Heinz Hajek-Halke

Heinz Hajek-Halke (1898–1983) was a German experimental photographer who co-founded the Fotoform group with Otto Steinert.

Heinz Hajek-Halke, born in Berlin, Germany in 1898, the son of Paul Halke. He spent part of his childhood in Argentina. He started to study graphics in Berlin in 1915, served as a soldier in 1916 in World War One, and then continued his studies after that.

Heinz Hajek-Halke worked as a photo editor, press photographer, and commercial artist, concentrating almost from the start on montage techniques. During World War II, he lived quietly and photographed small animal life-forms.

In 1949, Hajek-Halke became a member of the German group Fotoform and his abstractions, photomontages and luminograms were included in the first of two "subjektive fotografie" exhibitions.

Hajek-Halke was appointed lecturer in photography and graphic design at the Academy of Fine Arts in Berlin in 1955. Along with Felix H. Man, he won the 1965 Kulturpreis der Deutschen Gesellschaft für Photographie. During his lifetime he published two books, Experimentelle Fotografie and Lichtgrafik. He died in Berlin in 1983.