Exhibition dates: 7th June – 22nd September 2019
Curator: Barbara Engelbach
Posted March 2020
Benjamin Katz (Belgian, b. 1939)
Untitled
1960-1961
From the series Berlin Havelhöhe (1960/1961)
Gelatin silver print
The eye of the law guards
I saw this TERRIFIC exhibition at Museum Ludwig while I was on my European photography research trip. None of the photographs are available online, so I am grateful that I took some iPhone installation images while I was there.
Tight, focused social documentary images that have real presence and power. They feel cooly and directly observed, essential, gritty, a unique take on an in/hospitable institution and the people in it. The word Havelhöhe translates to “hospital”. Katz was there for 18 months for the treatment of tuberculosis.
I admire the light, subject matter and the photographer’s point of view, his frontal and demanding perspective.
Dr Marcus Bunyan
.
All iPhone installation images taken by Marcus Bunyan. Please click n the photographs for a larger version of the image.
Installation views of the exhibition Benjamin Katz Berlin Havelhöhe, 1960/61 at the Museum Ludwig, Cologne
Benjamin Katz became known in the 1980s as a fixture of the art scene in West Germany. He took portraits of artists such as Georg Baselitz, James Lee Byars, A.R. Penck, Cindy Sherman, and Rosemarie Trockel, photographed the bustling art scene at openings, and documented the creation of major exhibitions such as Westkunst in Cologne in 1981, documenta 7 in Kassel in 1982, and von hier aus in Düsseldorf in 1984.
On the occasion of the eightieth birthday of Benjamin Katz (born on June 14, 1939, in Antwerp, Belgium), the Museum Ludwig will present his series of photographs Berlin Havelhöhe (1960/1961), which has never before been shown in its entirety. The series was recently acquired directly from the artist’s archive. Even before Katz devoted himself professionally to photography, he captured his surroundings in 1960 and 1961 during an eighteen-month stay at the Havelhöhe hospital. Suffering from tuberculosis, he spent his time there as a patient and photographed everyday life: his fellow patients, the hospital staff, the buildings built during the Nazi era as an air force academy, and the surrounding area. The photographs represent a socio-historical as well as an artistic and personoal document, since they record Katz’s beginnings as a photographer. Berlin Havelhöhe also exemplifies the image of the artist as a young man.
Director Yilmaz Dziewior: “The Museum Ludwig has a large collection of Katz’s portraits of artists spanning several decades. It also includes his extensive documentation of the 1981 exhibition Westkunst as well as photographs from the installation of many exhibitions. I am all the more delighted that we were able to acquire Berlin Havelhöhe, a significant early series by Katz. We would like express our warmest thanks for his trust and for sharing his memories with us.”
The entire series will be shown in the form of forty-one photographs printed in three different sizes and 318 vintage prints mounted on A4 paper. On the first floor, as part of the permanent collection, the Museum Ludwig will also present Katz’s well-known portraits of artists, which he took during his studio visits beginning in the 1980s, including Georg Baselitz, A.R. Penck, Gerhard Richter, and Rosemarie Trockel.
Benjamin Katz: Berlin Havelhöhe, 1960/1961 is the sixth presentation in the photography room, which since 2017 has featured changing selections of the approximately 70,000 works from the Museum Ludwig photography collection. The photography room is located in the permanent collection on the second floor.
Text from the gallery website [Online] Cited 04/03/2020
Installation view of the exhibition Benjamin Katz Berlin Havelhöhe, 1960/61 at the Museum Ludwig, Cologne
Benjamin Katz (Belgian, b. 1939)
Untitled
1960-1961
From the series Berlin Havelhöhe (1960/1961)
Gelatin silver print
Benjamin Katz (Belgian, b. 1939)
Untitled
1960-1961
From the series Berlin Havelhöhe (1960/1961)
Gelatin silver print
Installation view of the exhibition Benjamin Katz Berlin Havelhöhe, 1960/61 at the Museum Ludwig, Cologne
Benjamin Katz (Belgian, b. 1939)
Untitled
1960-1961
From the series Berlin Havelhöhe (1960/1961)
Gelatin silver print
Benjamin Katz (Belgian, b. 1939)
Untitled
1960-1961
From the series Berlin Havelhöhe (1960/1961)
Gelatin silver print
Benjamin Katz (Belgian, b. 1939)
Untitled
1960-1961
From the series Berlin Havelhöhe (1960/1961)
Gelatin silver print
Installation view of the exhibition Benjamin Katz Berlin Havelhöhe, 1960/61 at the Museum Ludwig, Cologne
Benjamin Katz (Belgian, b. 1939)
Untitled
1960-1961
From the series Berlin Havelhöhe (1960/1961)
Gelatin silver print
Benjamin Katz (Belgian, b. 1939)
Untitled
1960-1961
From the series Berlin Havelhöhe (1960/1961)
Gelatin silver print
Benjamin Katz (Belgian, b. 1939)
Untitled
1960-1961
From the series Berlin Havelhöhe (1960/1961)
Gelatin silver print
Benjamin Katz (Belgian, b. 1939)
Untitled
1960-1961
From the series Berlin Havelhöhe (1960/1961)
Gelatin silver print
Installation view of the exhibition Benjamin Katz Berlin Havelhöhe, 1960/61 at the Museum Ludwig, Cologne
Benjamin Katz (Belgian, b. 1939)
Untitled
1960-1961
From the series Berlin Havelhöhe (1960/1961)
Gelatin silver print
Benjamin Katz (Belgian, b. 1939)
Untitled
1960-1961
From the series Berlin Havelhöhe (1960/1961)
Gelatin silver print
Benjamin Katz (Belgian, b. 1939)
Untitled
1960-1961
From the series Berlin Havelhöhe (1960/1961)
Gelatin silver print
Benjamin Katz (Belgian, b. 1939)
Untitled
1960-1961
From the series Berlin Havelhöhe (1960/1961)
Gelatin silver print
Benjamin Katz (Belgian, b. 1939)
Untitled
1960-1961
From the series Berlin Havelhöhe (1960/1961)
Gelatin silver print
Benjamin Katz (Belgian, b. 1939)
Untitled
1960-1961
From the series Berlin Havelhöhe (1960/1961)
Gelatin silver print
Benjamin Katz (Belgian, b. 1939)
Untitled
1960-1961
From the series Berlin Havelhöhe (1960/1961)
Gelatin silver print
Some of the text translates as: ‘The English finder’ (bottom left) and ‘The eye of the law guards’ (centre)
Benjamin Katz (Belgian, b. 1939)
Untitled
1960-1961
From the series Berlin Havelhöhe (1960/1961)
Gelatin silver print
Benjamin Katz (Belgian, b. 1939)
Untitled
1960-1961
From the series Berlin Havelhöhe (1960/1961)
Gelatin silver print
Installation view of the exhibition Benjamin Katz Berlin Havelhöhe, 1960/61 at the Museum Ludwig, Cologne
Benjamin Katz (Belgian, b. 1939)
Untitled
1960-1961
From the series Berlin Havelhöhe (1960/1961)
Gelatin silver print
Benjamin Katz (Belgian, b. 1939)
Untitled
1960-1961
From the series Berlin Havelhöhe (1960/1961)
Gelatin silver print
Benjamin Katz (Belgian, b. 1939)
Untitled
1960-1961
From the series Berlin Havelhöhe (1960/1961)
Gelatin silver print
Benjamin Katz (Belgian, b. 1939)
Untitled
1960-1961
From the series Berlin Havelhöhe (1960/1961)
Gelatin silver print
Benjamin Katz (Belgian, b. 1939)
Untitled
1960-1961
From the series Berlin Havelhöhe (1960/1961)
Gelatin silver print
Museum Ludwig
Heinrich-Böll-Platz, 50667 Köln, Germany
Opening hours:
Tuesday through Sunday: 10 am – 6 pm
Museum Ludwig website