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Hein Gorny
Hein Gorny (* 21. April 1904 in Witten; † 14. June 1967 in Hannover, Germany) was a German photographer who worked, in the spirit of the New Objectivity, in the areas of advertising, portrait, animal, object, industrial and experimental photography.

Biography
In 1922 Hein Gorny moved to Hanover after aborting his apprenticeship as a carpenter. There he was in touch with the “ Kröpcke-Kreis” and had the opportunity to meet Hanns Krenz the director of the Kestnergesellschaft. Two years later during a journey through Italy and Egypt he took his first photographs. Thanks to Hanns Krenz´s mediation these photographs were published in the Hannoverschen Anzeiger. 1925 Hein Gorny portrayed the well-known philosopher Theodor Lessing in Hanover. During this meeting he also met his daughter Ruth Lessing. Who became his future wife. A further significant meeting was in 1927 when Hein Gorny got to know Albert Renger-Patzsch. In this period the photographer was preparing an exhibition for the Kestnergesellschaft. Hein Gorny was self-taught when he started working as a photographer and obtained his first commissions. He opened his own photo studio and established contacts with the intellectual circle of Hanover. One year later he was travelling with Erich Ohser and Erich Kästner to Leningrad and Moscow.

Hein Gorny moved to Berlin with Ruth Lessing in 1931. They got married one year later. Theodor Lessing, Gornys father-in-law was assassinated in Marienbad 1933. Further to this event Hein Gorny tried to obtain a work permit in Paris without success. Thanks to an introduction he worked during the winter months for the cultural department of St Moritz. In the meantime he went back to Hanover for several reportages and advertising jobs for example commissions by Bahlsen, Pelikan and Feldmühle. 1935 Hein Gorny and his wife moved to Lindenallee 4 in Berlin and in the same year their son Peter Hanns was born. Together with the photographer Karl Theodor Gremmler he took over Lotte Jacobi’s studio, Kurfürstendamm 35, after she emigrated to the USA. Ruth Gorny administrated the archive and executed photographic laboratory works. Hein Gorny is appointed as a member of the Society of German Art Photographers (Gesellschaft Deutscher Lichtbildner) and will be a member between 1936 and 1938.

In 1938 a publication in the magazine Das Schwarze Korps using a photograph by Hein Gorny triggered a denunciation. The Reichpressekammer demanded him to divorce his Jewish wife, which he refused to do. Funded by the publishing house Bruckmann-Verlag he went to New York where he tried to begin a new life while his wife was preparing the departure and selling the studio. However the plan to immigrate to the USA was no’t successful because Ruth did not receive a residence permit. Back in 1939 in Germany he worked in the reacquired photo studio. His daughter Katrin Barbara was born this year.

1941 Hein Gorny was classified as “unworthy to serve the military” because of his marriage to a Jewish woman. However he managed to continue working as a photographer, despite restriction. His friend Werner Kube, who worked for the Bruckman-Verlag was instrumental in Gorny being hiered to do a book on mountain infantrymen in 1942. This assignment resulted in his being released from mandatory Labor Service. 1943 a bomb hit the house in Kurfürstendamm 35. His photo studio wasn´t directly damaged but the water used to extinguish the fire destroyed a part of the negative archive. In 1944 the family house was destroyed. In January 1945 Hein Gorny divorced Ruth and married his studio assistant Bayerle. In April of the same year he moved with his new wife to Caputh, where on the 25th of April he was arrested by the sowjet troops as a civil prisoner. He was liberated mid of May and decided to go back to Berlin. He divorced Bayerle and in autumn he remarried Ruth but in 1946 they divorced again.

During the following years the worked in art trade and for a brief period he was a copartner of a commercial photo studio in Kassel. Because of an illness that he contracted during the war he went in 1957 to a clinic in Ilten. There he pursued a few photographic activities but could not complete any new project. Further to a fire in his apartment Hein Gorny was severely injured and died on the 14th of June 1967.

Work and Reception
Hein Gorny produced advertising photographs in the spirit of the New Objectivcity for several companies based in Hanover, for example Bahlsen, and Pelikan, AEG and Feldmühle. In 1929 he cooperated with Kurt Schwitters on an assignment for Üstra, the public transportation services of Hanover. Gorny´s photographies illustrated the tramway street signs designed by Kurt Schwitters with MERZ an the agency he had founded. Schwitter´s design replaced the old Üstra’s enamel signs. Between 1930 and 1940 many photographs by Hein Gorny were published in the magazines Arts et Métiers Ggraphiques as well as Photographie and Photocinégraphie published by Arts et Métiers Graphiques as well as in Gebrauchsgraphik: International Advertising Art, today called Novum. Hein Gorny is the most represented photographer of his time in Photographie magazine with 29 full-page images.During the time when he lived in Berlin Hein Gorny illustrated many books with animals and landscape photographs. In the 1930s the worked with the writer Paul Eipper on several publications for example “Die gelbe Dogge Senta” published in 1936. Two years later his most famous book “Ein Pferdebuch” (A horse book) was released with a foreword by Wolf von Baudissin and reprinted nine times. “Ein Hundebuch” (A dog book) first published in 1941 was also a success and reprinted three times. During this period Hein Gorny was also working as a fashion photographer and a series of swimwear/swinsuitt fashion photographs was taken in Prerow. Gonrys Oeuvre was varied and embraced a broad spectrum of subjects. For instance in 1935 he was committed to photograph Hans-Hasso von Veltheim's castle in Ostrau and his dogs. 1935, he was chosen by Feldmühle, the largest german paper manufacturer of the time, to make the photographs of the jubilee publication for the 50 years of the company. Over 240 photographs were taken in many different production sites. In 1938 the jubilee publication of the company Pelikan was also published with his photographs and in 1939 the company Bahlsen employed him for its publication. A further publication was planned for the ROGO company (stockings) as Hein Gorny took many photographs in 1942-1943 but the book remained unpublished. In 1945 and 1946 Gorny together with the American photographer Adolph C. Byers, photographed the ruins of Berlin form the air and on the ground. However, the plan of publishing the picture series as a book, titled “ In Memoriam”, could not be realized.

The Spectrum Photogalerie - under the direction of Heinrich Riesbesehl - in Hanover dedicated its opening exhibition in 1972 to a retrospective about the photographic oeuvre of Hein Gorny.

Most of his works arenow mostly kept at the Bildarchiv Preußischer Kulturbesitz, the Berlinische Galerie and Collection Regard Berlin. Further photographs are housed in the Museum Folkwang in Essen, the Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe in Hamburg as well as the Museum of Modern Art in San Francisco. Marc Barbey manages the estate of Hein Gorny since 2011.

Exhibitions
•            1930 Munich „Das Lichtbild“

•            1935 Paris „Salon International d´Art Photographique“

•            1936 Paris « Exposition Internationale de la Photographie Contemporaine » (Musée des Arts Décoratifs, Pavillon de Marsan)

•            1972 Hanover (Spectrum Photogalerie, heute im Sprengel Museum Hannover)

•            1973 Hamburg (Landesbildstelle Hamburg)

•            1975 Hanover (Spectrum Photogalerie, heute im Sprengel Museum Hannover)

•            1982 Berlin (Berlinische Galerie)

•            1997 Bonn (Kunst- und Ausstellungshalle der Bundesrepublik Deutschland)

•            2011 Berlin Hommage à Berlin (Collection Regard)

•            2012 Berlin Hein Gorny und Heinrich Riebesehl: Hein Gorny in der Spectrum Photogalerie Hannover, 1972 (Collection Regard)

•            2014 Berlin "Vom allzu flüchtigen Reiz der Bewegung" Peter Thomann & Hein Gorny (Collection Regard)

•            2015 Bologna "Hein Gorny, New Objectivity and Industry" part of Foto/Industria festival (Genus Bononiae / Museo della Storia di Bologna)

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•            2015 Berlin « Art in Berlin 1880-1980. From the Collection » (Berlinische Galerie)

•            2015 Arles « Collection Regard - Salon Photographique » (FOTOHAUS ParisBerlin Fotogroup)

•            2015 Berlin « Europe under construction: Berlin 1945-2015 » (Galerie 36)

•            2016 Berlin "Hein Gorny, New Objectivity and Industry" (Collection Regard)

•            2016 Moscow "Hein Gorny, New Objectivity and Industry" (Multimedia Art Museum Moscow, Photobiennale 2016)

•            2016 Arles « Collection Regard - Salon Photographique » (FOTOHAUS ParisBerlin Fotogroup)

•            2016 Paris "Natur und Industrie“ – Manfred Paul & Hein Gorny (Galerie Binome)

·            2017 Arles Collection Regard – Salon Photographique (FOTOHAUS)

·            2018 Hannover ''Revonnah. Kunst der Avantgarde in Hannover 1912-1933'' (Sprengel Museum)

·      2018 Hamburg ''[SPACE] STREET. LIFE. PHOTOGRAPHY. SEVEN DECADES OF STREET PHOTOGRAPHY'' (Deichtorhallen Hamburg) im Rahmen der Triennale der Photographie Hamburg

·      2018 Arles Collection Regard – Salon Photographique (FOTOHAUS)

·      2019 Paris PHOTO: HEIN GORNY (Librairie Métamorphoses/Collection Regard)

Hein Gornys Photographs in Books
•            Wolf H. Döring: Bildnisse – drinnen und draußen. Halle 1939.

•            Paul Eipper: Prangender Sommer im deutschen Wald. Berlin 1933.

•            Paul Eipper: Dein Wald. Herbst und Winter. Berlin 1937.

•            Paul Eipper: Liebe zum Tier. Erlebtes und Geschautes. Berlin 1937.

•            Paul Eipper: Die gelbe Dogge Senta. Munich 1951.

•            Hein Gorny: Die Chronik der Feldmühle. Stettin 1935.

•            Hein Gorny/ Karl Thurner: Der Haflinger - Unser deutsches Bergpferd. Munich 1942.

•            Hein Gorny: Ein Pferdebuch. Munich, 1938 (mit einem Vorwort von Wolf von Baudissin).

•            Hein Gorny: Ein Hundebuch. Munich, 1941 (mit einem Vorwort von Wolf von Baudissin).

•            Hein Gorny, H. E. Trieb: Fotoerfolg am Badestrand. Halle, 1941.

•            Julius Kempf: Buntes Trachtenbüchlein Oberbayern. Munich 1954.

•            Ilse Obrig: Dackel Jüttje und das Katzenkind. Stuttgart 1952.

•            Schule der Farben-Fotografie. (HG) Hans Windisch. Seebruck am Chiemsee 1952

•            H. L. Oeser: Das Nieverlorene Paradies. Aus deutschen Wäldern, Wiesen und Gärten. Ein Bildwerk vom Pflanzenreich. Berlin 1934.

•            Hanns Reich: Pferd. Ein terra magica Bildband. Düsseldorf 1967.

•            Reichsinnungsverband des Schlosserhandwerks Berlin (HG.):Der Schlüssel erschließt Ihnen Interessantes für die Gestaltung von Haus, Heim     und Hof.[Werbeschrift]. Berlin. O.J.

•            Alexander Schmook: Im grünen Revier – Jagd – und Tiergeschichten. Berlin 1936.

•            Georg Thurmaier, Josef Rick: Das helle Segel. Freiburg 1936.

•            H. E. Trieb: Durch Wald und Flur. Halle, 1939.

•            Karl Zorn: Im Westerwald und Taunus: Aus den Erlebnissen und Erinnerungen eines Wildmeisters. Hamburg/Berlin 1966.

•            Martin Knechtges, Jörg Schenuit (Hrsg.): Fuge (Zeitschrift). Journal für Religion und Moderne. Irritierende Kräfte. Eros & Paideia. Band 10, Paderborn 2012.

•            Günther Wagner (Hrsg.): "Firmengeschichte, Wirtschaftsgeschichte, Schreibgeräte, Kataloge - Pelikan". Hanover 1938.

•            Jacques, Norbert: „Bahlsen Keksfabrik 1889-1939. Zum 50.Geburtstag des Bestehens.“. Hanover 1939.

Catalogues
•            Hein Gorny. Hanover 1972. (Cat. Spectrum Photogalerie)

•            La Photographie sous la Republique de Weimar. Une exposition de l`Institut pour les Relations Culturelles avec l´Etranger (Institut für Auslandsbeziehungen). Stuttgart 1980.

•            Van Deren Coke: Avantgarde Photography in Germany, 1919-1939. Munich 1982. P.68/69.

•            Berlin fotografisch: Fotografie in Berlin 1860-1982. Berlin 1982. (cat. Berlinische Galerie)

•            Photographische Perspektiven aus den Zwanziger Jahren ( 20er Jahre ). Exhibition catalogue 1994 at Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe in Hamburg. Foreword Wilhelm Hornbostel. From the serie „Dokumente der Photographie“, Vol 4. Hamburg 1994.

•            Deutsche Fotografie. Macht eines Mediums 1870-1970. Cologne 1997. (Cat. Kunst- und Ausstellungshalle BRD, Bonn)

•            Und sie haben Deutschland verlassen...müssen. Fotografen und ihre Bilder 1928-1997. Bonn 1997. (Cat. Rheinisches Landesmuseum)

•            Hommage à Berlin. Hein Gorny – Adolph C. Byers – Friedrich Seidenstücker. Berlin 2011. (Cat. Collection Regard) ISBN 978-3-00-033886-1

•            Hein Gorny und Heinrich Riebesehl: Hein Gorny in der Spectrum Photogalerie Hannover, 1972. Berlin 2012. (Cat. Collection Regard) ISBN 978-3-00-03955-67

•            Hein Gorny, New Objectivity and Industry Berlin 2015. (Cat. Collection Regard)

·      PHOTO: HEIN GORNY Berlin 2019. (Kat. Collection Regard)

Magazines
•            Westermanns Monatshefte 77. Jahrgang 153. Band 1. und 2.Teil September 1932 bis Februar 1933. Heft 913-918. Braunschweig 1932.

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•            „Arts et Metiers Graphiques. Photographie“. Paris 1932, 1933-1934, 1935, 1936, 1937, 1938, 1939.

•            „Arts et Metiers Graphiques. Photocinegraphie“. Paris 1933, 1934, 1935, 1936.

•            „Das Deutsche Lichtbild (1936). Jahresschau 1936“. Berlin 1934.

•            „Das Deutsche Lichtbild (1936). Jahresschau 1936“. Berlin 1935.

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•            „Arts et Metiers Graphiques“. Paris 1936.

•            „Fotorat auf Reisen“. Fotoerfolg am Badestrand. Bd. 8 (HG) Wilhelm Knapp. Halle 1937.

•            „. Die Wehrmacht. Sonderausgabe Manöver 1937. (HG) Reichskriegsministerium. Berlin 1937.

•            „Fotorat auf Reisen“. Kamera auf Skiern.Bd.9 (HG) Wilhelm Knapp. Halle 1937.

•            „Das Deutsche Lichtbild (1938). Jahresschau 1938“. Berlin/Stuttgart 1938.

•            „Volk und Welt. H2/ Februar 1939. Deutschlands Monatsbuch“. Hanover 1939. (HG. Oppermann)

•            „Fotorat auf Reisen“. Durch Wald und Flur. Bd. 11 (HG) H.E.Trieb. Halle 1939.

•            „Photo Conseil“. Belles photos de plages. Bd. 5 (HG) Wilhelm Knapp. Halle 1942.

•            Fotogeschichte, Heft 73: Klingbeil, Almut: Theodor Lessing, Hein Gorny und die Neue Sachlichkeit. Fotogeschichte. Beiträge zur Geschichte und Ästhetik der Fotografie. Marburg Bd. 19 (1999), 73, P.29-38.

DGPh intern (D) Jahranf 25/mar. 2002.

Lexicon
•            Auer, M.: Encyclopédie Internationale des Photographes de 1839 à nos jours. Hermance 1985.

•            Auer, M.: Auer Index. Hermance 1992.

•            Breuille, J.-P.: Dictionnaire de la photo. Paris 1996.

•            Kirschbaum, J.: Lexikon der Fotografen. Frankfurt am Main 1981.

•            Koetzle, H.-M.: Das Lexikon der Fotografen 1900 bis heute. München

•            Misselbeck, R.: Prestel-Lexikon der Fotografen. Von den Anfängen 1839 bis zur Gegenwart. München/ Berlin/ London/ New York 2002.

Collection M. + M. Auer:une histoire de la photographie. Hermance (CH) 2003

Renaud Vercouter, Max von Bismarck,Chaussée 36:Europe under construction, Berlin 1945-2015. Berlin 2015.

Weblinks
•            Hein Gorny at Collection Regard

•            Hein Gorny at Fotografenwiki

•            Hein Gorny at Spiegel Online