Wilhelm Willinger

Maurus (Mor) Wilhelm (Vilmos) Willinger, (born 9 April 1879 in Budapest, Austria-Hungary and died 29 January 1943 in Shanghai, China). He was an Austrian/Hungarian photographer who is best known for his portraits of actors of the early silent film era in Berlin.

Life

Willinger lived in Budapest until 1900, from 1902 to 1918 he ran a photo agency in Berlin, while maintaining a studio at Orczy út 8 in Pest. He married Margarethe (who ran the darkroom) and they had a son László Willinger (1909-1989) also became a portrait photographer. In Berlin he was registered in W 30 at Schwäbische Straße 8.

During the First World War he was an Honvéd officer in the Austro-Hungarian Army.

After the First World War, in 1919, together with Hans Schnapper he established a studio in Vienna. In 1921, Schnapper left the studio and Willinger became the sole owner. The Willinger & Schnapper company was located in Kärntnerstraße 28 in the First District of Vienna and remained at that address until 1938 when it was taken over by Adolf Hitler's photographer Heinrich Hoffmann. At one point the studio was one of the largest in Vienna with 30 employees. The photo archive was confiscated by the Gestapo soon after 13 March 1938 and apparently dispatched to the Reichspropagandamt [Reich Propaganda Agency] in Berlin later on.

During his time in Vienna he founded the Organisation der Wiener Presse (Organization of the Vienna Press) with various other photographers in 1924. In 1930 he took over part of the company R. Lechner (Wilhelm Müller) and turned it into the agency for Austrian press pictures Willinger & Lechner. Later he founded the together with Leo Ernst and Friedrich Cesanek sales company Austrophot - Willinger, Ernst & Cesanek.

Eventually, the Atelier Willinger operated in Berlin, Vienna and Paris. The Berlin branch operated from 1920 to 1934 under the name of his wife, Margarete Willinger. It was located at Dorotheenstrasse 72 or 60, and (from 1932 to 1934) at Fasanstrasse 68. Their son also worked in several branches of the studio (Paris & Berlin).

His work shows a wide variety of motifs and events. He photographed "role portraits" of stage actors, scenes from stage plays and portraits. His photographs can be found in various magazines, newspapers, as well as in books. Court documents from a case in Vienna in 1926 show his marital status as "divorced".

Exile & Death

Willinger left Vienna in 1938. He emigrated to Shanghai and was able to ship his photographic equipment with him, where from 1940 he ran his studio, Willinger & Co Shanghai, at 11 Nanking Road.