Hendrix , Mick Jagger , Frank Zappa , Twiggy , Josephine Baker , George Balanchine , Dore Hoyer , Henry Miller , Anaïs Nin , Günter Grass , Ingeborg Bachmann and Ernst Rowohlt . He also captured countless public figures who did not directly belong to the culture and countless other events from daily events in Hamburg, and recordings of them were almost always published in the daily newspapers. "There was not a Hamburg event that he would have missed," says an obituary.

Photojournalistic features

Matthias du Vinage was considered a "Hamburg institution" and "Hamburg's most famous theater photographer". He was called "du Vi" (pronounced: Düwi) by journalist colleagues and in the city's theaters. He preferred special shooting situations in which a personality or an event could be depicted in a way that differed from the usual press event photos. He was waiting for Maria Callas , hidden in a cupboard, Herbert von Karajan secretly photographed from the backstage, B. Traven Torsvan, frightened and in vain, tried to cover his face with his hand. One of his personal favorite recordings shows the pianist Arthur Rubinstein kissing his Steinway grand piano in 1966 . Matthias du Vinage often intentionally only appeared after the press conference or was the first to be on site. “Du Vinage was most attracted to the impossible. He was happy to leave the possible to others. ”The following story also appeared in the newspaper with photos: His reputation for having a special feel for the right place and moment was confirmed again when he happened to lift a tow crane in front of his eyes , was able to photograph a wrongly parked car: When the car turned, he read the license plate in the viewfinder of the camera and now realized: it was his own car.

Appreciations

Matthias du Vinage has received several professional awards, e. B. in the 1960s for his photos submitted to the annual World Press Photo ( annual contest for the best press pictures of the world ) in The Hague . His early and surprising death from a heart attack prevented the completion of the first of a five thematic volume series of photo books about him with accompanying information, which a text author asked for in interviews with the photographer. A comprehensive posthumous appraisal of his work is still pending.

swell

  • Matthias du Vinage died. In: DIE WELT , No. 233 of October 7, 1987.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ MR: Düvi is dead. The Hamburg photographer made the impossible possible. In: Hamburger Abendblatt , No. 233 of October 7, 1987, p. 6
  2. ↑ Peter Forster: Matthias du Vinage is dead. "Düwi" was waiting for Callas in the closet. In: BILD of October 7, 1987, p. 4
  3. ↑ Hamburger Abendblatt , No. 236 of October 10, 1987. p. 5
  4. ↑ MR: Düvi is dead. The Hamburg photographer made the impossible possible. In: Hamburger Abendblatt , No. 233 of October 7, 1987, p. 6
personal data
SURNAME Vinage, Matthias you
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Wisch, Matthias (maiden name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German photo journalist
DATE OF BIRTH June 12, 1918
PLACE OF BIRTH Bremen
DATE OF DEATH 5th October 1987
Place of death Hamburg