Exhibition: ‘Chargesheimer’ at Museum Ludwig, Cologne, Germany

Exhibition dates: 27th April – 10th November, 2024

Presentation in the Photography Room

Cu­ra­tor: Bar­bara En­gel­bach

Chargesheimer (Carl-Heinz Hargesheimer, German 1924-1971)
77. Deutscher Katholikentag, Köln (German Catholic Day)
1956
Gelatin silver paper
29.6 x 39.6cm
Museum Ludwig, Cologne
Reproduction: Rheinisches Bildarchiv Köln

A special event in Cologne was the 77th Catholic Day in 1956. It attracted over 800,000 people to the closing rally. Konrad Adenauer gave a speech at the time as Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany. Chargesheimer does not show the reason for the crowd, but the mass that forms an uncanny formation when it raises its right hand in greeting. In other photographs, the crowd appears to consist of individual people in random constellations.

I was born in 1958. Britain was still recovering from the privations of the Second World War with rationing not ending until mid-1954. Germany was a divided country, West and East, with communism an ever present threat across the border. The Iron Curtain.

Chargesheimer’s objective street photographs picture a Germany which remembers (is embedded in) the horrors of the past even as it strives to create a new future. His images document the immediacy of this world of darkness and light in dystopian and utopian scenes… as though people are dreamt into strange, fractured cities.

In dystopian photographs such as Hinterhof, Cologne (Around 1957, below) and Unter Krahnenbäumen, Cologne (Before 1958, below), Chargesheimer “captured the mountains of rubble in expressionistic images; the bombed-out ruins of houses radiate a gloomy blackness. Dark backgrounds and harsh contrasts can also be found in his portrait photos.” Illicit, fleeting intimacies and remembrances stain the photographs.

In seemingly mundane utopian photographs, Chargesheimer’s charged eye observes the conflation of the everyday and the absurd: the conformity of suit, tie, dress and handbag in Cologne (Around 1957, below) or the shredded paper being spread by the woman for the celebration of Corpus Christi in Ohne Titel (Konfetti streuendes Mädchen) (c. 1956-1957, below) in an almost empty street, the vanishing point leading off into an interminable, indeterminate distance.

“Chargesheimer takes an interest in people and their lives. This is reflected in the long series of images of individual people and their situations. He photographs a boisterous woman in a top hat in a bar, a couple with a dog in an inn, people decorating the street with flowers and shredded paper for Corpus Christi. Chargesheimer’s careful selection and editing bring the photographs to life. You can immerse yourself in them like in a neo-realist film from the 1950s.” (Text from Museum Ludwig)

Chargesheimer’s documentary visual style (his everyday language of light and life) has a hard cutting edge, sharpened by Germany’s political and social situation – that macrocosmos reduced and intensified in the microcosmic theatre of the street. His photographs alter both spatial and temporal perceptions through their “topographic immediacy… plung[ing] viewers into the nearly real-time plight of believable and flawed protagonists.”1

The drama of the streets. Dark and light. Such is life.

Dr Marcus Bunyan

1/ Ara H. Merjian, Rhiannon Noel Welch. “It’s a Neorealist World,” on the Art In America website September 22, 2020 [Online] Cited 01/11/2024

Many thankx to Museum Ludwig for allowing me to publish the photographs in the posting. Please click on the photographs for a larger version of the image.

“Durch Straßen wie diese führte mein Schulweg, sieben Jahre lang; viele tausend Male bin ich durch solche Straßen gegangen, aber nie in sie eingedrungen; erst viel später – in der Erinnerung begriff ich, was Straßen wie diese bedeuten, ich begriff es, wie man plötzlich Träume begreift, wenn ich in fremden Städten stundenlang durch Straßen ging und eine wie diese suchte, aber nicht fand.”

“My way to school led through streets like these for seven years; I walked through such streets many thousands of times, but never entered them; only much later – in memory – did I understand what streets like these meant, I understood it in the way one suddenly understands dreams when I walked for hours through streets in strange cities and looked for one like this but did not find it.”

Heinrich Böll Streets Like These (1958) from Unter Krahnenbäumen. Bilder aus einer Straße. Mit einem Text von Heinrich Böll (Unter Krahnenbäumen. Pictures from a street. With a text by Heinrich Böll) (Google Translate of the German)

Intimate moments and the rough Rhineland: under the pseudonym Chargesheimer, Carl-Heinz Hargesheimer became a photography legend in post-war Cologne. The Museum Ludwig celebrates the 100th birthday of the former citizen.

He captured the mountains of rubble in expressionistic images; the bombed-out ruins of houses radiate a gloomy blackness. Dark backgrounds and harsh contrasts can also be found in his portrait photos. For example, on the famous “Spiegel” cover photo from 1956 with a portrait of Chancellor Konrad Adenauer, which for some was all too diabolical and therefore damaging to the election campaign. Romy Schneider and Jean-Paul Belmondo were later better off.

His early death remains a mystery to this day. Chargesheimer died on New Year’s Eve 1971, probably taking his own life. He was only 47 years old.

Installation views of the exhibition Chargesheimer, Museum Ludwig, Köln 27. 4. – 10.11.2024 showing in the bottom image Chargesheimer’s Große Vitrine (Gebetsmühle) (Large display case (prayer wheel)) Nd
Photo: Rheinisches Bildarchiv Köln/Marc Weber

On May 19, 2024, Cologne pho­to­g­ra­pher Karl Heinz Hargesheimer, who was known as Chargesheimer (1924-1971), would have turned one hun­dred. To cele­brate the cen­te­nary of his birth, Museum Lud­wig will dis­play a se­lec­tion of around fif­ty of his works in the Pho­tog­ra­phy Room. Chargesheimer rose to fame with his pho­to books Cologne in­time and Un­ter Krah­nen­bäu­men, both of which fo­cus on ev­ery­day life in Cologne. The pre­sen­ta­tion in­cludes for­ty-three pic­tures tak­en within the con­text of th­ese two se­ries. Two videos allow vis­i­tors to ac­cess the con­tents of the pho­to books. In ad­di­tion, the presen­ta­tion in­cludes three of Chargesheimer’s lesser-known sculptures called Med­i­ta­tions­mühlen (Med­i­ta­tion Wheels) and six of his abstract photograph­ic ex­per­i­ments.

In 1957 Chargesheimer’s pho­to­graphs were pub­lished in Cologne in­time, a pho­to book or­ganised by Hans Sch­mitt-Rost, the then di­rec­tor of the Nachricht­e­namt, or news agen­cy, in Cologne. Chargesheimer was tasked with tak­ing rep­re­sen­ta­tive images of the re­con­struc­tion of the ci­ty, which had been re­duced to ruins in the war, as well as de­pict­ing the “typ­i­cal” residents of Cologne. The pho­to­graphs contribut­ed by Chargesheimer reflect his unu­su­al, di­rect view of ev­ery­day life. In his 1958 book, Un­ter Krah­nen­bäu­men, which he or­ganised him­self as an inde­pen­dent pro­ject, he jux­ta­posed sim­i­lar pho­to­graphs in stark­ly con­trast­ing se­ries of mo­tifs. This doc­u­men­ta­tion tells the un­var­nished truth while af­fec­tio­nate­ly ex­plor­ing the street in Cologne whose name is fea­tured in the book’s ti­tle. Chargesheimer shows life in the streets and in the bars of a live­ly Cologne neigh­bour­hood that was still in­tact. Ger­man writ­er Hein­rich Böll wrote in the fore­word to this publi­ca­tion, “Streets like this one are per­haps the on­ly places where peo­ple re­al­ly live.”

Chargesheimer pur­sued many in­ter­ests. Along­side his doc­u­men­tary studies, he in­vesti­gat­ed pho­tog­ra­phy as an im­age-pro­duc­ing medi­um. In the late 1940s, he be­gan ex­per­i­ment­ing with light graph­ics and pho­to­chem­i­cal process­es and cre­at­ing pho­to­graphs with­out a cam­era. Chargesheimer described his ex­per­i­ments with pho­to­graph­ic plates and neg­a­tives in a text ac­com­pany­ing his first ex­hi­bi­tion in Mi­lan in 1950: “Pan­n­ing, wip­ing, scrap­ing, cool­ing, burn­ing – ad­d­ing acids, bas­es, col­ours, and var­nish­es.” Th­ese ex­per­i­ments re­sult­ed in pain­ter­ly works in the style of Art In­formel that was pre­va­lent at the time.

In 1967 Chargesheimer be­gan cre­at­ing ki­net­ic works called Med­i­ta­tions­mühlen (Med­i­ta­tion Wheels) made of Plexi­glas. Three of th­ese works from the col­lec­tion of the Mu­se­um Lud­wig will be pre­sent­ed in the ex­hi­bi­tion for the first time in thir­ty years. Con­sist­ing of mul­ti­ple lev­els of crys­tal­line elements made of Plexi­glas, the dome-shaped con­struc­tions are put in­to motion through a com­plex sys­tem of gears. The be­wilder­ing va­ri­e­ty of light re­flex­es from Plexi­glas prisms cre­ates an unu­su­al con­trast to the pre­cise me­chan­ics of the gears. Chaos and con­trol seem to com­ple­ment one another here.

Chargesheimer

On May 19, 2024, the Cologne photographer Chargesheimer (1924-1971), born Karl Heinz Hargesheimer, would have celebrated his hundredth birthday. To mark the occasion, the Museum Ludwig is showing a selection of around fifty of his works. Chargesheimer rose to fame with his photobooks Cologne intime and Unter Krahnenbäumen, which are dedicated to the city of Cologne. In them, he casts a singular and incisive gaze on everyday events. These images convey the artist’s attentive and empathetic approach to photographing the day-to-day lives of people in the various neighbourhoods he documented.

Chargesheimer explored photography’s diverse possibilities. In addition to his documentary work, he utilised photography’s potential as a pictorial medium. In the late 1940s, he began experimenting with light graphics and photochemical processes to produce cameraless photographs. The resulting images are painterly and abstract. From 1967, Chargesheimer also created kinetic sculptures made of Plexiglas, which he called Meditation Wheels.

Press release from Museum Ludwig

Chargesheimer (Carl-Heinz Hargesheimer, German 1924-1971)
Formlose Mitte (Shapeless Center)
1949
Gelatin silver paper, light graphics
59.6 x 47.7cm
Museum Ludwig, Cologne
Reproduction: Rheinisches Bildarchiv Köln

Chargesheimer (Carl-Heinz Hargesheimer, German 1924-1971)
Untitled
Around 1950
Gelatin silver paper, light graphics, mixed media
59.8 x 49.7cm
Museum Ludwig, Cologne
Reproduction: Rheinisches Bildarchiv Köln

Chargesheimer (Karl-Heinz Hargesheimer, German 1924-1971)
Ohne Titel (Konfetti streuendes Mädchen)
Untitled (girl scattering confetti)
c. 1956-1957
Museum Ludwig, Cologne

Chargesheimer (Karl-Heinz Hargesheimer, German 1924-1971)
Fußballplatz (Football field)
1957
From: Im Ruhrgebiet (In the Ruhr area)
Museum Ludwig, Cologne
Reproduction: Rheinisches Bildarchiv, Köln

Cologne intime, 1957

In the mid-1950s, Chargesheimer photographed different views of Cologne for his photobook Cologne intime. Hans Schmitt-Rost, then head of the municipal news agency in Cologne, had commissioned him to document the successful reconstruction of the city. At the same time, he was to capture images of “typical” local residents. Chargesheimer photographed streets with empty properties cleared of rubble and the prominent new buildings in the city centre. His photographs show crowds of people on the main shopping streets, at the 77th Catholic Convention in Deutz in 1956, and at the Federal Garden Show in 1957. Chargesheimer enlarged details to show particular individuals going about their day. He focused on their distinctiveness, the quality that made them stand out in the crowd.

Hans Schmitt-Rost (1901-1978), who designed the book, uses his evaluative comments to dictate how the photographs should be read. He headed the Cologne City Intelligence Office from 1945 to 1966. In this role, he played a key role in shaping Cologne’s self-portrayal as a city removed from contemporary history, whose actual history is rooted in the Middle Ages. He excluded the Nazi era or relativized it as something foreign to the people of Cologne.

Text from Museum Ludwig

Chargesheimer (Carl-Heinz Hargesheimer, German 1924-1971)
Schildergasse, Cologne
Before 1957
Gelatin silver paper
29.8 x 39.7cm
Museum Ludwig, Cologne
Reproduction: Rheinisches Bildarchiv, Köln

Chargesheimer (Carl-Heinz Hargesheimer, German 1924-1971)
Cologne
Before 1957
Gelatin silver paper
29.9 x 39.7cm
Museum Ludwig, Cologne
Reproduction: Rheinisches Bildarchiv, Köln

Chargesheimer (Carl-Heinz Hargesheimer, German 1924-1971)
Hohe Straße, near Große Budengasse, Cologne
Before 1957
Gelatin silver paper
Museum Ludwig, Cologne
Reproduction: Rheinisches Bildarchiv Köln

Chargesheimer captured Hohe Straße from a distance. But he wasn’t concerned with the distance to the action, because he highlighted individual people. They stand out in the crowd because they make eye contact with him or speak to him.

The Hohe Straße in Cologne is an important motif for the publication. The filled shop windows and the streams of passers-by represent the economic boom after the currency reform in 1948… The Hohe Straße was already an important shopping street at the end of the 19th century. The Tietz department store, built in 1895, was also famous. Its owner, Alfred Leonhard Tietz, was forced during the Nazi era to sell the department store chain to Commerzbank, Deutsche Bank and Dresdner Bank for well below market value. He was robbed of his assets and had to flee. The department store was renamed Westdeutsche Kaufhof AG and continued to operate under this name after 1945.

Text from Museum Ludwig

Chargesheimer (Carl-Heinz Hargesheimer, German 1924-1971)
Kirmes Unter Krahnenbäumen
Before 1957
Gelatin silver paper
26.3 x 39.8 cm
Museum Ludwig, Cologne
Reproduction: Rheinisches Bildarchiv Köln

Chargesheimer (Carl-Heinz Hargesheimer, German 1924-1971)
Kirmes Unter Krahnenbäumen
Around 1957
Gelatin silver paper
26.3 x 39.8cm
Museum Ludwig, Cologne
Reproduction: Rheinisches Bildarchiv, Köln

Chargesheimer (Carl-Heinz Hargesheimer, German 1924-1971)
Autobahnzubringer im Rechtsrheinischen (Motorway feeder road on the right bank of the Rhine)
Around 1957
Gelatin silver paper
39.7 x 29.8cm
Museum Ludwig, Cologne
Reproduction: Rheinisches Bildarchiv Köln

Chargesheimer (Carl-Heinz Hargesheimer, German 1924-1971)
Hinterhof, Cologne
Around 1957
Gelatin silver paper
24.7 x 19.6cm
Museum Ludwig, Cologne
Reproduction: Rheinisches Bildarchiv Köln

Away from the rebuilt city centre, Chargesheimer photographed intimate neighbourhoods for the photo book Cologne, which were characterised by old buildings, small shops and ruined properties. He also photographed Cologne’s nightlife in bars, workers’ pubs and restaurants with prostitutes without making any judgments.

Chargesheimer (Carl-Heinz Hargesheimer, German 1924-1971)
Cologne
Around 1957
Gelatin silver paper
30.4 x 23.3cm
Museum Ludwig, Cologne
Reproduction: Rheinisches Bildarchiv Köln

Chargesheimer (Carl-Heinz Hargesheimer, German 1924-1971)
Cologne
1957
Gelatin silver paper
30.4 x 23.3cm
Museum Ludwig, Cologne
Reproduction: Rheinisches Bildarchiv Köln

Chargesheimer (Carl-Heinz Hargesheimer, German 1924-1971)
Unter Krahnenbäumen, Cologne
Before 1958
Gelatin silver paper
Museum Ludwig, Cologne
Reproduction: Rheinisches Bildarchiv Köln

Unter Krahnenbäumen, 1958

A year after Cologne intime was published by Greven Verlag, they invited Chargesheimer to realise another photobook. This time, the selection and arrangement of the photographs were placed firmly in his hands. He dedicated the book to the small street of Unter Krahnenbäumen in Cologne. The opening pages present everyday life on the street, documenting people working or chatting with neighbours. These are followed by images of Carnival, which is celebrated on the street and in pubs until late into the night. Pages dedicated to children and the elderly mark a change in theme, while those devoted to the funfair or preparations for the Corpus Christi procession show a mix of generations. On the final pages, photographs of locals dancing and laughing on Unter Krahnenbäumen and inside its pubs reveal the year-round liveliness of the street.

Chargesheimer takes an interest in people and their lives. This is reflected in the long series of images of individual people and their situations. He photographs a boisterous woman in a top hat in a bar, a couple with a dog in an inn, people decorating the street with flowers and shredded paper for Corpus Christi. Chargesheimer’s careful selection and editing bring the photographs to life. You can immerse yourself in them like in a neo-realist film from the 1950s.

Text from Museum Ludwig

Chargesheimer (Carl-Heinz Hargesheimer, German 1924-1971)
Unter Krahnenbäumen, Cologne
Before 1958
Gelatin silver paper
Museum Ludwig, Cologne
Reproduction: Rheinisches Bildarchiv Köln

Chargesheimer (Carl-Heinz Hargesheimer, German 1924-1971)
Unter Krahnenbäumen, Cologne
Before 1958
Gelatin silver paper
Museum Ludwig, Cologne
Reproduction: Rheinisches Bildarchiv Köln

Chargesheimer (Carl-Heinz Hargesheimer, German 1924-1971)
Unter Krahnenbäumen, Cologne
Around 1958
Gelatin silver paper
24.7 x 21.3cm
Museum Ludwig, Cologne
Reproduction: Rheinisches Bildarchiv Köln

The Eigelsteinviertel was a lively and diverse neighbourhood in the 1920s. That changed under National Socialism, when the SA (Storm Division) and later the Gestapo (Secret State Police) persecuted communists. When the Nazis seized power, Jewish residents were expropriated, deported and murdered; Roma families living in Stavenhof, Unter Krahnenbäumen and on Gereonswall were deported to Auschwitz by the Cologne criminal police in the 1940s. After the war, the construction of the Nord-Süd-Fahrt marked a turning point in urban development. In 1957, the master plan for reconstruction came into force, which formed the basis of urban planning until the 1970s. He envisaged a 34-meter-wide lane for the north-south route across the district, which today also cuts through Unter Krahnenbäumen. The street had already been planned in this form during the National Socialist era. Even before the war began, the Nazi city administration had bought up land on both sides of the planned route.

Text from Museum Ludwig

Chargesheimer (Carl-Heinz Hargesheimer, German 1924-1971)
Unter Krahnenbäumen, Cologne
Around 1958
Gelatin silver paper
24.8 x 21.3cm
Museum Ludwig, Cologne
Reproduction: Rheinisches Bildarchiv Köln

Chargesheimer (Carl-Heinz Hargesheimer, German 1924-1971)
Unter Krahnenbäumen, Cologne
Around 1958
Gelatin silver paper
24.9 x 21.3cm
Museum Ludwig, Cologne
Reproduction: Rheinisches Bildarchiv Köln

Chargesheimer (Carl-Heinz Hargesheimer, German 1924-1971)
Unter Krahnenbäumen, Cologne
1958
Gelatin silver paper
17.9 x 29.8cm
Museum Ludwig, Cologne
Reproduction: Rheinisches Bildarchiv Köln

Chargesheimer’s work with the unwieldy large format camera Linhof Super Technika meant that he spent a while in each location. He became part of the situation because the residents turned to him and started talking to him. Many of the photos were taken on the Catholic holiday of Corpus Christi. The residents decorated the street with green leaves, house altars and shredded paper for the procession.

Chargesheimer (Carl-Heinz Hargesheimer, German 1924-1971)
Kleine runde Meditationsmühle (Small round meditation mill)
1968 /1969
Acrylic, metal, machine part
Diameter: 34cm
Museum Ludwig, Cologne
Photo: Rheinisches Bildarchiv Köln

Gerd Sander (German, b. 1940)
Portrait of Chargesheimer
1969
Gelatin silver paper
27 x 19cm
Museum Ludwig, Cologne
© Gerd Sander, courtesy of Galerie Julian Sander, Köln
Reproduction: Rheinisches Bildarchiv Köln

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