Konrad Adenauer, the renewer. Ludwig Erhard, the man of the economic miracle. Kurt Georg Kiesinger, the mediator. Willy Brandt, the one who knelt. Helmut Schmidt, the doer. Helmut Kohl, the reunifier. Gerhard Schröder, the reformer.
As holders of the most powerful political office, these seven Federal Chancellors, through their leadership styles, personalities, and governments, have decisively shaped the history of the Federal Republic of Germany since 1949. Joachim Giesel photographed them all. His chancellors’ gallery stands as testimony to an extraordinary career. His first assignment for the Hannoversche Presse already took him into an election campaign, when Brandt toured Lower Saxony in 1961 as the SPD’s candidate for the federal election. Giesel was to accompany and photograph him. Satisfied with the results, the editorial team sent him to further political events, where, among other things, a portrait of Adenauer was created. After Giesel became self-employed in 1966, he continued to receive commissions from the Hannoversche Presse, as well as from the federal headquarters of the CDU in Bonn. Further highlights of his career include portraits of Kohl and Schröder—he had made it all the way to the Federal Chancellery. While no opportunity arose to photograph Angela Merkel or Olaf Scholz, Giesel photographed Friedrich Merz in 2000 in front of the Sprengel Museum Hanover. The relationship between chancellor and media is marked by a certain ambivalence and mutual dependency. Newspapers, radio, and—especially from the mid-1960s onward—television are the leading media of the Federal Republic. They serve those in power as both mouthpiece and stage on which to shape their public image. Giesel’s portraits subtly document a shift in the relationship between media and politics. When Adenauer rides through a cheering crowd in an open-top official limousine, waving, Giesel photographs him from the press vehicle—the press follows the chancellor. Adenauer’s raised hand is a gesture of greeting; with Brandt it becomes a raised fist. Schröder, by contrast, leans casually against his desk; it could be the cover image of WirtschaftsWoche. One enduring function of the ruler’s portrait is the demonstration of political power. The chancellor’s portrait follows this tradition. As head of the executive, he sets policy guidelines and, in the event of defense, commands the armed forces. The “costume” of power in the 20th century is the suit in muted colors. Yet Giesel visualizes power in different ways: when Erhard jovially raises his cognac glass at the opening of the Hannover Messe, when Kiesinger stands before a cluster of microphones, or when Kohl holds a notebook with Mikhail Gorbachev’s phone number. In the portrait of Schmidt, however, the other side of power is also revealed: the loneliness of decision-making in times of crisis. Through photography, Giesel created an impressive gallery of chancellors that enters into a vivid dialogue with the painted portraits in the Federal Chancellery.
KONRAD SCHOPPLICH
| Abschied Konrad Adenauers von der Bundeswehr (Farewell of Konrad Adenauer from the Bundeswehr), Wunstorf, October 12, 1963 (Silver gelatin baryta paper, 2024)
| Ludwig Erhard während eines Besuches auf der Deutschen Industrie-Messe bzw. Hannover-Messe (Ludwig Erhard during a visit to the Deutsche Industrie-Messe / Hannover Messe), Hanover, 1958–1961 (Silver gelatin baryta paper, 2024)
| Porträt Kurt Georg Kiesinger (Portrait of Kurt Georg Kiesinger), Tübingen, 1976 (Silver gelatin baryta paper, 2024)
| Willy Brandt beim 13. Ordentlichen Gewerkschaftstag der IG Metall (Willy Brandt at the 13th Ordinary Congress of IG Metall), Berlin, September 21, 1980 (Silver gelatin baryta paper, 2024)
| Helmut Schmidt beim 12. Ordentlichen Gewerkschaftstag der IG Metall (Helmut Schmidt at the 12th Ordinary Congress of IG Metall), Düsseldorf, September 1977 (Silver gelatin baryta paper, 2024)
| Porträt Helmut Kohl im Kanzlerbungalow (Portrait of Helmut Kohl in the Chancellor’s Bungalow), Bonn, 1992 (Silver gelatin baryta paper, 2024)
| Porträt Gerhard Schröder im Kanzleramt (Portrait of Gerhard Schröder in the Federal Chancellery), Berlin, 2004 (Silver gelatin baryta paper, 2024)