Athabasca River, Alberta, Canada

About Helmut Hirler

THE WIDE WORLD Helmut Hirler is part of an unbroken tradition of bold pioneers, who for centuries attempted to describe the earth’s strangeness and beauty. When photography became portable in the mid nineteenth century, it outstripped… Read more

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BACKGROUND INFORMATION

THE WIDE WORLD

Helmut Hirler is part of an unbroken tradition of bold pioneers, who for centuries attempted to describe the earth’s strangeness and beauty. When photography became portable in the mid nineteenth century, it outstripped the wordy reports, augmenting and replacing these with the likenesses of landscapes and cultures. To capture these, even photographers would take great pains upon themselves, accompanying explorers on yearlong expeditions or traveling alone, all the better to astound those who stayed at home with his discoveries upon his return. The singular prints and photographic enlargements from this era are an exclusive market today.

Urbane photographer Helmut Hirler takes his motorcycle, his panorama camera in his backpack, for the treks he now finds short, like from his native Allgäu, Germany to the Spanish mountains. Yet the ever-new search for far-flung natural and cultural landscapes also tempts him. Writer Paul Theroux might well express his thoughts: “That is the best mood for a departure: I was ready, I was game for anything. Only later, when you’re en route, do you notice that the greatest distance awakens the greatest illusions and that traveling alone is both a pleasure and a burden.”* Photographer Hirler relates his long, solitary tours in his panoramic images. They often lead him to southern regions; the Asian Pacific region is one of his primary destinations. But he also finds space in his work, which is regularly honored with exhibitions, books, and calendar editions, for the wooded landscapes of his native southern Germany – almost as much as for sprawling deserts, hidden river valleys, and venerable Asian temple complexes.

Hirler has also anchored part of his life and work in New Zealand; high-ranking galleries here also display his images. The true reason for his love of New Zealand, however, lies not only in his success there but also in the artist’s temperament. He calls the best thing about a “one-in-a-century day” being under an open sky with a camera, alone, “not a single person far and wide.” An experience one has seldom in Central Europe – but it is possible in New Zealand, as well as in Iceland, parts of central Spain, and all the areas of untouched nature Hirler tirelessly travels through. “The unknown landscape is enough reason to look for it”* Paul Theroux offers as an answer.

Hirler makes a lot of time for his photographic journeys to new regions, as he did most recently for the entire year of 2007. Hirler had a particular camera in his luggage. The heavy Technorama with a 6x17cm negative format captures images on black-and-white film – only four shots per roll – in hardly beatable brilliance. He often uses infrared materials and perfected filter combinations in order to convey a landscape’s strong sense of drama. In doing so, Hirler reinforces his encounters with nature in his shots, continues the dialogue in the darkroom, and only then, when it truly speaks to him, renders it in a photograph of the finest gray tones. It should tell of solitary wanderings through wide landscapes and their beauty. The phrase “bound to nature” is too insipid for Hirler’s devotedness; something much stronger penetrates the surfaces of his photographs: the unbound love of the visible world.

Horst Klöver

*From Patagonia Revisited by Bruce Chatwin and Paul Theroux, Houghton Mifflin, 1986

VITA

1954	born
1970-1973	studies photography
1978-1980	Master class, Bayrische Staatslehranstalt für Photographie, Munich, Germany
1979-heute	Technical tutor, Gewerbliche Schule, Bad Saulgau, Germany

Exhibitions

Das andere Amerika, cultural and conference center Vöhringen, Ulm, Germany

Castillos, cultural and conference center Vöhringen, Ulm, Germany

Tierra Magica, cultural and conference center Vöhringen, Ulm, Germany

Fragmente - Bilder aus Amerika, Berliner Palais, Unter den Linden, Berlin, Germany

Bilder aus Patagonien, LINHOF-Galerie, Munich, Germany

Castillos, LINHOF-Galerie, Munich, Germany

Schwarz-Weiss, Kunsträume Farmsen, Hamburg, Germany

Die Vergessenen, Werkstattgalerie Tam Uekermann, Cologne, Germany

Arcana Naturae, Haus der  Photographie, Hanover, Germany

Tierra Magica, Galerie Lände, Kressbronn, Germany

Tierra Magica, Fototage, Laupheim, Germany

Von Landschaft inspiriert, Schloss Achberg, Germany

Tierra Magica; and Mahnmale der Endlichkeit, Schloss Salem, Germany

Mahnmale der Endlichkeit, cultural center LINSE, Weingarten/Ravensburg, Germany

Castillos, Plassenburg, Kulmbach, Germany

Castillos, Primacolor, Jakarta, Indonesia

Tierra Magica; and Fragilitas, Rosenau, Kempten, Germany

Tierra Magica, City Hall, Würzburg, Germany

Castillos, Felix-Fechenbach-Haus, Würzburg, Germany

Castillos, Waaghaus, Ravensburg, Germany

Arcana Naturae, Museum Quadrat Bottrop, Germany

Castillos, Kreissparkasse Leutkirch, Germany

Mahnmale der Endlichkeit, Ecumenical Center of Learning Sanctclara, Mannheim, Germany

Photographien 1947-2004, byToni Schneiders and Helmut Hirler, Galerie Fähre Bad Saulgau, Germany

Castillos, Pasinger Fabrik, Munich , Germany

Tierra Magica, Markgrafenschloss Emmendingen, Germany

Zeit des Wartens, Ecumenical Center of Learning Sanctclara, Mannheim, Germany

Panorama Photographie, HOCHTIEF Galerie, Nuremberg, Germany

Wasser, Petrikirche, Kulmbach, Germany

Das Wasserprojekt 1, Reitstadl Neumarkt, Germany

Iceland, VHS-Photo Galerie, Stuttgart, Germany

River East Gallery, Greytown, New Zealand

Panorama, Tin Crab Gallery, Waikanae Beach, New Zealand

Flagstaff Gallery, Devonport, Auckland, New Zealand

Peter Reynolds Interiors, Rotorua, New Zealand

Galerie Kunst und Köstlich; and Neues Schloss, Kisslegg (Allgaeu), Germany

Aotearoa - Das Land der langen weißen Wolke - Bilder aus Neuseeland, Cultural Center LINSE, Weingarten/Ravensburg, Germany

Taylor Jensen Fine Arts, Palmerston North, New Zealand