Volker Hinz
Illustration — Robert Lebeck, Volker Hinz and Konrad R. Müller photographed by Oliver Mark, Berlin 2014 Volker Hinz (June 19, 1947 – October 2019) was a German photographer. Early in his career he became known for his political reportage and travel stories; now his portraits of artists, authors, fashion designers, sports men and politicians are better known.
Also recorded as Hinz Volker
Volker Hinz

© Oliver Mark · Oliver Mark · CC BY-SA 4.0
- Born
- 1947. · Hamburg.
- Died
- 2019. · Hamburg.
- Nationality
- Germany.
- Occupation
- photographer.
- Languages
- German.
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Documentary summary
Illustration — Robert Lebeck, Volker Hinz and Konrad R. Müller photographed by Oliver Mark, Berlin 2014 Volker Hinz (June 19, 1947 – October 2019) was a German photographer. Early in his career he became known for his political reportage and travel stories; now his portraits of artists, authors, fashion designers, sports men and politicians are better known.
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Note VALÉORINE
Volker Hinz (1947–2019) was a photographer, of German nationality. The photographer was born and died in Hamburg.
Languages used include German. Works are held at Het Scheepvaartmuseum.
Composed from admitted, traceable facts · 26 September 2026
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gnd · 1091381232 · wikidata · Q2531044 · wikipedia · Volker Hinz
In this article
Life
Life
Hinz worked between 1947 and 2019 across photographer. This article rests on 5 published texts drawn from named institutional registers. Every statement below returns to a source shown in the evidence panel; where the record is silent or divided, the article says so instead of resolving it.
Volker was born in Hamburg in 1947; his direction in life was determined early on by photography. Even as a 20-year-old, he sold his first photos to newspapers. At the age of 24 he became head of the photo agency "Sven Simon" in Bonn – at that time the capital of the Federal Republic of Germany. In 1974 he became a member of the crew of staff photographers of the weekly magazine Stern in Hamburg. In 1978 he moved as a freelance photographer to Los Angeles until he became a staffer again for Stern magazine in New York. There many of his great stories, portraits and reportages made him known worldwide. Since 1986, back in Hamburg again, he worked out of his home town.
Solo exhibitions
Solo exhibitions
• 2015: Volker Hinz – AREA REVISITED, 11. June until 28. June 2015, Oberhafen, Hamburg, • 2014: Volker Hinz – Legends, 8. May until 20. June 2014, Łódź, Poland • 2014: Volker Hinz – 14. May until July, HSBC & Trinkaus, Hamburg • 2012: "Volker Hinz – Stolen Moments", 16. March until 16. June 2012, Galerie "No 6 – Raum für Fotografie", Bremen • 2012: "Volker Hinz – stars im stern", 5. until 26. April 2012, Gruner + Jahr Pressehaus, Hamburg • 2011: "Volker Hinz – Triennale der Photographie – Gesichter des Kinos.Internationale Filmstars", 10. April until 5. June 2011, Museum Langes Tannen, Uetersen • 2008: "Volker Hinz – Party, Pumps und Kleiderbügel – Fotografien aus der Modewelt", 23. April until 19. June 2008, Landdrostei, Pinneberg. • 2006: "Volker Hinz – Fotografien 1974 – 2004. Retrospektiv", 23. April until 30. July 2006, Landesmuseum, Oldenburg • 2005: "Volker Hinz, – '24 hours 7 days, Fotografien 1974–2004. Retrospektiv", 20. April until 19. June 2005, Altonaer Museum, Hamburg • 2004: "Volker Hinz – Böse Bilder mit dem Biogon", 7. March – 18. April 2004, Palais für aktuelle Kunst, Glückstadt • 2002: "Volker Hinz – Selbstporträts" 20. August – 20. October 2002, Altonaer Museum, Hamburg • 2002: "Volker Hinz – Private Life of Muhammad Ali", 14. May until 20. June 2002, • 1997: "Volker Hinz – Prominenten Porträts", 1997 Altonaer Museum, Hamburg • 1991–1992: "Volker Hinz – Trvelling exhibition "Area" in Germany • 1991: "Volker Hinz – "Area", 1991, Fotogalerie Bezirksamt Friedrichshain, Berlin • 1990: "Volker Hinz – "Area", 1990, Fotofroum, Frankfurt • 1990: "Volker Hinz – "Area", 1990, Fotoforum, Bremen • 1990: "Volker Hinz – "Area", 1990, Les Rencontres, Arles, Frankreich • 1982: "Volker Hinz – "Bilder meiner Wirklichkeit", Landesbildstelle, Berlin • 1979: "Volker Hinz – "Bilder meiner Wirklichkeit", Landesbildstelle, Bremen, • 1978: "Volker Hinz – "Bilder meiner Wirklichkeit", Landesbildstelle, Hamburg
DVD
DVD
2013: Dokumentation – Gespräche mit Volker Hinz – Fotograf – A film by Tom Krausz (TKVisuellFilm Hamburg- German language)
Life and career
Dated record
Life and career
Explore 1947–2019
The full dated record · 3 entries
1947
Volker Hinz was born on 19 June 1947.
2019
Dies at Hamburg.
2019
Volker Hinz died on 18 October 2019.
Oeuvre
At the beginning of his career in the 1970s, Volker Hinz formed his reputation with reports from the German political scene. Later, on behalf of the magazine, he took the opportunity for gripping stories and photographic documentations such as on New York nightlife, on Hollywood, on Mexican Oil, on Argentina and Palm Beach for which he received awards at World Press, Art Directors Club Germany and Lead Award.
Books
• In Love With Photography, by Volker Hinz and Peter-Matthias Gaede (text), Ed. Lammerhuber, Vienna 2015, 424 pages, 371 photos, 1000 signed and numbered copies, • AREA, ed by Jennifer and Eric Goode, New York: Ed. Abrams 2013, • Stern Fotografie, Volker Hinz, 67. new edition, Hamburg 2012, Gruner + Jahr, 96 pages in 67 parts, • Private life of Muhammad Ali Photography by Volker Hinz; A publication by Aplanat Galerie für Fotografie accompanying the Exhibition, Limited ed., 1. ed., Hamburg 2002, Germany: Aplanat Galerie für Fotografie, 63 pages, • Jagmandir: Traum als Wirklichkeit; Das exzentrische Privattheater des Maharana, von Udaipur und André Heller, Essay by Jürgen Kesting, Photographs by Volker Hinz and Gabriela Brandenstein, Wien: Brandstätter 1991, 160 pages, • Area: photographs, Volker Hinz; Karl Steinorth; Thomas Buchsteiner, Schaffhausen 1990: Ed. Stemmle, 134 pages,
Reception
Stern Magazine: "For thirty years, Hinz worked for Stern – almost eight years away, based in New York. Over three decades he illustrated countless reports. Muhammad Ali, Woody Allen, Helmut Schmidt, to name just some of the many world famous personalities, which he accompanied with the photo camera. Legendary his photo of Pele and Franz Beckenbauer... Hinz' photographs shaped the appearance of the magazine. The focus of his work was always the human as a motif and humanity as a visual language." (By David Scherf) Volker Hinz Exhibition 2008 Stern Magazine: "The photographer Volker Hinz is... a contemporary painter. The contemporary painter among the great photographers, to be exact. For decades, the photographer Volker Hinz portrays the star, the famous and the powerful of this world. Now he puts himself once in the center (by: Ulrike Posche) congratulates to his 60th Birthday." Stern Magazine: "For nearly three decades, the photographer Volker Hinz works for Stern. His reports from around the world, his pictorial stories and especially his black and white portraits of international personalities establish his superior rank as a photographer and have strongly influenced the look of the magazine. Stern – photographer Volker Hinz presented in a photo exhibition for the first time a selection of his works, including portraits of famous personalities". Artist Talk between Volker Hinz and Ulrich Rueter, Gruner + Jahr Publishing House: "For almost forty years, Volker Hinz has decisively influenced the visual appearance of Stern magazine. Hardly a book without his sovereign portraits of celebrities from around the world. Now the publisher Gruner + Jahr honors him with an exhibition and with the latest volume in the series Stern Fotografie portfolio." To make experiences from photographs is the art and the craft of Volker Hinz." What distinguishes him are 'kid gloves and eagle eyes'." (Jochen Siemens) "Volker Hinz is one of the most prolific portrait photographers in the German press and his special ability is to add new aspects beyond the known add clichés, in particular to the portraits of famous – and sometimes infamous – contemporaries in the fields of politics, film, literature, sports and fashion. The bare soccer players Pele and Beckenbauer in the shower or Woody Allen, who forbids himself the mouth, Kate Moss with golden feet: there are not only pictures, but stories told by the camera of Volker Hinz"
Primary material
Documents and archives
authority file
- Gemeinsame Normdatei 1091381232, Volker Hinz - AREA Photographs (1991 : Frankfurt, Main).
General reference · Deutsche Nationalbibliothek
reference work
- “Volker Hinz”, English Wikipedia, consulted as further reading
Reputable secondary · Wikipedia
authority record
- Wikidata, structured authority record Q2531044: Volker Hinz
General reference · Wikidata
Awards
• World Press Photo Award, 1973, Volker Hinz, 2nd prize, Portraits • World Press Photo Award, 1975, Volker Hinz, 2nd prize, People in the News • World Press Photo Award, 1976, Volker Hinz, 3rd prize, News Features • ADC Photo Award, • ADC Photo Award • Lead Award
Notes from the source article
Cited by Wikipedia
Notes from the source article
These works are cited by the source article, in its own numbering. They are recorded as its citations, not as sources VALÉORINE has verified.
- 1.Hamburger Abendblatt.de: Hamburger Fotograf Volker Hinz ist gestorben (German)
- 2.Biographie Volker Hinz – Der Stern Volker Hinz zum 60 Geburtstag 2007 von Ulrike Posche
- 3.Biographie Volker Hinz
- 4.Volker Hinz in: Die STERN EDITION #67 featuring Volker Hinz. Film-Sneak auf GoSee. Ausstellung im Gruner+Jahr Pressehaus.
- 5."Fotografie ist mein Leben", Der Stern, 23. April 2008 (von David Scherf)
- 6.Der Stern, "Kugelblitz mit Hamburger Witz" Volker Hinz zum 60. Geburtstag, 18. Juni 2007 (von Ulrike Posche)
- 7.Der Stern, 'Bilder des Menschen in all seinen Facetten' EXTRA – Die 3. Triennale der Photographie. 13 April 2005
- 8.Deichtorhallen, Freundeskreis des Hauses der Photographie Hamburg
- 9.› nina venus › Videos
- 10.VOLKER HINZ I JEGO GWIAZDY 8 MAJA W ŁODZI
- 11.Volker Hinz – Stolen Moments", Galerie "No 6 – Raum für Fotografie" Bremen 2012.
- 12."Volker Hinz – Ausstellung – Stars im Stern" im Gruner + Jahr Pressehaus, Hamburg 2012.
- 13."Volker Hinz – #Triennale der #Photographie – Gesichter des Kinos.Internationale Filmstars", im Museum Langes Tannen, Uetersen 2011
- 14."Volker Hinz – Fotografien 1974 – 2004", im Landesmuseum, Oldenburg 2006.
- 15."Volker Hinz Ausstellung – Böse Bilder mit dem Biogon", im Palais für aktuelle Kunst, Glückstadt 2004
- 16."Volker Hinz – Selbstporträts", Altonaer Museum, Hamburg 2002
- 17."Volker Hinz – Ausstellung – Private Life of Muhammad Ali", aplanat Studios, Hamburg 2002
- 18.World Press Photo Award, 1973, Volker Hinz, 2nd prize, Portraits
- 19.World Press Photo Award, 1975, Volker Hinz, 2nd prize, People in the News
- 20.World Press Photo Award, 1976, Volker Hinz, 3rd prize, News Features
- 21.Dokumentation – Gespräche mit Volker Hinz – Fotograf – Ein Film von Tom Krausz (TKVisuellFilm Hamburg), 2013.
References
Citations
References
Each reference names the institution holding it, so a reader may go to the document itself.
authority file
Gemeinsame Normdatei 1091381232, Volker Hinz - AREA Photographs (1991 : Frankfurt, Main).Deutsche Nationalbibliothek
Secondary witnessreference work
Secondary witnessauthority record
General reference
The Encyclopedia exists whether or not anything is for sale. Corrections are recorded rather than overwritten, and every version of this record is kept. Published 16 August 2026.
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