
- Exclusive offers
- Inspiring new releases
- Personal invitations to Art Events
DRESS OF LIGHT In the late 1940s, Heinrich Heidersberger shot his iconic nude series Kleid aus Licht (German for “Dress of Light”) for the magazine Stern, which Henri Nannen had recently founded. This series – which caused outrage in prim post-war Germany – is now viewed as one of the classics of photographic art. The idea… Read more
Intro Bio Exhibitions
IntroductionDRESS OF LIGHT
In the late 1940s, Heinrich Heidersberger shot his iconic nude series Kleid aus Licht (German for “Dress of Light”) for the magazine Stern, which Henri Nannen had recently founded. This series – which caused outrage in prim post-war Germany – is now viewed as one of the classics of photographic art.
The idea was as simple as it was spectacular: Using a projector he fashioned out of a cooking pot, he covered naked bodies with spots and stripes of light. In doing so, he combined nude photography and experimental photography in ways never seen before. Heidersberger’s “dresses” of light reveal, above all, the photographer’s passion for the phenomenon of light, a theme he explores further in his later work, Rhythmographien (“Rhythmographies”). Heidersberger came to photography by chance. In 1928 he moved to Paris to study painting with Fernand Léger. Walking through a flea market, he stumbled across an old wooden camera. It was, as he says, “a sign from fate”.
Marc Peschke
Heinrich Heidersberger , who died in 2006 at the age of 100, has his place among the most important German photographers of the second half of the 20th century. Seminal images in the fields of architecture and advertising mark his complex life’s work, and his name as an artist is of great repute as well. An exceptional photographer of the modernist aesthetic, Heinrich Heidersberger knew exactly how to combine the documentary approach of photography with modernist ideas. In his photographs he combines function and visual aesthetics, incorporating economic, technical, and social aspects into his perfectly balanced pictures. The aesthetic ideas of modernism were influenced by the notion of structure. Heidersberger’s photographs open our understanding of these structural laws in a surprising and creative way. In his photographs of post-war architecture of the fifties Heidersberger revealed the aesthetics of modernism, thus presenting them as an interplay of structure and form. Heidersberger’s images have retained their importance in photography, in spite of all of the visual styles and trends that have developed over the last decades.Bio
1906 Born in Ingolstadt, Germany 1928-1931 Attended Fernand Léger’s art school while in Paris, began working in photography, met Piet Mondrian and Yves Tanguy 1946 Began working as a photojournalist, advertising and architectural photographer in Berlin 1957 Opened a studio in Brunswick, Germany, started working as a photojournalist for Stern 1961 Moved to Wolfsburg, founded the artist’s group “Schloßstraße 8” 2006 Passed away in Wolfsburg, Germany Awards
1957 Silver Medal, 11th Triennale di Milano, Milan, Italy 1981 Lower Saxony Order of Merit 1986 City of Wolfsburg Silver Plaque 2003 Honorary Citizenship in the City of Wolfsburg Collections
Museum für Photographie, Braunschweig, Germany National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, Canada Museum für Konkrete Kunst, Ingolstadt, Germany Exhibitions
2005 Zentrum für Kunst und Medientechnologie (ZKM), Karlsruhe Institut für Auslandsbeziehungen (ifa), Stuttgart: „Zwei deutsche Architekturen“, Wanderausstellung 2002 Kultur unterm Schirm, Kirchentellinsfurt 2001 Architektenkammer Niedersachsen, Hannover Galerie InFocus, Köln Kunsthalle Bielefeld: Abstrakte Fotografie Medienwerkstatt des Caspar-David-Friedrich-Instituts der Ernst-Moritz-Arndt Universität Greifswald 2000 Stadtmuseum Wolfsburg: Heinrich Heidersberger Architekturphotographie 1952-72 1999 Galerie für Fotografie - Georg Eichinger, Berlin 1998 The Museum of Modern Art, New York (USA) 1997 Kunstverein Gifhorn: Die Rhythmogramme Museum für Konkrete Kunst, Ingolstadt: Die Rhythmogramme Deutsches Historisches Museum, Berlin: Wolfsburg und Eisenhüttenstadt 1996 Deutsch-Dänische Gesellschaft, Bad Harzburg Städtische Galerie Wolfsburg Fotozentrum Zimmermann, Hannover Goethe-Institut Paris, DGPh (F) 1995 Galerie Wendelin Niedlich, Stuttgart 1992 Museum für Photographie, Braunschweig 1990 Stadt- und Lichtbildgalerie, Ingolstadt 1989 Center for Creative Photography (CCP) der Universität Tucson/Arizona (USA) Kunsthalle Bielefeld: Das Foto als autonomes Bild Bayerische Akademie der Künste, München: Das Foto als autonomes Bild 1987 Danmarks Fotomuseum, Herning (DK) Neue Galerie der Stadt Linz (A) 1986 Kunstverein Wolfsburg 1984 Image et Imaginaires d´Architecture, Centre Pompidou, Paris (F) The Photographers Gallery, London (UK) 1982 Stadt- und Lichtbildgalerie Ingolstadt 1972 Olympisches Dorf München: „Haus Wolfsburg“ 1971 Städtische Galerie Wolfsburg 1967 Galerie Clarissa, Hannover 1966 Tonbildschau für Jenaer Glas in Frankfurt Museet for Fotografi, Viborg (DK): Heidersberger fotografier 1962 Städtische Galerie Wolfsburg Neue Galerie der Stadt Linz (A) 1956 Die Neue Sammlung, München 1946 Kunstverein Braunschweig Solo Exhibitions
2013 Kleid aus Licht, Petra Rietz Salon, Berlin, Germany 2008 Heinrich Heidersberger: Rückkehr zum Aufbruch, Kunstmuseum Wolfsburg, Wolfsburg, Germany 2006 100 Jahre Heinrich Heidersberger – Ansichten und Strukturen, Städtische Galerie Wolfsburg, Wolfsburg, Germany Heinrich Heidersberger – Werk im Fokus, Lentos Kunstmuseum, Linz, Austria 2001 Heinrich Heidersberger – Architektur und Rhythmogramme, in focus Galerie, Cologne, Germany 1997 Heinrich Heidersberger: Rhythmogramme, Museum für Konkrete Kunst, Ingolstadt, Germany 1984 Heinrich Heidersberger, Photographers Gallery, London, UK Group Exhibitions
2015 Augen auf! 100 Jahre Leica Fotografie, C/O Berlin, Berlin, Germany 2014 Augen auf! 100 Jahre Leica Fotografie, Deichtorhallen Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany 2009 Kreuzungspunkte Linz. Junge Kunst und Meisterwerke, Lentos Kunstmuseum, Linz, Austria 2005 Zwei deutsche Architekturen, Institut für Auslandsbeziehungen, Stuttgart, Germany 2004 Algorithmische Revolution. Zur Geschichte der interaktiven Kunst, ZKM Karlsruhe, Karlsruhe, Germany 2000 Zeitgenössische Positionen zur Architekturphotographie, Museum Ludwig, Cologne, Germany 1998 Alvare Aalto – Between Humanism and Materialism, MoMA, New York City, USA 1984 Image et Imaginaires d´Architecture, Centre Pompidou, Paris, France
Secure your favourite artwork now!
How can this artwork best be displayed? We are happy to advise you in a personal consultation and help you visualize the work on your wall.
Your message has been sent successfully. The nearest LUMAS gallery will soon be in touch.
Digital previews of your favorite art
Use augmented reality to hang your favorite work on your wall - using just an iPhone or iPad.