Heinz Hajek-Halke
Heinz Hajek-Halke was a German experimental photographer who co-founded the Fotoform group with Otto Steinert.
Heinz Hajek-Halke, born in Berlin, Germany in 1898, the son of Paul Halke. He spent part of his childhood in Argentina. He started to study graphics in Berlin in 1915, served as a soldier in 1916 in World War One, and then continued his studies after that.
Heinz Hajek-Halke worked as a photo editor, press photographer, and commercial artist, concentrating almost from the start on montage techniques. During World War II, he lived quietly and photographed small animal life-forms.
In 1949, Hajek-Halke became a member of the German group Fotoform and his abstractions, photomontages and luminograms were included in the first of two "subjektive fotografie" exhibitions.
Hajek-Halke was appointed lecturer in photography and graphic design at the Academy of Fine Arts in Berlin in 1955. Along with Felix H. Man, he won the 1965 :de:Kulturpreis der Deutschen Gesellschaft für Photographie|Kulturpreis der Deutschen Gesellschaft für Photographie. During his lifetime he published two books, Experimentelle Fotografie and Lichtgrafik. He died in Berlin in 1983.
