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Social Documentary Photography, Documentary Photography and Nature Photography from 1930 to 1935 and after 1945

The woodcuts of Franz Masereel in their strong chiaroscuro and political subject matter, the drawings of Heinrich Zille in their loving and angry observation of the social milieu, the graphic monumentality of the workers' figures and women in the work of Käthe Kollwitz, the hard bite of the drawings of a George Grosz, who unmasks the bourgeoisie in its predatory nature by sketching its character mask, the photographically cool gaze of the painter Max Liebermann on the world of work and backyards, farm labour, and the force and gravity of Ernst Barlach's sculptures - Ballhause studied all of these. Like them with the drawing pencil, the brush, the chalk, the chisel, he becomes a social artist with the camera. [...] He creates images that, in their aesthetic quality, their feeling, their objectivity and hardness of social statement, belong next to the works of fine art he cherishes.

(Boström, Jörg: Ein Nachruf auf den Fotografen Walter Ballhause, in: Website Arbeiterfotografie, accessed on 02.02.2021, URL: http://www.arbeiterfotografie.de/verband/erfurt-2007/aufruf.html)

It is stated, not interpreted! The misery of the declining Weimar Republic appears broken down into typical groupings, which, in the example of the provincial city of Hanover, captures both: the metropolitan and at the same time the remnants of all proletarian traditions. Ballhause is a photographer of people. The industrial complex is left out. What he captures in the contemporary image is the lifeworld of the lower classes.

(Beicken, Peter, in: Solidarisches Sehen oder Weimars Ende in Hannover. Der Arbeiterphotograph Walter Ballhause, in: Die Horen, 27th year, vol. 2 (1982), issue 126, p. 63–70)

Anker 1

ORIGINAL ARRANGEMENT 1930–1933

– 01. UNEMPLOYMENT

– 02. VICTIMS OF THE 1ST WORLD WAR

– 03. SEEKERS IN MARKET WASTE

– 04. PENSIONERS

– 05. CONSOLATION SEEKERS (ALCOHOL)

– 06. WORKING WOMEN

– 07. CHILDREN OF THE BIG CITY

– 08. UNDER THE WOLF'S LAW

– 09. FACTORY APARTMENTS

– 10. ON SUNDAYS

– 11. FARM WORKER FAMILIES

– 12. SMALL AND MEDIUM FARMERS

– 13. IDEOLOGICAL PREPARATION FOR FASCISM AND WAR

– 14. HOLIDAY CAMP OF THE "ROTEN FALKEN" HANOVER NEAR BOTHFELD / HANOVER 1930–1931

– 15. REICHSBANNER MARCH AGAINST FASCHISM

– 16. UNITED FRONT EFFORT OF THE SOCIALIST LABOR PARTY (SAP)

– 17. NOSKES POLICE MARCH IN FRONT OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE ARMY OF THE REICH

– 18. NAZIS STEAL WORKER'S PROPERTY, APRIL 1ST, 1933

– 19. "FÜHRER" BIRTHDAY AND THE HARZBURG FRONT, APRIL 20TH, 1933

– 20. MISCELLANEOUS FROM THIS TIME

– 21. SPORT (FREIE SCHWIMMER HANNOVER, ATSB)

– 22. FRIENDS, COMRADES, COMRADES-IN-ARMS

– 23. CITYSCAPES OF HANOVER

– 24. PICTURES OF HOME

– 25. PICTURES OF A RHEIN TRIP 1930

Anker 2

REPORTAGE

ONE IN A MILLION. 22 PICTURES FROM THE EVERYDAY LIFE OF THE UNEMPLOYED LOCKSMITH KARL DÖHLER IN HANOVER

Throughout his life, Walter Ballhause's attitude and actions were shaped by the ideals of socialism and humanism. He therefore considered photography – including his photography – to be essential only if it was a means [...] in the endeavour to achieve a better, more humane society [...]. This attitude makes it understandable that Walter Ballhause himself considered only the series from the early 1930s in Hanover to be important from his photographic work. Yet much beyond that is interesting.

(Schnakenwinkel, Gerd, in: Aus der Nähe. Fotografien von Walter Ballhause, in: Photonews 10/2000, p. 8 ff.)

Anker 3

FOLDERS AFTER 1945

– MEMORIAL [Fig. 1–30]

– RESETTLERS [Fig. 31–43]

– GOT AWAY [Fig. 44–63]

– LIBERATORS AND FRIENDS [Fig. 64–69]

– NEW LIFE BLOSSOMS FROM THE RUINS [Fig. 70–159]

– LIVING IN STRASSBERG [Fig. 160–176]

– AND KÜRBITZ [Fig. 177–189]

– SOCIAL HIGHLIGHTS [Fig. 190–196]

– SECURITY AND CHILDREN [Fig. 197–224]

– BALTIC SEA HOLIDAY [Fig. 225–287]

– HIKES, RECREATION NEAR AND FAR [Fig. 288–318]

– ON A VISIT [Fig. 319–331]

– WINTER [Fig. 332–348]

– OTHERS [Fig. 349–378]

Anker 4
Anker 5

PRIVATE PHOTOS

STRASSBERG (PLAUEN) 1941–1942

PORTRAITS

WALTER BALLHAUSE

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