Lothar Wolleh (1930 - 1979)

Lothar Wolleh

Lothar Wolleh is a German photographer.

Lothar Wolleh had a difficult fate: after the war he spent many years first in Allied captivity and then in the USSR, and only after returning to Berlin in 1956 was he able to resume his education at Lette-Verein, the school of photography, design and fashion.

As one of the most expensive and well-known photographers in the FRG of the 1960s, Wolleh worked successfully in fashion and advertising, collaborating with Deutsche Bundesbahn, Tchibo and Volkswagen. In 1969, Wolleh traveled around the Soviet Union for several months. Photographs taken on this trip were included in the illustrated book "The USSR - The Soviet State and its People", published in 1970.

But Wolleh's greatest fame and popularity came from his 109 portraits of contemporary artists. He began this series in the late 1960s and devoted all the following years of his life to it. His works are so recognizable and distinctive that they often became the reference portraits of the photographed artists.