Willi Luther

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Willi Luther (born August 9, 1909 in Westerhüsen ; † June 24, 1996 in Wolfsburg ) was a German photographer .

Life

Luther learned the wheelwright trade from 1924 to 1927 . This was followed by a period of hiking that ultimately led him to Hamburg in 1929 . There he worked at the Deutsche Werft in Hamburg-Finkenwerder and was trained as an electric welder in 1930 . Luther lived in Finkenwerder and married Toni Wegener there in 1934, the daughter of a ship's carpenter. In his private life he dealt with photography and in 1937/38 he completed courses at the Hamburg Schwörer photography school with Willi Beutler . His motifs dealt mainly with Finkenwerder, the surrounding landscape and the people. Another focus of photographic work was the shipyard and later the port of Hamburg and its surroundings.

From 1940 to 1943 he completed further training as a technician in shipbuilding, and from 1942 to 1943 he worked in the welding shop of the Deutsche Werft as a calculator and work planner.

As a photographer, he took part in various exhibitions from 1950, both regionally and nationally. In 1952 his work was published in magazines such as the Hamburger Hafen-Nachrichten and the Ship via Hamburg . However, he still worked part-time as a photographer, but other information also describes him as a works photographer for Deutsche Werft. Luther received an award at the photokina . The Hamburg Senate honored him in 1953 with a certificate and medal for his photographic work on the tuna fishing of the Finkenwerder deep-sea fishermen in the North Sea . Luther's nephew by marriage, Heinrich Fock, was a deep-sea fisherman and from 1949 owner of the deep-sea fishing cutter HF 526 "Niederelbe". In 1952, 1964, 1975 and 1977 Luther accompanied his nephew while fishing and made a large number of photographs.

In January 1953 he became a works photographer and thus the first department head of the photo center at Volkswagen in Wolfsburg. He had prevailed against a large number of applicants. Luther lived with his family in Fallersleben and worked for Volkswagen. He retired on July 31, 1974. In addition to the photographs commissioned by the plant, he also documented the development of Wolfsburg.

In his retirement he made color slides of trips to South and South West Africa in particular . He also used motifs in his garden. He passed away in 1996.

As far as they concern Hamburg, his photographic works are in the Hamburg State Archives . The work for Volkswagen is preserved in the VW works archive and the photos from Wolfsburg and the surrounding area are in the Wolfsburg city archive. The Volkswagen art foundation awards the Willi Luther Prize for press photography named after Willi Luther.

Publications (selection)

  • Sea fishing - the men and cutters from Finkenwerder. , Heinz Linde, Willi Luther, Willy Mohr, Munich 1997, ISBN 3-924896-37-2
  • Willi Luther. Excerpts from the photographic work. , Publisher: Kunstverein Gifhorn 2001
  • Wolfsburg: eventful times; the 60s , Ingrid Eichstädt with photos by Willi Luther, Wartberg-Verlag Gudensberg-Gleichen 2001, ISBN 978-3-86134-840-5

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Heinz Linde, Willi Luther, Willy Mohr, Seefischerei - The Men and Cutters from Finkenwerder , Urbes Verlag Hans Jürgen Hansen, Graefelfing vor München 1997, ISBN 3-924896-37-2 , page 5
  2. ↑ Heinz Linde, Willi Luther, Willy Mohr, Seefischerei - The men and cutters from Finkenwerder , Urbes Verlag Hans Jürgen Hansen, Graefelfing before Munich 1997, ISBN 3-924896-37-2 , page 4
  3. ↑ Manfred Grieger, Dirk Schlinkert, Werkschau 1. , 2015, page 8 , ISBN 978-3-935112-20-8
  4. ^ Announcement by the Städtische Galerie Wolfsburg, 2002
personal data
SURNAME Luther, Willi
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German photographer
DATE OF BIRTH August 9, 1909
PLACE OF BIRTH Westerhüsen
DATE OF DEATH June 24, 1996
Place of death Wolfsburg