In retrospect, commercial photography originally displays a dazzling aesthetic, bizarre exhilaration and a determined respect for creative intrepidness. When objects are presented with a stress on their factuality, as they are in the schmölz + huth atelier, they convincingly transport the belief in a mundane ambiance and the modernity of a confident generation of breakaways in the second German republic. Karl Hugo Schmölz (1917-1986) and Walde Huth (*1923) laid the groundwork in Cologne for an ideal and successful atelier symbiosis in 1958. As an architectural photographer, Schmölz possessed an eye for environment and light. Huth, a former fashion photographer, took care of composition. From the beginning the ambitious furniture industry and trendsetting furniture houses were among the most important customers. To give this current trend maximum freedom for expansion and development, schmölz + huth worked with minimalism. Through light, the compositions of lines and colors melt into optimally textured objects to form a striking unity, which points out the airiness, taste, comfort and lifestyle. It’s not all that surprising that the photographs of schmölz + huth, which with their plasticity, brilliance and color composition are still convincing today, were already constantly receiving awards in the sixties. With such high technical and aesthetic ambitions, their photos have become far more than delicacies of visual post-war history.
Dr. Boris von Brauschitsch
Walde Huth
| 1923 | born in Stuttgart |
| 1940-43 | studies at the Schule für angewandte Kunst und Handwerk in Weimar at Prof. Walter Hege |
| 1943-45 | working in the Development-Department in colorphotography at Agfa, Wolfen |
| 1945 | worked as photographer in the Maschinenfabrik Esslingen |
| founded the "Künstlerischen Lichtbilderwerkstätte" in Esslingen (portraet-, theater-, art- and architecture-photography) | |
| 1953 | founded another studio for advertising- and fashion-photography |
| 1953-56 | worked for german fashion magazines in Paris and Florence |
| 1956 | marriage with the architecture-photographer Karl Hugo Schmölz |
| 1957 | moved to Cologne with Karl Hugo Schmölz |
| since 1958 | schmölz + huth worked for well-known advertising-agencies and the industry |
| 1979 | started the series "100 ungeschriebene Briefe", "100 festgehaltene Schritte", 100 unwirkliche Wirklichkeiten" in Seborga, Liguria, and "Optische Delikatessen" in Cologne |
| 1986 | Karl Hugo Schmölz died, she gave up their common studio |
| since 1986 | realisation of free projects |
| Karl Hugo Schmölz | |
| 1917 | born in Weißenhorn |
| 30's | He began working with his father Hugo Schmölz (1879-1938) and photographed for architects like Adolk Abel, Bruno Paul, Dominikus Böhm, Gottfried Böhm, Wilhelm Riphahn, Rudolf Schwarz, Hans Schilling, Wilhelm Schürmann u.a. |
| since 1938 | After his father's death he carried on the 'Fotowerkstätte hugo schmölz' in the same tradition |
| His private interest in Cologne and the Cathedral appears already in his early works | |
| 1946 | Returning from the front-line he started a documentary about the destruction of war with a large format camera. One of the few themes, he worked in on his own initiative |
| 1947 | The pictures, Karl Hugo Schmölz made with the 18 x 24" camera under highly dangerous conditions of the destroyed Cathedral, were published in the Hans Peters Verlag for the 700th birthday of the Cathedral |
| 1956 | He married Walde Huth, a fashion and advertising photographer |
| since 1958 | Foundation of a common studio ‚Schmölz & Huth' |
| 50's-60's | Advertising jobs, for which he not only worked as photographer but also as concept-developer |
| He also set focus on furniture photography. Today the archive contains the most extensiv documentary about post-war-living-culture in Germany, including the designs of Interlübke, Eugen Schmidt, Thomé and Draenert. | |
| since 1949 | He worked for big associations of furniture companies in his own large studio with up to 20 empolees |
| 1986 | died in Lahnstein |
Expositions (Sélection)
| 2005 | schmölz+huth "Werbeaufnahmen der 60er Jahre", van der grinten galerie, Cologne |
| 2003 | Empfang #4: Schmölz & Huth „Automobile der 50er Jahre – Farbvintages,Büro für Fotos, Cologne |
| 2001 | Architektur & Werbung, Vintages of the 50's and 60 's by W. Huth-Schmölz und K.H.Schmölz, Büro für Fotos,Cologne |
Livres / Catalogues (Sélection)
Köln, Antlitz einer großen Stadt, Hrsg. Hans Peters, Düsseldorf 1939
Hans Peters, Der Dom zu Köln 1248-1948, Düsseldorf 1948
Der Siegburger Servatiusschatz, Hrsg. Hans Peters, Düsseldorf 1952
Rheinhold Mißelbeck, Die Photographie, in: Stadtspuren Bd. 1 und Bd. 2, Köln 1984 Züblin-Haus, Hrsg. Ernst Züblin AG, Stuttgart 1985
Aus den Trümmern, Kunst und Kultur im Rheinland und in Westfalen, 1945-1952, Neubeginn und Kontinuität, Ausstellungskatalog Rheinisches Landesmuseum Bonn, 1985
Sammlung Photographie, Bestandskatalog Museum Ludwig, Köln 1986
Deutsche Lichtbildner, Hrsg. R. Mißelbeck, Köln 1987
R. Mißelbeck, Die romanischen Kirchen gesehen von August Sander undKarl Hugo Schmölz - ein Vergleich, in: Colonia Romanica, 19987, S.59 ff
Der Siegburger Kirchenschatz, Hrsg. Rheinischer Verein für Denkmalpflege und Landschaftsschutz, Köln 1992
Albert Renger-Patzsch, Das Industrielle Spätwerk, Hrsg. Marianne Bieger, Florian Hufnagl, Rheinhold Mißelbeck, Frankfurt 1993
Die Kirchentüren von St. Maria im Kapitol, Hrsg. W. Stracke, Köln 1994
Köln lebt, Fotografien von Hugo Schmölz und Karl Hugo Schmölz, Hrsg. R. Mißelbeck, Köln 1995
Dom-Ansichten, Fotografien des Kölner Doms von Karl Hugo Schmölz, 1939-1962, Hrsg. R. Mißelbeck und Arnold Wolff, Köln 1997
Köln-Ansichten, Fotografien von Karl Hugo Schmölz 1947-1985, Hrsg. R. Mißelbeck und Wolfrahm Hagspiel, Köln 1999
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