Michael Ruetz (born 4 April 1940 in

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...

, Germany) works as artist and author. He is a German photographer.

Early life and education

Ruetz was born in 1940 in

, Germany. His ancestors were from

Riga Riga (; lv, Rīga , liv, Rīgõ) is the capital and largest city of Latvia and is home to 605,802 inhabitants which is a third of Latvia's population. The city lies on the Gulf of Riga at the mouth of the Daugava river where it meets the Ba ...

, where they worked as printers, journalists and publishers. After attending school in

Bremen Bremen (Low German also: ''Breem'' or ''Bräm''), officially the City Municipality of Bremen (german: Stadtgemeinde Bremen, ), is the capital of the German state Free Hanseatic City of Bremen (''Freie Hansestadt Bremen''), a two-city-state consis ...

, Ruetz studied

Sinology Sinology, or Chinese studies, is an academic discipline that focuses on the study of China primarily through Chinese philosophy, language, literature, culture and history and often refers to Western scholarship. Its origin "may be traced to th ...

, with

Japanology Japanese studies (Japanese: ) or Japan studies (sometimes Japanology in Europe), is a sub-field of area studies or East Asian studies involved in social sciences and humanities research on Japan. It incorporates fields such as the study of Japanese ...

and Journalism as subsidiary subjects, in

Freiburg Freiburg im Breisgau (; abbreviated as Freiburg i. Br. or Freiburg i. B.; Low Alemannic: ''Friburg im Brisgau''), commonly referred to as Freiburg, is an independent city in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. With a population of about 230,000 (as o ...

, Munich and

. Until 1969 he worked on a dissertation on the novel ''Nieh-Hai Hua'' by Tseng-P’u (1905). In 1975, Ruetz graduated as external student from the

Folkwang Hochschule The Folkwang University of the Arts is a university for music, theater, dance, design, and academic studies, located in four German cities of North Rhine-Westphalia. Since 1927, its traditional main location has been in the former Werden Abbey in E ...

Essen Essen (; Latin: ''Assindia'') is the central and, after Dortmund, second-largest city of the Ruhr, the largest urban area in Germany. Its population of makes it the fourth-largest city of North Rhine-Westphalia after Cologne, Düsseldorf and D ...

Career

Ruetz was a member of the

Stern The stern is the back or aft-most part of a ship or boat, technically defined as the area built up over the sternpost, extending upwards from the counter rail to the taffrail. The stern lies opposite the bow, the foremost part of a ship. Ori ...

editorial in Hamburg from 1969 to 1973. Since then he has been self-employed and works as a freelance author and photographer. Since 1981, Ruetz is a ''contract author'' for publishers Little, Brown & Co./New York Graphic Society,

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

, Massachusetts. In 1982, he became professor of

Communication Design Communication design is a mixed discipline between design and information-development which is concerned with how media communicate with people. A communication design approach is not only concerned with developing the message in addition to the ...

at the

Braunschweig Braunschweig () or Brunswick ( , from Low German ''Brunswiek'' , Braunschweig dialect: ''Bronswiek'') is a city in Lower Saxony, Germany, north of the Harz Mountains at the farthest navigable point of the river Oker, which connects it to the Nor ...

University of Art University of Art ( fa, دانشگاه هنر, ''Daneshgah-e Honar''), also known as Tehran University of Art, formally Art Academic Complex (1979-1991), is the largest art university in Iran, consisting of seven faculties and an international c ...

and taught Photography until 2005. Ruetz lived in Italy, Australia and the U.S. for 12 years. Michael Ruetz is the sole heir of German photographer Heinz Hajek-Halke's artistic work and managed his estate from 1983 until 2020. He organised major retrospectives of Heinz Hajek-Halke in

Centre Pompidou The Centre Pompidou (), more fully the Centre national d'art et de culture Georges-Pompidou ( en, National Georges Pompidou Centre of Art and Culture), also known as the Pompidou Centre in English, is a complex building in the Beaubourg area of ...

, Paris 2002, at Kunstbibliothek, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin in 2007, at Versicherungskammer Kulturstiftung in Munich 2008 and at

Akademie der Künste The Academy of Arts (german: Akademie der Künste) is a state arts institution in Berlin, Germany. The task of the Academy is to promote art, as well as to advise and support the states of Germany. The Academy's predecessor organization was fo ...

, Berlin in 2012. Ruetz is a member of the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Photographie (DGPh), the Gesellschaft Deutscher Lichtbildner (GDL)/Deutsche Foto Akademie and the

Academy of Arts, Berlin The Academy of Arts (german: Akademie der Künste) is a state arts institution in Berlin, Germany. The task of the Academy is to promote art, as well as to advise and support the states of Germany. The Academy's predecessor organization was fo ...

. In May 2002 he was appointed member of the

Ordre des Arts et Lettres The ''Ordre des Arts et des Lettres'' (Order of Arts and Letters) is an order of France established on 2 May 1957 by the Minister of Culture. Its supplementary status to the was confirmed by President Charles de Gaulle in 1963. Its purpose is ...

by French Minister of the Arts, Jean-Jacques Aillagon.

Works

Ruetz first became known through his photographs of the student protest movement in West Germany. His portraits of the APO (extra-parliamentary opposition), now part of German photographic history, were immediately bought up by major newspapers and magazines in Germany and abroad, including

Time Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, to ...

Life Life is a quality that distinguishes matter that has biological processes, such as signaling and self-sustaining processes, from that which does not, and is defined by the capacity for growth, reaction to stimuli, metabolism, energ ...

Der Spiegel ''Der Spiegel'' (, lit. ''"The Mirror"'') is a German weekly news magazine published in Hamburg. With a weekly circulation of 695,100 copies, it was the largest such publication in Europe in 2011. It was founded in 1947 by John Seymour Chaloner ...

and

. In 1968, Ruetz covered the invasion of

Czechoslovakia , rue, Чеськословеньско, , yi, טשעכאסלאוואקיי, , common_name = Czechoslovakia , life_span = 1918–19391945–1992 , p1 = Austria-Hungary , image_p1 ...

by Soviet troops (

Prague Spring The Prague Spring ( cs, Pražské jaro, sk, Pražská jar) was a period of political liberalization and mass protest in the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic. It began on 5 January 1968, when reformist Alexander Dubček was elected First Sec ...

) and reported for

on the military dictatorship in

Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders with ...

, as on the World Festival of Youth and Students 1973 and the

International Workers’ Day International Workers' Day, also known as Labour Day in some countries and often referred to as May Day, is a celebration of labourers and the working classes that is promoted by the international labour movement and occurs every year on 1 May, ...

1974 in

East Berlin East Berlin was the ''de facto'' capital city of East Germany from 1949 to 1990. Formally, it was the Allied occupation zones in Germany, Soviet sector of Berlin, established in 1945. The American, British, and French sectors were known as ...

. He later accompanied

François Mitterrand François Marie Adrien Maurice Mitterrand (26 October 19168 January 1996) was President of France, serving under that position from 1981 to 1995, the longest time in office in the history of France. As First Secretary of the Socialist Party, he ...

on his election campaign, visited

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the east a ...

after the victory of

Salvador Allende Salvador Guillermo Allende Gossens (, , ; 26 June 1908 – 11 September 1973) was a Chilean physician and socialist politician who served as the 28th president of Chile from 3 November 1970 until his death on 11 September 1973. He was the fir ...

and reported on the war in

Guinea-Bissau Guinea-Bissau ( ; pt, Guiné-Bissau; ff, italic=no, 𞤘𞤭𞤲𞤫 𞤄𞤭𞤧𞤢𞥄𞤱𞤮, Gine-Bisaawo, script=Adlm; Mandinka: ''Gine-Bisawo''), officially the Republic of Guinea-Bissau ( pt, República da Guiné-Bissau, links=no ) ...

and on many other international events. After spending several years in

America The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

and Australia, Ruetz began to concentrate increasingly on cultural-historical and documentary projects, such as the exploration of the "visual world" of such figures as

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (28 August 1749 – 22 March 1832) was a German poet, playwright, novelist, scientist, statesman, theatre director, and critic. His works include plays, poetry, literature, and aesthetic criticism, as well as trea ...

and

Theodor Fontane Theodor Fontane (; 30 December 1819 – 20 September 1898) was a German novelist and poet, regarded by many as the most important 19th-century German-language realist author. He published the first of his novels, for which he is best known toda ...

creating series like ''In Goethe's Footsteps'', ''With Goethe in

Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

'', ''Me Too in

Arcadia Arcadia may refer to: Places Australia * Arcadia, New South Wales, a suburb of Sydney * Arcadia, Queensland * Arcadia, Victoria Greece * Arcadia (region), a region in the central Peloponnese * Arcadia (regional unit), a modern administrative un ...

/Goethe's Italian Journeys'', ''Fontane's Walks Through Mark

Brandenburg Brandenburg (; nds, Brannenborg; dsb, Bramborska ) is a states of Germany, state in the northeast of Germany bordering the states of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Lower Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, and Saxony, as well as the country of Poland. With an ar ...

''. An extensive study of the phenomena of European

Necropoles This is a list of necropoleis sorted by country. Although the name is sometimes also used for some modern cemeteries, this list includes only ancient necropoleis, generally founded no later than approximately 1500 AD. Because almost every cit ...

followed. His works since the 1980s deal with the capability of visualizing time and transience. Projects like ''Second Sight'', ''Timescape'' and ''The Perennial Eye'', assembled under the main title ''Eye on Time'', document the change of the world's surface during time. In contrast to the individual picture pairs of the ''Second Sight'' project, ''Timescape'' comprises photographic sequences made over many years. The project is still ongoing and currently consists of more than 300 series of different objects. The photographs already give a clear indication of how much the people, the places, the squares, the apartments, and even nature are in a state of change. What does not change, however, is the geographical vantage point of each photographic series.

Awards

Kodak The Eastman Kodak Company (referred to simply as Kodak ) is an American public company that produces various products related to its historic basis in analogue photography. The company is headquartered in Rochester, New York, and is incorpor ...

Photobook Prize for ''Auf Goethes Spuren'' ''(In

Goethe Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (28 August 1749 – 22 March 1832) was a German poet, playwright, novelist, scientist, statesman, theatre director, and critic. His works include plays, poetry, literature, and aesthetic criticism, as well as treat ...

’s Footsteps)'', ''

Necropolis A necropolis (plural necropolises, necropoles, necropoleis, necropoli) is a large, designed cemetery with elaborate tomb monuments. The name stems from the Ancient Greek ''nekropolis'', literally meaning "city of the dead". The term usually im ...

'', ''APO/

1966–1969'' and ''Land der Griechen'' ''(Land of the

Greeks The Greeks or Hellenes (; el, Έλληνες, ''Éllines'' ) are an ethnic group and nation indigenous to the Eastern Mediterranean and the Black Sea regions, namely Greece, Cyprus, Albania, Italy, Turkey, Egypt, and, to a lesser extent, oth ...

)''. * 1979 Schönstes Buch der

Schweiz ; rm, citad federala, links=no). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzon ...

for ''Mit

in der Schweiz'' ''(With

in Switzerland)'' * 1969 German Design Prize * 1979 Otto Steinert Prize * 1981

Villa Massimo Villa Massimo, short for Deutsche Akademie Rom Villa Massimo ( it, Accademia Tedesca Roma Villa Massimo), is a German cultural institution in Rome, established in 1910 and located in the Villa Massimo. The fellowship of the German Academy in Rom ...

PrizeList of Villa Massimo Scholarships. Retrieved 29. March 2021.
/ref> * 2002

Exhibitions

Solo exhibitions (selected)

* 1969 Berlin, Galerie Mikro * 1974 Hamburg, Kunsthalle, ''The World of

Caspar David Friedrich Caspar David Friedrich (5 September 1774 – 7 May 1840) was a 19th-century German Romantic landscape painter, generally considered the most important German artist of his generation. He is best known for his mid-period allegorical landscape ...

'' * 1975 Hanover, Galerie Spectrum * 1975 Lissabon, German Institute * 1976 Berlin, Bielefeld, Göttingen, Hamburg, Copenhagen and Munich, ''

'' * 1977 Berlin, Landesbildstelle, ''Pictures from Germany 1968–1975'' * 1979 Zurich, Helmhaus, ''In

’s Footsteps'' * 1980 Düsseldorf, Goethe-Museum, ''In

’s Footsteps'' * 1981 Houston/Texas, Benteler Galleries * 1987 Carmel/California, Photography West Gallery * 1989–1995 Kiel, Harburg, Rendsburg, Itzehoe, Buxtehude, Lüneburg, Flensburg, Neumünster, Ahrensburg, Preetz, Rostock and Schwerin, ''Me too in

'' * 1992 Potsdam, Kulturhaus, ''

'' * 1995 Berlin,

Deutsches Historisches Museum The German Historical Museum (german: Deutsches Historisches Museum), known by the acronym DHM, is a museum in Berlin, Germany devoted to German history. It describes itself as a place of "enlightenment and understanding of the shared history o ...

, ''Eye on Time'' * 1996 Berlin, Willy Brandt Haus * 1996 Hamburg, Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe, ''Eye on Time'' * 1998 Berlin, Galerie Eva Poll, ''A Library for the Eye'' * 1998 Berlin, Willy Brandt Haus, ''Reviewing an Era'' * 1999 Greimharting, ''A Library for the Eye'' * 1999 Palermo,

Goethe-Institut The Goethe-Institut (, GI, en, Goethe Institute) is a non-profit German cultural association operational worldwide with 159 institutes, promoting the study of the German language abroad and encouraging international cultural exchange and ...

, ''

, Et me in Italia'' * 2001 Kunsthaus Lempertz, Berlin, Cologne and Bruxelles, ''WindEye'' * 2001 Cologne, Galerie Priska Pasquer, ''Timescape, a

Palimpsest In textual studies, a palimpsest () is a manuscript page, either from a scroll or a book, from which the text has been scraped or washed off so that the page can be reused for another document. Parchment was made of lamb, calf, or kid skin an ...

'' and ''The Sixties in vintage prints'' * 2001 Kunsthalle Erfurt, ''WindEye, Timescape – 2 Picture Cycles'' * 2005

, ''Eye on Time'' * 2007 Berlin, Willy-Brandt-Haus, ''Eye on Eternity'' * 2008 Berlin,

Academy of Arts An academy (Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of secondary or tertiary higher learning (and generally also research or honorary membership). The name traces back to Plato's school of philosophy, f ...

, ''1968. Die Unbequeme Zeit''
Exhibition information
* 2008 Barcelona, Goethe Institut Barcelona, ''1968. Die Unbequeme Zeit''
Exhibition information
* 2008 Berlin,

, ''Eye on Time''
Exhibition information
* 2009–2010 Helsinki, Goethe Institut Helsinki, ''1968. Die Unbequeme Zeit'' * 2010 Madrid, Goethe Institut Madrid, ''1968. Die Unbequeme Zeit'' * 2010 Tbilissi, Goethe Institut Tbilissi, ''1968. Die Unbequeme Zeit'' * 2010 Berlin, ''Eye on Life – Die unbequeme Zeit'', Johanna Breede, Berlin

* 2011 Potsdam, Kunstraum Potsdam, ''Sichtbare Zeit II''
Exhibition information
* 2014 Berlin, Willy-Brandt-Haus, ''Portugal im Jahre Null'' * 2015 Berlin, Galerie Pankow, ''Facing Time''
Exhibition information
* 2017 Boston, Goethe Institut Boston, ''Die Unbequeme Zeit ''
Exhibition information

Group exhibitions (selected)

* 1968 Prague * 1972 Kassel,

Documenta ''documenta'' is an exhibition of contemporary art which takes place every five years in Kassel, Germany. The ''documenta'' was founded by artist, teacher and curator Arnold Bode in 1955 as part of the Bundesgartenschau (Federal Horticultura ...

V * 1973, 1979 Essen, Folkwang Museum * 1974, 1978 London, Institute of Contemporary Arts * 1975 Essen, Haus Industrieform * 1976 London, The Photographers’ Gallery * 1976 Vienna, Congress

Amnesty International Amnesty International (also referred to as Amnesty or AI) is an international non-governmental organization focused on human rights, with its headquarters in the United Kingdom. The organization says it has more than ten million members and sup ...

* 1977, 1980

Munich Stadtmuseum The Munich Stadtmuseum (German: "Münchner Stadtmuseum") or Munich City Museum, is the city museum of Munich. It was founded in 1888 by Ernst von Destouches. It is located in the former municipal arsenal and stables, both buildings of the late ...

/Fotomuseum * 1979 Cologne, Galerie der DGPh * 1980, 1981 Hamburg, Kunsthaus/Kunstverein and PPS-Galerie * 1980, 1982 Washington, D.C., Sander Gallery * 1980 Baltimore, Maryland, The Maryland Institute * 1980 Berlin, Künstlerhaus Bethanien * 1980 Munich, Stadtmuseum/Fotomuseum * 1980 Kassel, Fotoforum * 1980 Wolfsburg, Kunstverein * 1981 Houston, Texas, Benteler Galleries und Rice University * 1982 Cologne, Benteler Galleries * 1982 New York, Photographic Art Dealers Convention * 1983 Hanover, Galerie Spectrum * 1985 Düsseldorf, Kunsthalle * 1985 Zurich, Kunsthaus * 1985 Rome, Deutsche Akademie/Villa Massimo * 1987 Darmstadt, Kunsthalle * 1995 Hanover, Kunstverein and Sprengel Museum * 1997 Bonn, Kunsthalle der Bundesrepublik Deutschland * 1998 Berlin, Haus am Waldsee, ''Die Römische Spur'' * 1998 Düsseldorf, Galerie Zimmer * 1998 Erfurt, Galerie Am Fischmarkt * 1998 Hamburg,

, ''Seeing the World'' * 1999 Berlin,

, Bonn, Kunstmuseum and Galerie der Stadt Stuttgart, ''Seeing the World'' * 2000 Paris, Paris Photo, Galerie Priska Pasquer, ''The Perennial Eye'' * 2001 Berlin, Galerie Brusberg/

, ''The Sixties'' * 2001 Paris, Paris Photo, Galerie Priska Pasquer, ''Timescape'' * 2002 Berlin, Willy Brandt Haus, ''

Willy Brandt Willy Brandt (; born Herbert Ernst Karl Frahm; 18 December 1913 – 8 October 1992) was a German politician and statesman who was leader of the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) from 1964 to 1987 and served as the chancellor of West Ge ...

'' * 2002 Berlin, Galerie Brusberg/Willy Brandt Haus, ''The Sixties'' * 2002 Leipzig, ''The Sixties'' * 2002 Paris, Paris Photo, Galerie Priska Pasquer, ''Massimo Passacaglia'' * 2003 Bonn, Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung * 2003 Osnabrück, Kunsthalle Dominikanerkirche, * 2003 Halle, Galerie Kommode * 2003 Karlsruhe * 2003 Eisenach, Stadtschloss * 2003 Göttingen, Künstlerhaus * 2003 Lübeck, Kunsthaus * 2003 Prague, City Gallery and Berlin,

, ''Von Körpern und anderen Dingen. Contemporary German Photography'' * 2003 Paris, Paris Photo, Galerie Priska Pasquer, ''Eye on Eternity'' * 2004 Moscow and Bochum, ''Von Körpern und anderen Dingen. Contemporary German Photography'' * 2013 Berlin, Willy-Brandt-Haus, ''Puro Pueblo. Chile 1971–73''
Exhibition information
* 2013 Berlin, Johanna Breede, ''Frauen / Women''
Exhibition information
* 2014 Berlin, Johanna Breede, ''Men / Männer''
Exhibition information
* 2015 Berlin, Johanna Breede, ''The Window – Das Fenster''
Exhibition information
* 2016 Berlin,

, ''DEMO:POLIS''
Exhibition information
* 2016 Berlin, Johanna Breede, ''Vis-à-Vis''
Exhibition information
* 2017 Berlin, Johanna Breede, ''Favorite Images / Lieblingsbilder''
Exhibition information
* 2018 Murnau, Kunststiftung Petra Benteler, ''Im Blauen Land''
Exhibition information
* 2021 Köln, Van der Grinten Galerie, ''Im Dialog mit Joseph Beuys''

References

External links

*
on the retrospective at Deutsches Historisches Museum, „Time Unveiled“, 1995–1996

Galerie Priska Pasquer, Cologne
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ruetz, Michael 1940 births Living people Photographers from Berlin German male writers Folkwang University of the Arts alumni Members of the Academy of Arts, Berlin