Michael Weidt

Michael Weidt (* 1946 in Berlin-Moabit ) is a German photographer who mainly created portraits of GDR artists from film , theater , visual arts , dance and music .

Career

Weidt grew up in a family of artists. His mother was the painter and book illustrator Ursula Wendorff-Weidt , his stepfather the dancer and choreographer Jean Weidt , the ceramic artist Andreas Weidt is his half-brother.

From 1952 to 1955 the family lived in Schwerin , where Jean Weidt was engaged as a ballet master . It was here that Michael Weidt met Jenny Gröllmann , with whom he had a lifelong friendship. From 1955 to 1958 the family lived in Karl-Marx-Stadt , then in Rangsdorf near Berlin.

From 1965 to 1967 Michael Weidt completed a guest study with Arno Fischer at the Berlin-Weißensee School of Art. Alongside Sibylle Bergemann, he is considered to be Arno Fischer's first student and assisted him in his work from an early age. From 1968 he worked as a freelance photographer in East Berlin . He was a member of the DIREKT group with Sibylle Bergemann, Arno Fischer, Roger Melis and Brigitte Voigt and worked for the magazines Das Magazin , NBI and Sybille .

As a photographer he has been working with a Nikon FM and a 35mm or an 85mm lens since 1978 . In 1978 Michael Weidt had his first exhibition at the Kunst im Heim gallery in Berlin.

In 1989 and 1990 Michael Weidt made two trips to Paris, which resulted in the Paris Pictures exhibition. At the beginning of 2011, Michael Weidt had an exhibition in the Saarländisches Künstlerhaus as part of the Max Ophüls Prize film festival in which works by Michael Weidt that went back to 1965 could be seen. In 2010 and 2011 he traveled to Havana ( Cuba ).

He is also a supporting actor in the films Das Mambospiel (1997) by Michael Gwisdek , The Crossing (1999) by Nora Hoppe , Schußangst (2002) by Dito Tsintsadze , The Red Colored Gray (2003) by Srdjan Koljevic , Jam Session (German Dubbing voice, 2004) by Izabela Plucinska , Remember if you can! (2004) by Sigi Rothemund and La Fine del Mare (2005) by Nora Hoppe. He was also a contemporary witness in the documentary films I want to be there - Jenny Gröllmann (2008) by Petra Weisenburger and I just wanted to visit my grandmother - A portrait of Michael Weidt and the GDR (2010) by Ingo Woelke .

Working as a photographer (selection)

• Portraits and a. by: Joachim Schlömer , Henry Hübchen , Uwe Kockisch , Frank Giering , Jenny Gröllmann , Michael Gwisdek , Willem Dafoe , Corinna Harfouch , Bettina Wegener, Franziska Petri , Anna Loos , Herman Beyer or the rock group Omega
• Portrait and dance series by the Swiss solo dancer Anna Huber
• Photo documentation for the filming of "The Mambospiel" by Michael Gwisdek
• Portrait series of the dancer and choreographer Joachim Schlömer
• Photos for the book title of the Aufbau Taschenbuch Verlag u. a .:
  • Christoph Hein : The stranger's friend
  • Christa Wolf : Thinking about Christa T.
  • Hermann Kant : The auditorium
• Several photo series of the actor Henry Hübchen, u. a. at rehearsals for “ Alles auf Zucker ” by Dani Levy
• Photo series by the actors Uwe Kockisch , Frank Giering and Dieter Paff while filming in Ireland
• Stand u. Set photography in Trieste for the international feature film "La Fine del Mare"
• Set photography and archive photos for the German documentary I want to be there - Jenny Gröllmann by Petra Weisenburger
• Photo series by actors Uwe Kockisch and Michael Gwisdek during filming in Venice (" Donna Leon ")
• Cover photo for the CD " Reinhard Lakomy - The great successes"
• Photos for the book "Bye Bye, Lübben City - Bluesfreaks, Tramps and Hippies in the GDR"
• Photos for the illustrated book " Sibylle - Modefotografien 1962-1994" by Dorothea Melis / Lehmstedt

swell

• I just wanted to visit my grandmother - a portrait of Michael Weidt and the GDR.
• Kind woman drama . In: Der Spiegel . No. 25 , 2008, p. 154 ( Online - June 16, 2008 ).
• It shone until the end. In: Stern online. June 23, 2008.
• Article Vogue 7/2008, p. 69.
• Sabine Graf: Relaxed moments. In: Saarbrücker Zeitung. January 19, 2011.
• Bye Bye, Lübben City - blues freaks, tramps and hippies in the GDR. Schwarzkopf & Schwarzkopf, Berlin 2009, ISBN 978-3-89602-793-1 .
• Berlin and Prenzlauer. Lehmstedt, Leipzig 2008, ISBN 978-3-937146-61-4 .
• Sibylle. Fashion photographs 1962-1994. Lehmstedt, Leipzig 2010, ISBN 978-3-937146-87-4 .
• Hermann Kant: The auditorium. Aufbau-Taschenbuch-Verlag, Berlin 2011, ISBN 978-3-7466-1190-7 .

Web links

• Michael Weidt in the Internet Movie Database (English)