20 Years Lothar Wolleh Estate

On the occasion of the 20th anniversary of the Lothar Wolleh Estate, Photonews, one of Germany’s leading photography magazines dedicated to photographic art, published an interview with Oliver Wolleh. The questions were asked by Anna Gripp.

The Lothar Wolleh Raum in Berlin is currently offering new insights into the photographic work of Lothar Wolleh (1930–1979) with the exhibition “René Magritte – The Last Portraits.” After training at the Berlin Lette-Verein and studying at the Folkwangschule in Essen, among others with Otto Steinert, Lothar Wolleh initially built a career as an advertising photographer in Düsseldorf. From 1963 onward he began photographing international artists and is today best known for his artist portraits.

That Wolleh’s photographs have not fallen into oblivion is largely thanks to Oliver Wolleh, the photographer’s son. A political scientist by training, Oliver Wolleh works full-time as head of the Europe Unit of the Berghof Foundation in Berlin, where he is engaged in peace research as well as dialogue and mediation between conflict parties, for example in the Caucasus. In 2003 he founded the Lothar Wolleh Estate, followed in 2019 by the opening of the Lothar Wolleh Raum in Berlin-Mitte.

Anna Gripp: Your father died very young. How old were you at the time? And what did the family do with the archive back then?

Oliver Wolleh: I had just turned fourteen. At the time we had two apartments: we lived in one, the other was used as a studio and laboratory. The first thing that happened was that the lab was dismantled and my sister got the room. No one spoke of an “archive” at the time; there were simply shelves full of folders, including Leitz binders with negatives and contact sheets, which I still have today. We moved several times afterwards, so the archive ended up in moving boxes stored in several different basements. 

Anna Gripp: Still, the family decided that the estate would move along with you and thus be preserved.

Oliver Wolleh: Yes, although I wasn’t involved in those decisions at the time. Meanwhile I have realized that my mother probably threw away some things during the moves. She regarded certain materials as very valuable, others—such as advertising work and early projects—less so. As a result, some fields of work simply disappeared, including printing templates for books.

Anna Gripp: What happened to the archive afterwards?

Oliver Wolleh: My mother also died early, and the archive remained in the basements of relatives for many years. Only when I moved into a larger apartment with a proper basement in 1998 with my current wife did I begin bringing the materials to Berlin. Among them were boxes with vintage prints stored in photo boxes. Looking back today, I realize that we were extremely lucky that the storage in different basements had worked out well.

Anna Gripp: Did you then offer the archive to institutions?

Oliver Wolleh: I offered the material to many people—not necessarily for sale at first, but rather for exhibitions. Some experts came to see it and said that it was an interesting oeuvre, but that it would require a lot of work. Only today do I fully understand how much work that really means. In 2005 we were able to realize the exhibition “Lothar Wolleh. A Rediscovery. Photographs 1959–1979.” Its first venue was the Kunsthalle Bremen. Wulf Herzogenrath took the lead there and was very encouraging to me at the time. The exhibition, together with the catalogue, laid the foundation for everything we do today.

Anna Gripp: What happened next?

Oliver Wolleh: After Bremen I realized that I had to take care of digitization myself—and that I was capable of doing it. I bought an Epson V700 scanner and gradually gained confidence in the technology. Through digitization I was able to review the work properly for the first time. But I also realized that I would have to spend every weekend scanning for years to accomplish it. So I sought help.

Anna Gripp: How did you come to the decision to open your own Lothar Wolleh Raum? That is quite a major commitment.

Oliver Wolleh: On the one hand it is indeed a big commitment. On the other hand, everything I had done before was already a commitment, so this step was simply the logical continuation.

Anna Gripp: All of this costs money. Do sales of vintage prints and new prints bring some of that money back?

Oliver Wolleh: I finance a great deal in advance. But I have one rule that has proven itself in every phase so far: whatever I spend eventually comes back. If I spend 10,000 euros, 10,000 euros come back. If I spend 30,000 euros, 30,000 euros come back. I call that breaking even—a red zero. There is always a deficit because I am always advancing the money first.

Anna Gripp: But you certainly don’t compensate for your own work in that equation.

Oliver Wolleh: You’re right about that. But Lothar Wolleh always finances himself. Even in Bremen we offered modern prints. And the better known he becomes, the more museums are interested in groups of works and vintage prints. The Staatsgalerie Stuttgart, for example, recently purchased forty-four works by Lothar Wolleh—the entire Beuys book.

Anna Gripp: This close connection between Lothar Wolleh and artists such as Beuys, Magritte, Man Ray, Moore or Uecker appeals to an art audience and therefore to other potential buyers—a major advantage.

Oliver Wolleh: That’s true. My father had very close relationships with many artists and conceived numerous project books. Some were published, others were not. In 2021 I reissued the artist’s book “Joseph Beuys, Lothar Wolleh – The Underwater Book Project.” This year, on the occasion of a major exhibition in Delft, an artist’s book will follow that had never been published before, which the Dutch artist Jan Schoonhoven and Lothar Wolleh developed together in 1971.

Anna Gripp: What significance does the René Magritte series you are currently showing in Berlin have?

Oliver Wolleh: The Magritte series was not originally intended for publication as a book; I would rather describe it as a kind of home story. In 1967 Wolleh visited Magritte several times in Brussels, photographing how he interacted with his paintings and visiting the family. Shortly afterwards Magritte died—hence “The Last Portraits.” Other artists were accompanied by Wolleh for years; with them he produced editions and books and exchanged photographs for artworks.

Anna Gripp: Does an exhibition like the current one on René Magritte also lead, for example, to the Magritte Foundation becoming aware of Wolleh’s photographs?

Oliver Wolleh: The Magritte Foundation uses our photos on its website and says that it holds the copyright to them.

Anna Gripp: At least your father’s name is credited there?

Oliver Wolleh: No. I have to clarify that, and in similar cases I have already contacted institutions. But then, out of fear of a huge lawsuit, the photographs are removed. Right now thousands of people see these portraits every month. I think that’s wonderful. One day the institutions themselves will realize that they should properly acknowledge Lothar Wolleh’s work.

Anna Gripp: Conversely, have you ever had trouble with rights holders of artists’ estates regarding image rights? I am thinking of the photographs by Ute Klophaus of Joseph Beuys; a book about them was prevented by his widow.

Oliver Wolleh: We have had zero problems. I also received the approval from Eva Beuys for the reissue of the Underwater Book. She could have blocked it, but she didn’t. The reason is quite simple: I do everything the way Lothar Wolleh himself did it. He always worked in close consultation with the artists. Mrs. Beuys and I think in similar ways. What the great guru said goes for both of us.

Anna Gripp: So when it comes to scans and new prints you also follow your father’s original selection?

Oliver Wolleh: Ninety-nine percent of the time. Slowly I allow myself the freedom to choose an alternative motif now and then.

Anna Gripp: A Lothar Wolleh monograph is announced on the website.

Oliver Wolleh: It is in preparation, but for that I need a major institution and a large retrospective as a point of departure. Only then does the monograph make sense. The book is practically finished, but new inquiries on other topics keep coming in, so the research continues—and that certainly benefits the monograph.

Anna Gripp: Are there already plans for exhibitions in 2024?

Oliver Wolleh: Of course—and we are becoming more and more international. For 2024 exhibitions are planned in Italy and France, which will also present the color work of Lothar Wolleh. I am particularly pleased that next year Lothar Wolleh will be represented with an entire group of works at the Biennale of the Museum of Contemporary Art in Herning (Denmark). Lothar Wolleh worked across Europe, including behind the Iron Curtain in Poland and the Soviet Union. So there are many points of connection. And there is still a great deal to show. 

The exhibition “René Magritte – The Last Portraits” can be seen until December 22, 2023 at the Lothar Wolleh Raum, Linienstraße 83A in Berlin.

The Museum Prinsenhof Delft has been presenting the exhibition “Lothar Wolleh Sees Jan Schoonhoven. Master of Rhythm and Light” since July 6, 2023 and until January 7, 2024.

The article originally appeared in Photonews, no. 9/23 (September 2023), 35th year.