Through the lens of Kurt Keil - Revisiting Johannes Rau

The University of Wuppertal presents the first exhibition of close-up images by photographer Kurt Keil

Since 2021, the estate of Wuppertal photographer Kurt Keil has been housed in the university archive on campus Gaußstraße. The archivist Dr Friederike Jesse established contact with the photo historian Dr Carmen Pérez González, who has several temporary teaching appointments in the subject History of Science and Technology. Together with students, González took on the collection, sorting and curating the immense variety of objects, which are now being shown in a first exhibition about the former mayor of Wuppertal and later Minister-President of North-Rhine Westphalia and Federal President Johannes Rau. From 21 May to 11 July, interested citizens can visit this exhibition entitled Through the Lens of Kurt Keil - Revisiting Johannes Rau from Monday to Friday from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. with free admission at the Johannes-Rau-Zentrum on Rainer-Gruenter-Straße.

Through the lens of Kurt Keil

Under the direction of Dr Carmen Pérez González, students Thea Schneider and Jako Plaß played a leading role in this first exhibition, with the active support of a further seven students. “In the seminars that served to prepare the exhibition, the first thing we did was to look through the collection and sort it,” Thea Schneider says. “Then it quickly became clear that we had a huge collection here and we had to do something with it. That's how the idea of the exhibition came about.” However, in order to be able to actively participate in the planning as a student, they had to take part in a course to learn about curating and archive work. “That also makes sense,” Jako Plaß agrees, “because at the beginning you look a lot in the archive and then you get an idea and a feel for the work. Then the topics are easier to find.” An overarching title for the first exhibition - further exhibitions are planned – was found quickly:  Through the Lens of Kurt Keil...

Modelled on an exhibition at the Stadtsparkasse Wuppertal in 1992

The new presentation is based on images and texts from a 1992 exhibition at the Stadtsparkasse Wuppertal, which Kurt Keil curated himself. “There are actually over 1300 exhibits,”  Schneider says, “both pictures and newspaper pages. They arrived at the archive in moving boxes. At least one box per year from 1967 to 1992, and all filled to the top.” In order to find out what the exhibition actually looked like when it was realised, the students also searched through the archive of negatives. “That gave us a different impression of the exhibition at the time with the design of the walls by Kurt Keil,” Plaß says.

Help from contemporary witnesses

All of the students undoubtedly belong to a generation that never got to know Kurt Keil or Johannes Rau. This fact raises the question of how to recognise and classify people or situations that can be seen in a picture. Schneider comments: “We were lucky, of course, because Kurt Keil was a very organised person and also stuck the captions on the back of the pictures. There is also an illustrated book entitled 'Wuppertaler Zeitgeschehen', in which Kurt Keil virtually tells us himself what we see. This is then supplemented by incredibly dedicated colleagues of his.” The exhibition organisers met with three photographers who still knew Kurt Keil personally, including the journalist Stephan Heuschen and Andreas Fischer, who still works for the Westdeutsche Zeitung. “Marion Keil, the daughter, has also been with us five times, invited us to her parents' house and was able to provide a lot of background information because she was often there herself.” As Schneider and Plaß are also history students, they were able to do a lot of research on their own.

Close relationship with Johannes Rau

The focus of the exhibition crystallised very quickly, as Johannes Rau was a central theme for Kurt Keil right from the start. The conversations with his daughter also made it clear that the relationship between the two men was very personal and friendly. Schneider says: “Johannes Rau specifically asked him for press appointments.” The illustrated book that Keil had sent to Rau was also meticulously proofread and annotated by Rau. “Kurt Keil was very impressed that Johannes Rau had taken the time to do this.” The fact that the exhibition could also be realised in the premises of the Johannes Rau Centre of the University of Wuppertal was another reason to start with the pictures of the university founder, the project manager explains. Visitors can experience the exhibits in the context of Johannes Rau's book collection, some of which are on permanent display with dedications from prominent politicians and artists.

Swaying with Pina

Of course, the photos on display are mostly press photographs. “However, the relationship was friendly, so they are not posed shots,” Schneider explains, “they are personal moments. On the one hand, it's Johannes Rau in a crowd, but on the other hand, how he sways to the music with a smiling Pina Bausch.  “The pictures are usually very close to the people. This is something special.” Jako Plaß adds: “There's a picture of Johannes Rau holding up a bouquet of roses in a crowd. That also symbolises an election campaign of the SPD that you can no longer imagine today, where leading politicians are so close to the people. Especially today, I have the impression that politics no longer radiates what these images convey.” Kurt Keil undoubtedly had a talent for getting people in front of the camera. “We heard again and again,” Schneider says, “ that although he was a bit direct, he was always well received and always friendly.”

Poster of the exhibition

The exhibition at the Johannes Rau Centre

Thea Schneider summarises the exhibition Through the Lens of Kurt Keil - Revisiting Johannes Rau as follows: “It is a journey through the time of Johannes Rau's work, but through the lens of Kurt Keil. It's not just a story about photography, it's also a newspaper story. So, we have the pictures in the newspaper articles, but we also show alternative pictures that were not used at the time. You can then ask yourself why the alternatives weren't printed.” And visitors even learn something about their city. “It's also about topics and debates that took place in the urban space that we no longer recognise today,” Plaß concludes.

Further exhibitions with other focal themes under the title Through the Lens of Kurt Keil are in the works and will be presented at various locations in Wuppertal in the future.

Uwe Blass

Dr Carmen Pérez González is an astrophysicist, photo historian, and lecturer in history at the School of Humanities at the University of Wuppertal.
Thea Schneider and Jako Plaß are master students in History of Science and Technology at the University of Wuppertal.

Thea Schneider and Jako Plaß are studying M.A. History of Science and Technology at the University of Wuppertal.