| | | | | | | | Tata Ronkholz
Kiosk, Cologne-Nippes, Merheimer Straße 294, 1983
© VAN HAM Art Estate: Tata Ronkholz, 2025 | | | | | | | A Retrospective | | | | 14 March to 13 July, 2025 | | | | Opening: Thursday, 13 March, 7pm | | | | | | A View into the Collection | | | | 14 March to 4 May, 2025 | | | | Opening: Thursday, 13 March, 7pm | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | | | | | | | Tata Ronkholz
Boutique, Cologne-Mülheim, Berliner Straße 120, 1980
© VAN HAM Art Estate: Tata Ronkholz, 2025 | | | | | | | A Retrospective | | | | 14 March – 13 July, 2025 | | | Opening: Thursday, 13 March, 7pm
An exhibition of Die Photographische Sammlung/ SK Stiftung Kultur in collaboration with VAN HAM Art Estate and Stadtmuseum Düsseldorf | | | This retrospective is the first comprehensive tribute to the versatile work of Tata Ronkholz (born 1940 in Krefeld; died 1997 in Hürth-Kendenich, née Maria Juliana Roswitha Tölle). The exhibition features works by the photographer, product designer, and interior architect who was one of the early students of the Becher class at the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf. Among her fellow students were renowned artists such as Candida Höfer, Axel Hütte, Thomas Ruff, Thomas Struth, and Petra Wunderlich. Ronkholz’s estate, acquired in 2011 by VAN HAM Art Estate in Cologne, forms the basis of the exhibition alongside the holdings of Stadtmuseum Düsseldorf. Significant contributions have also been made from the in-house collections of Die Photographische Sammlung/ SK Stiftung Kultur and from other lenders.
The retrospective finds its stylistically fitting context in the Photographische Sammlung, with the on-site Bernd and Hilla Becher Archive. Ronkholz’s works follow in the tradition of objective, documentary photography – a tradition decisively shaped by the Bechers. Her work is characterized by clear compositions, a serial approach, and a documentary focus on architectural structures and everyday architectures. Using her large-format camera, she produced sharply defined and realistic photographs in which the subject matter, rather than the photographer’s personal signature, takes center stage. Her work is predominantly in black and white, although color images also appear, demonstrating her ambition to engage with the emerging artistic color photography in Germany during the 1970s and 80s. | | | | | | | | | Tata Ronkholz
Tromm company, gate railway siding, Cologne-Niehl, 1983
© VAN HAM Art Estate: Tata Ronkholz, 2025 | | | | | | Tata Ronkholz became known for her appealing series of kiosks and small shops that capture typical moments of urban everyday culture. These were photographed between 1977 and 1985, particularly in neighborhoods of Cologne and Düsseldorf, in the Ruhr area, as well as in Leverkusen and Krefeld. For example, the kiosk in Cologne-Nippes – with its ice cream and newspaper advertisements and vending machines for chewing gum and cigarettes – is captured in a straightforward, unadorned manner that is as amusing and engaging as the boutique in Cologne-Mülheim on Berliner Straße 120, where, according to the store sign, alongside clothing, "Third World records" were also offered. Many details in the images evoke personal memories – perhaps a shopping trip to a Turkish grocery store or an ice cream sundae at Eiscafé Fortuna. The photographs illustrate the transformation of product offerings, decoration, and advertising in urban spaces. The depicted details remind viewers of their own surroundings and provide insight into the shopping habits of past decades. In this way, the subjects in Tata Ronkholz’s work indirectly testify to social, cultural, and economic change while also revealing how the personal tastes of shop owners influenced the design of these small retail outlets. Viewed in this light, her images offer a vivid basis for a sociological examination of our own species, addressing fundamental societal questions: What needs did we have and do we have? What did we need and do we need to live? How do we shape our surroundings? What role do images play?
Another significant series is dedicated to industrial gates, photographed between 1977 and 1985. The simple black-and-white images of these gates, with their grids and frameworks, offer glimpses into the interiors of industrial areas, their graphic structure appearing almost abstract. In the photographs, the gates function as interfaces between private and public space, between interior and exterior, and between activity and calm. Their aesthetic, reminiscent of abstract artworks, imbues the everyday with a new significance. | | | | | | | | | Tata Ronkholz
Rhine harbour Düsseldorf, technology and cranes, undated
From the series ‘Rhine harbour Düsseldorf’, 1979–1981
© VAN HAM Art Estate: Tata Ronkholz, 2025 | | | | | | A particularly impressive documentary series is the body of work on the Düsseldorf Rhine Harbor, which Ronkholz began in 1979 together with her then fellow student Thomas Struth. The project originated from the planned redevelopment of the historic harbor area – a site that, in its original form, was considered an industrial area of significant urban historical and architectural importance. Struth observed the initial changes from his studio and convinced Tata Ronkholz to join the project. Together, they set out to document the harbor in its entirety, capturing its historic buildings, technical installations, and operational structures. They recorded façades, interiors, silos, warehouses, crane structures, and harbor basins in carefully composed images, before these elements partially disappeared or were fundamentally altered during the restructuring. The photographs strikingly showcase the industrial architecture of the 19th and 20th centuries while simultaneously highlighting the transformation from a center of commerce and production to today’s media harbor. Overall, this critically composed documentation of the Düsseldorf Rhine Harbor stands as an exemplary case for the complex issues of urban redevelopment in other locations as well.
In addition, the exhibition presents works that highlight Ronkholz’s achievements as a product designer, including depictions of geometrically shaped furniture and lighting fixtures as well as designs for office and cafeteria furniture. Between 1961 and 1965, she studied at the Werkkunstschule Krefeld with a focus on furniture design and subsequently worked as a freelance designer until 1977. Her designs are characterized by clear forms and functional elegance, as exemplified by the "Spherical Light" developed in collaboration with Adolf Luther, featuring a convex glass element. Finally, the retrospective also presents early photographs of architectural forms created in 1975/76 in Italy and France. Even in these works, her strong affinity for the aspects of the designed world across various areas of life becomes apparent. | | | | | | | | | Tata Ronkholz
Santa Maria Assunta, Dome, Volterra, 1975
© VAN HAM Art Estate: Tata Ronkholz, 2025 | | | | | | Accompanying the exhibition is the catalog "Tata Ronkholz: Designed World. A Retrospective" published by Schirmer/Mosel Verlag, featuring texts by renowned authors (ger/en).
The exhibition is supported by the City of Düsseldorf and VAN HAM Cologne. | | |
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | Lawrence Beck
Alpine Wildflower 3, 2008
© Lawrence Beck, 2025 | | | | | | A View into the Collection | | | | 14 March to 4 May, 2025 | | | Opening: Thursday, 13 March, 7pm
American artist Lawrence Beck (b. 1962) takes us with him on a journey into the realm of plants, offering an ideal sequel to our exhibition on Karl Blossfeldt. Like the images made by that historical figure, Beck’s photographs, taken between 1998 and 2008 with a large-format camera and mostly analogue, are the products of a focused and objective view of his subjects. | | | | | | | | | Lawrence Beck
Dortmund, 2000
Aus der Serie "Botanical Gardens"
© Lawrence Beck, 2025 | | | | | | | But there is one crucial difference: In contrast to Blossfeldt, Beck shows plants in their natural habitat – or rather, in settings that have been specially cultivated for them by humans, such as parks and botanical gardens. In some cases, we only notice at second glance that labels indicating the plants’ names have been included in the shot. These play an important role for Beck, however, as they illustrate the extent to which our approach to the botanical world may be shaped in part by rational, scientific considerations. Like traffic signs or museum labelling, these descriptions offer us orientation, a way of classifying what we are seeing. What Beck finds equally fascinating about the labels is how imaginative and idiosyncratic the plant names can be. | | | | | | | | | Lawrence Beck
Texas Shell Pink, 2003
Aus der Serie "Botanical Gardens"
© Lawrence Beck, 2025 | | | | | | In an American rose garden, for example, he comes upon varieties with names like "Dortmund" and "Sombreuil." The latter can probably be traced to Mademoiselle Marie Maurille Virot de Sombreuil, a heroine of the French Revolution. Beck’s gaze also falls upon an "Agave peacockii," an agave whose shape recalls a peacock’s fanned-out tail, or a cactus whose form has inspired the whimsical name "Old Man Cactus."
Water lilies in particular have long fascinated Lawrence Beck, and he has illustrated a number of different varieties in images that manifest a remarkable type of pictorial space. Here, reflective water surfaces guide the eye both down into the depths and up into the sky, merging the two contrasting dimensions. While Claude Monet’s paintings prompted Beck to take up the water lily motif, the medium of photography, which relies on light, appears to lend itself especially well to the artistic treatment of this subject. | | | | | | | | | Lawrence Beck
Old Man Cactus, 2000
Aus der Serie "Botanical Gardens"
© Lawrence Beck, 2025 | | | | | | In addition to his finely delineated black-and-white compositions, the artist’s oeuvre also includes several captivating color photographs of alpine meadows in northern Italy. He photographed them from a low perspective in order to produce all-over views that reveal every blade of grass and every flower. There are no descriptive labels to be seen here. Gazing at the world around us through the eyes of the photographer, we find ourselves in the very midst of nature and can enjoy the stunning beauty of the blooming meadows. Contemplating Lawrence Beck’s photographs, a thought expressed by the art historian and renowned American curator Sandra S. Phillips comes to mind: "As we now find ourselves at a critical point in how we deal with our environment, we may feel reminded [by Lawrence Beck’s photographs] of the need for humans to cultivate an appropriate and peaceful relationship with nature."
We would like to express our sincere thanks to Lawrence Beck for his generous donation of 44 photographs, which make an excellent addition to Die Photographische Sammlung/SK Stiftung Kultur’s collection of his works. | | | | | | | | | Lawrence Beck
Pink Impression, 2001
Aus der Serie "Botanical Gardens"
© Lawrence Beck, 2025 | | | | | | unsubscribe here
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