Fritz Henle (June 9, 1909 – January 31, 1993) was a German-born photographer, known as "Mr. Rollei" for his use of the 2.25" square format film used in the Rolleiflex camera. Called, "the last classic freelance photographer" by photohistorian,

Helmut Gernsheim Helmut Erich Robert Kuno Gernsheim (1 March 1913 – 20 July 1995) was a historian of History of photography, photography, a Collecting, collector and a photographer. Early life and education Born in Munich, Germany, he was the third son of the ...

, he had a career spanning more than 60 years, during which he amassed an archive of more than 110,000 negatives, representing images of Europe, India, Japan, Hawai, the United States, Mexico, and the Caribbean.

Life

Henle was born in

Dortmund Dortmund (; ; ) is the third-largest city in North Rhine-Westphalia, after Cologne and Düsseldorf, and the List of cities in Germany by population, ninth-largest city in Germany. With a population of 614,495 inhabitants, it is the largest city ...

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

in 1909. He initially studied physics, before entering the ''Bayerische Staatslehranstalt fϋr Lichtbildwesen'' de (Bavarian State College for Photography) in Munich. Having completed his studies he spent a year photographing works of art in Florence. During 1934 he travelled all over Italy, taking pictures for the Lloyd steamship line, and in 1935–6 he visited China and Japan. In 1936 he carried out an assignment for

Time-Life Time Life, Inc. (also habitually represented with a hyphen as Time-Life, Inc., even by the company itself) was an American multi-media conglomerate company formerly known as a prolific production/publishing company and Direct marketing, direct ...

, and his pictures were published in ''Fortune '' magazine. He later visited the United States, his connections to ''Life'' magazine eventually facilitating his emigration to the country. He became a US citizen in 1942, and moved to Saint Croix in the Virgin Islands in 1958. Henle photographed fashion, portrait, travel and industrial subjects and his work was published by ''

Life Life, also known as biota, refers to matter that has biological processes, such as Cell signaling, signaling and self-sustaining processes. It is defined descriptively by the capacity for homeostasis, Structure#Biological, organisation, met ...

'', '' Mademoiselle'', and ''

Harper's Bazaar ''Harper's Bazaar'' (stylized as ''Harper's BAZAAR'') is an American monthly women's fashion magazine. Bazaar has been published in New York City since November 2, 1867, originally as a weekly publication entitled ''Harper's Bazar''."Corporat ...

'' magazines.''Fritz Henle, 83, Dies; Travel Photographer'',

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

, February 5, 1993 He died in

Saint Croix Saint Croix ( ; ; ; ; Danish language, Danish and ; ) is an island in the Caribbean Sea, and a county and constituent Districts and sub-districts of the United States Virgin Islands, district of the United States Virgin Islands (USVI), an Unin ...

U.S. Virgin Islands The United States Virgin Islands, officially the Virgin Islands of the United States, are a group of Caribbean islands and a territory of the United States. The islands are geographically part of the Virgin Islands archipelago and are located ...

in 1993 An exhibition called "Fritz Henle: In Search of Beauty", marking the centenary of his birth, was held at the Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center at The University of Texas at Austin in 2009.

Books

* ''Fritz Henle's Guide to Rollei Photography'' (1956) * ''The Caribbean; a Journey With Pictures'', Fritz Henle and P. E. Knapp (1957) * ''Fritz Henle: In Search of Beauty'', Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center, Roy Flukinger and Fritz Henle (2009)

References

External links

Official website

Major books and catalogs published by Fritz Henle
{{DEFAULTSORT:Henle, Fritz 1909 births 1993 deaths Artists from Dortmund Photographers from North Rhine-Westphalia 20th-century American photographers American portrait photographers Emigrants from Nazi Germany Immigrants to the United States