About the German photographer, Heinz HAJEK-HALKE (1898-1983)

Heinz HAJEK-HALKE spent his childhood in Argentina. In 1915 he began studying at the Royal Art School in Berlin, which he had to interrupt a year later. In 1924 he began his first attempts at photography. In 1925 he was employed as a photographer by the Presse-Photo agency. There he worked with Willi RUGE and made his first editing and light montages. In 1948 he met Toni SCHNEIDERS and in 1949 became a member of the 'Fotoform' group and worked as a freelance photographer. From 1955 he was professor for photography and photo graphics at the University of Fine Arts (today: University of the Arts) in Berlin. In 1965 he received the DGPh Culture Prize and in 1978 the David Octavius ​​Hill Medal. He also became an honorary member of the Society of German Photographers. One of his students was the photographer Floris Michael NEUSÜSS (1937–2020).

Photo books by Heinz HAJEK-HALKE (a selection)

'Der Alchimist' (2012); 'Phantasie und Traum' (2008); 'Anarchist' (2006); 'Form aus Licht und Schatten' (2005); 'Abstract Pictures on film' (1965); 'Der große Unbekannte. Photographien 1925-1965' (1965); 'Lichtgrafik' (1964); 'Experimentelle Fotografie' (1955)


This book runs completely under the radar; for me it belongs in every good sorted photo journalistic library. While researches for a new image motif in art/photography of the early 20th century the editor collected interesting, often unknown material.
24,00 € *
'The Alchemist' is dedicated to the light graphics from the late work of Heinz HAJEK-HALKE. It shows him as an idiosyncratic designer in the context of abstract art after the Second World War, as a representative of Informel and the École de Paris.
38,00 € Weight 1.542 kg