She has long been considered one of the most significant and renowned German photographers: now Herlinde Koelbl is being honoured with the Leica Hall of Fame Award for her lifetime achievements. The ceremony will take place from 9–10th October as part of this year’s Celebration of Photography at Leica Headquarters in Wetzlar. The complementary exhibition will be on display at the Leica Gallery Wetzlar up until 19th January 2025. One of the photographer’s motifs has also been chosen as Leica Picture of the Year.

She is a precise observer, an experienced author, a versatile artist and sensitive chronicler of her times: over the past five decades, German photographer Herlinde Koelbl has created an unequalled, multi-layered body of work. She devotes herself intensively to her subjects, and publishes her long-term studies mostly in book form, supplemented by comprehensive exhibitions. Her first photo book, Das Deutsche Wohnzimmer (The German Living Room) from 1980, was designed as a sociological study, and enjoyed great success. The combination of documentary images with personal statements by the people depicted has become one of the photographer’s trademarks. The impressive Jewish Portraits project, first published in 1989, which she worked on over many years and in which the direct black and white photographs are complemented by long interviews with contemporary witnesses, received much acclaim, and provided an emotional examination of contemporary German history. 

She became best known for her project Traces of Power – The Transformation of People Through Governance in which she observed German politicians over a period of eight years, starting in 1991. Following that, Koelbl portrayed and conducted interviews with Angela Merkel up until 2021. The six pairs of images selected for the exhibition from her Traces of Power – Angela Merkel 1991–2021 series are a clear demonstration of the photographer’s conceptual way of working. Her most important and tried and true strategy is to approach new subjects without prejudice, with curiosity and impartiality, but always well prepared. Whether High Society, Clothes Make the Man, Bedrooms, Hair, Portraits, Writers or Metamorphoses – just to name a few of the projects presented in the current exhibition – Koelbl always succeeds in developing her thematically and stylistically-diverse long-term projects in a fascinating manner, while also sensitising the viewers to socio-political issues. Leica cameras were the favourite tools for many of her series, initially due to the discretion needed; however, even in digital times they have proven to be reliable instruments for capturing the finest nuances. With 47 works from ten series, the exhibition at the Leica Gallery Wetzlar provides insightful glimpses into the photographer’s rich life’s work.

Herlinde Koelbl was born on 31st October 1939 in Lindau. After first studying fashion, it was in the mid seventies that she discovered photography as her creative medium of expression. She subsequently began to work on assignments for magazines, as well as creating an enormously productive series of publications of her own long-term photographic projects, which were often accompanied by interviews. Some of the projects also resulted in documentary films. Her sensitive and often philosophical interviews appeared regularly in the ZEITmagazin. Her 35mm-range work was primarily carried out with Leica cameras, and her medium format with a Hasselblad. Koelbl has published more than 20 photo books and has received numerous awards, including the Medal of Excellence (1987), the Dr Erich Salomon Prize of the DGPh (2001), the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany (2009) and the Bavarian Order of Merit (2013). She lives and works in Neuried near Munich.

Bilder, die die Welt berührt haben, Momente, die unvergessen bleiben: Die Leica Camera AG beruft seit 2011 herausragende Fotografen in die Leica Hall of Fame – Fotografen, die mit ihrem Blick auf die Welt etwas bewegt, etwas verändert haben. Zeugnisse ihres Schaffens sind Bildikonen, die sich in das kollektive Gedächtnis eingebrannt haben, die berührend und zeitlos die Conditio humana veranschaulichen. Als Erster wurde 2011 Steve McCurry mit dem Leica Hall of Fame Award geehrt, es folgten Barbara Klemm, Nick Út, René Burri, Thomas Hoepker und Ara Güler. 2016 wurde Joel Meyerowitz ausgezeichnet, 2017 Gianni Berengo Gardin, und 2018 waren es Bruce Davidson und Jürgen Schadeberg. 2019 folgte Walter Vogel, 2021 Ralph Gibson, und im letzten Jahr kam Elliott Erwitt hinzu. Mit Herlinde Koelbl erhöht sich nun die Anzahl der Mitglieder der Leica Hall of Fame auf 14 Ausgezeichnete.

Als Leica Picture of the Year wird exklusiv und limitiert eine Aufnahme Koelbls durch die Leica Galerien angeboten. Das Motiv gehört zu ihrer jüngsten Serie der „Metamorphosen“, bei der die Fotografin der Schönheit von Vergänglichkeit in Form verwelkender Blumen auf der Spur ist. Seit 2021 widmet die Leica Camera AG das Leica Picture of the Year herausragenden Leica Fotografen, die in die Hall of Fame berufen wurden. Nach Ralph Gibson, Thomas Hoepker und Elliott Erwitt ist nun Herlinde Koelbl die Fotografin des diesjährigen Leica Picture of the Year.