TATA RONKHOLZ Photographs 1978-1985
March 24 - April 29 2006

From the work-complex of the student of the ”Becher School” Tata Ronkholz (1940-1997) which has until now rarely been shown to the public, the gallery is showing a selection from the most important photographic groups taken during the years 1978 – 1985. “Trinkhallen”, [kiosks], “Industrietore” [gates to industrial sites], and “Duesseldorfer Rheinhafen” [Dusseldorf harbour] (in conjunction with Thomas Struth). The exhibition presents works which were produced only during the artist’s lifetime. In particular the wealth of details seen in these vintage prints in very impressive.

Tata Ronkholz (real name: Roswitha Tölle) was born in Krefeld in 1940. After studying architecture and interior design at the Werkkunstschule in Krefeld she worked as a freelance product designer until 1977. Following early photographic works as a series of images of industrial gates, she began studies in the same year in Prof. Bernd Becher’s photography class at the Staatliche Kunstakademie Dusseldorf. She was one of the first generation of students who adhered to the straight, documentary style, later this group became known as the legendary “Becher-class” or “Becher-school”, which numbered among others Candida Höfer, Axel Hütte, Thomas Ruff and Thomas Struth.

The best-known group of works by Tata Ronkholz are the “Trinkhallen” photographs taken between 1978 and 1982 in Cologne, Dusseldorf and various cities in the Ruhr area. Small kiosks and retail shops document social neighbourhoods and “proletarian” everyday life, much of which no longer exists.

Together with Thomas Struth, Tata Ronkholz documented the Dusseldorf Rheinhafen between 1978 and 1980/81 before it was redeveloped and many of the industrial buildings disappeared entirely. Struth and Ronkholz created a unique historical document, the importance of which was recognised by the City of Dusseldorf when they purchased a large group of works in 1982.

In 1979 Ronkholz took part in the pioneering exhibition “In Germany” in the Rheinisches Landesmuseum in Bonn. Tata Ronkholz had already decided in 1985 to cease doing photography work – long before the enormous interest in photography developed at the beginning of the 90s. After Tata Ronkholz’ early death in 1997 her entire estate, i.e. numerous handwritten archive books, negatives, contact sheets and almost 2,000 vintage prints remain as a unique legacy.

Examination of all this material demonstrates clearly the relevance of her work – Tata Ronkholz was a documentarian and collector like Atget, and followed the Becher idea of the neutral, comparative photograph. However she was not interested in recording large industrial monuments, Ronkholz preferred to look for motifs on the borders of the world of work – with the “industrial gates” she concentrated on the transition from the spheres of work and recreation. The apparently offbeat, accidental combination of newspaper headlines and advertising hoardings at the places where workers met after work presented a more interesting aspect than the documentation of entire building sites. The fascination of her prints, small in format when compared to today’s standards, lies, as so often, in the detail.