Lothar Wolleh

Lothar Wolleh (January 20, 1930 – September 28, 1979) was a well-known German photographer.

Until the end of the sixties, Lothar Wolleh worked as a commercial photographer. He took portraits of international contemporary painters, sculptors and performance artists. Altogether, he photographed about 109 artists, including known personalities such as Georg Baselitz, Joseph Beuys, Dieter Roth, Jean Tinguely, René Magritte, Günther Uecker, Gerhard Richter, Edward Kienholz, Otto Piene, and Christo.

Lothar Wolleh spent his youth in a Germany stamped by war and Nazism. In the years from 1946 to 1948 he studied "concrete painting" in the elementary school class at the Hochschule für angewandte Kunst in Berlin-Weißensee.

As a young man, he was arrested by the Russian occupying forces on suspicion of spying, and was condemned to 15 years forced labour and underground mining in Siberia. After serving 6 years at the Russian punishment camp Vorkuta, he was able to return to Berlin due to successful negotiations concerning German prisoners of war.

After his return from prison, from 1956 to 1957 Wolleh obtained an education in the Lette-Verein, a continuation school for photography, design and fashion in Berlin. He took part in a regular monthly recovery program of the World Council of Churches for war-disabled youth. This program made it possible for him to visit the Swedish island of Gotland in 1958, which was a motivation for his lifelong strong affinity towards Sweden, its culture, landscape and people.

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