HEGE, Walter

About German photographer, Walter HEGE (1893-1955)

Walter HEGE was a photographer, cameraman, painter and director and from 1930 to 1935 a lecturer at the State Academy of Crafts and Architecture in Weimar. He studied portrait photography under Hugo ERFURTH at the Dresden Academy of Art between 1918 and 1929. After completing his studies, he worked as a freelance photographer in Naumburg. In 1925, in collaboration with the art historian Wilhelm Pinder, he published a volume each on the Naumburg and Bamberg cathedrals in the field of architectural photography. These two volumes established his reputation as one of the most important authors of art-historical illustrated books of his time and as one of the most important art-producing photographers in the field of buildings and sculptures. In collaboration with Richard Hamann, he published a book on Olympic art in 1936. As a director and cameraman, he worked with Leni RIEFENSTAHL, among others. The partly propagandistic execution of his works during the National Socialist era meant that he was associated with the National Socialist world view. In 1947, he moved to Braunschweig, where he continued to work as a photographer. Since his death in 1955, his estate has been spread over several locations, the majority of which has been in Cologne since 1961. Further works can be found in the Bildarchiv Foto Marburg and, since 1991, in the Stadtmuseum Naumburg.

Photo books by and with works by Walter HEGE

• 'Der Naumburger Dom und seine Bildwerke' (The Naumburg Cathedral and its sculptures, 1925); 'Deutsche Raubvögel' (German Birds of Prey, 1933); 'Der Bamberger Dom und seine Bildwerke' (The Bamberg Cathedral and its sculptures, 1935); 'Olympia' (1936); 'Olympische Kunst' (Olympic Art, 1936); 'Griechische Tempel' (Greek Temples, 1941, 1951); 'Akropolis' (1956);'Dom. Tempel. Skulptur. Architekturphotographien von Walter Hege' (Cathedral. Temple. Sculpture. Architectural photographs by Walter Hege, 1993); 'Walter Hege und Herbert List. Griechische Tempelarchitektur in photographischer Inszenierung' (Greek temple architecture in photographic staging, 2003);

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