Gottfried Jäger

Gottfried Jäger unites many aspects that are characteristic and relevant for German Photography after the Second World War. He is an artist, a mediator, a curator, a scientist, and an initiator of many projects.

Gottfried Jäger completed an apprenticeship in Photography. He passed his examination (Gesellenprüfung) in Bielefeld and his examination for the Master Craftsman’s diploma (Meisterprüfung) in Cologne. He studied at the Staatliche Höhere Fachschule für Photographie in Cologne (today University of Applied Sciences). Between 1960 and 1972 he worked as specialist teacher for Photography at the Werkkunstschule Bielefeld, from 1972 to 2002 he was a professor for Photography teaching the Artistic Basics of Photography, and Photographic and Generative Imaging Systems (Generative Bildsysteme). In the year 2011 he was awarded a doctorate at the University Bielefeld for his work on microphotographer Carl Strüwe.

Gottfried Jäger founded the Bielefeld School of Photography (Bielefelder Schule der Fotografie) and gave essential impulses for the orientation and the topics of study in Bielefeld for decades. The legendary symposia on photography were known all over Germany and have become an important institution for the development of photographic theory over the course of the last 30 years.

Jäger developed the term Generative Photography in the 1960s and worked collaboratively with Herbert W. Franke, Hein Gravenhorst, Kilian Breier, Pierre Cordier, and Karl Martin Holzhäuser. His artistic work, including photographic paper works, photo objects, and installations, is completed by his historical and art historical research on the history of Generative Photography. His oeuvre, which is singular in Germany, was honored with the Cultural Prize of the German Photographic Association (Deutsche Gesellschaft für Photography, DGPh) in 2014.