BERLIN FRAGMENTS - Photographs by Rainer König

Rainer König

Rainer König’s perspective on Berlin is that of a jeweller who never loses sight of the details while creating an ensemble. Taken together, the numerous photographs of buildings, ruins and monuments and particularly the details of facades, doorknobs, banisters and staircases comprise an inventory of Berlin. The focus is less on the city as a living space than as an architectonic object. König also photographically documented the garden house in Heiligensee belonging to his aunt, Hannah Höch, following her death in 1978. His photographs of city and countryside depict fragments and monuments alike.
Rainer König, born in 1926 in Berlin, studied architecture and worked in various architecture firms in West Berlin. He began exploring photography on the side. In 1966, he stopped working as an architect and started teaching photography. From 1970 to 1991, he was professor for exhibition design and photography at the HfbK (today UdK – Berlin University of the Arts) in Berlin.