Hedrich Blessing Photographers (also Hedrich-Blessing) was an architectural photography firm established in

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

in 1929 by partners Ken Hedrich and Henry Blessing. The

Chicago History Museum Chicago History Museum is the museum of the Chicago Historical Society (CHS). The CHS was founded in 1856 to study and interpret Chicago's history. The museum has been located in Lincoln Park since the 1930s at 1601 North Clark Street (Chicago) ...

houses the archive of the first 50 years of photography (1929–1979), where it is available for viewing by the public. Hedrich Blessing collaborated with architects and designers both nationally and internationally but also undertook non-architectural work; industrial, product, editorial, and corporate photography.

History

The firm was founded by 21 year old photographer Ken Hedrich, who had studied his craft at the New York Institute of Photography, and his business partner Henry Blessing. Blessing left the business in 1931 but it retained its name Hedrich-Blessing with its new partners being two of Ken Hedrich’s brothers, Ed and Bill Hedrich who joined the firm in 1930 and 1931 respectively. They were later joined by their youngest brother Jack Hedrich who was an administrator and president for 40 odd years. “Don’t make photographs, think them” was a pronouncement by Ken Hedrich that became the motto of the firm which became famous for its innovative architectural photographs capturing the spirit of buildings. As Jack Hedrich said '”They were really the first ones to change architectural photography from reporting images to artistic images”. In 1937, ''

Architectural Forum ''Architectural Forum'' was an American magazine that covered the homebuilding industry and architecture. Started in Boston, Massachusetts, in 1892 as ''The Brickbuilder'', it absorbed the magazine ''Architect's World'' in October 1938. Ownershi ...

'' commissioned Hedrich-Blessing to photograph recent works of

Frank Lloyd Wright Frank Lloyd Wright Sr. (June 8, 1867 – April 9, 1959) was an American architect, designer, writer, and educator. He designed List of Frank Lloyd Wright works, more than 1,000 structures over a creative period of 70 years. Wright played a key ...

and Ken and Bill Hedrich formed a lifelong association with Wright. The studio became associated with documenting the modern architecture movement, for example, the work of

Ludwig Mies Van Der Rohe Ludwig Mies van der Rohe ( ; ; born Maria Ludwig Michael Mies; March 27, 1886August 17, 1969) was a German-American architect, academic, and interior designer. He was commonly referred to as Mies, his surname. He is regarded as one of the pionee ...

, Albert Kahn,

Buckminster Fuller Richard Buckminster Fuller (; July 12, 1895 – July 1, 1983) was an American architect, systems theorist, writer, designer, inventor, philosopher, and futurist. He styled his name as R. Buckminster Fuller in his writings, publishing more t ...

Eero Saarinen Eero Saarinen (, ; August 20, 1910 – September 1, 1961) was a Finnish-American architect and industrial designer who created a wide array of innovative designs for buildings and monuments, including the General Motors Technical Center; the pa ...

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Harry Weese Harry Mohr Weese (June 30, 1915 – October 29, 1998) was an Americans, American architect who had an important role in 20th-century modernism and historic preservation. His brother, Ben Weese, was also a renowned architect. Early life and educat ...

and

Skidmore, Owings & Merrill SOM, an initialism of its original name Skidmore, Owings & Merrill LLP, is a Chicago-based architectural, urban planning, and engineering firm. It was founded in 1936 by Louis Skidmore and Nathaniel Owings. In 1939, they were joined by engineer ...

. Hedrich-Blessing remained a family-run business until the retirement of Jim Hedrich, son of Ken Hedrich, in 2003. The studio finally closed in 2017 when two of the firm’s principal photographers formed Hall + Merrick Photographers which now trades under the name of Hall + Merrick + McCaugherty. As well as the large archive of photographs owned by the

Chicago Historical Society Chicago History Museum is the museum of the Chicago Historical Society (CHS). The CHS was founded in 1856 to study and interpret Chicago's history. The museum has been located in Lincoln Park since the 1930s at 1601 North Clark Street at the ...

and housed at the Chicago History Museum, photographs are also held in the photographic archive of

The University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, or UChi) is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Its main campus is in the Hyde Park neighborhood on Chicago's South Side, near the shore of Lake Michigan about fr ...

, the Prints and Photographs Division,

Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is a research library in Washington, D.C., serving as the library and research service for the United States Congress and the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It also administers Copyright law o ...

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. and in the

Conway Library The Courtauld Institute of Art (), commonly referred to as The Courtauld, is a self-governing college of the University of London specialising in the study of the history of art and conservation. The art collection is known particularly for ...

The Courtauld Institute of Art The Courtauld Institute of Art (), commonly referred to as The Courtauld, is a self-governing college of the University of London specialising in the study of the history of art and conservation. The art collection is known particularly for ...

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

List of Photographers

Listed in chronological order including time on camera. * Ken Hedrich, 1929–1971 * Bill Hedrich, 1931–1988 * Giovanni Suter, 1938–1972 * Hube Henry, 1945–1964 * Bill Engdahl, 1948–1985 * Bob Harr, 1952–2008 * Jim Hedrich, 1966–2005 * Bob Porth, 1968–1988 * Bob Shimer, 1969–2008 * Nick Merrick, 1977–2017 * Jon Miller, 1979–2017 * Sandi Hedrich, 1981–1988 * Scott McDonald, 1983–2015 * Marco Lorenzetti, 1985–1998 * Steve Hall, 1985–2017 * Chris Barrett, 1991–2008 * Craig Dugan, 1993–2009 * Jeff Millies, 1998-2008 * Kate Joyce, 2007-2010 * Dave Burk, 2009–2015 * Tom Harris 2012-2015

Presidents

Listed chronologically and with dates of tenure. * Ed Hedrich 1931-1976 * Jack Hedrich 1953-1993 * Mike Houlahan 1986-2004 * Nick Merrick 2004-2010 * Jon Miller 2010–2016 * Steve Hall 2016–2017

Publications

*''The Architectural Photography of Hedrich-Blessing'', edited and with an introduction by Robert A. Sobieszek, Holt, Rinehart and Winston (1984) *''Building Images : Seventy Years of Photography at Hedrich Blessing'', essay by Tony Hiss; introduction by Timothy Samuelson, Chronicle Books (2000)

Building images

In 2000-2001 the

held an exhibition displaying images from the first 70 years of architectural photography from Hedrich Blessing. The exhibition drew from over 400,000 prints and negatives from more than 40,000 assignments spanning 7 decades.

Selection of other exhibitions

* 1987 Hedrich-Blessing Architectural Photography, images from the 1930s and `40s, Edwynn Houk Gallery, Chicago * 2008 Hedrich Blessing Interiors: Architectural Photography of the 1930s, ArchiTech Gallery * 2021 Hedrich Blessing Photographers‘ new exhibition, entitled “Building on Tradition,” at the bulthaup Chicago showroom, showcasing a collection of the studio’s recent architecture and interior design photographs by Dave Burk, Steve Hall, Tom Harris, Scott McDonald, Nick Merrick, and Jon Miller

References

External links

Hedrich Blessing Photographers' Official Website

University of Chicago Archival Photographic Files

Chicago History Museum Hedrich-Blessing Photograph Collection Part I

Chicago History Museum Hedrich-Blessing Photography Collection Part II

Chicago History Museum Hedrich-Blessing Office Files {{Authority control Companies based in Chicago Photography curators Architectural photographers