Andreas Heumann

Andreas Heumann (born 1946) is a photographer and painter, born in Munich and brought up in Switzerland. On leaving school he began an apprenticeship in Bern to study block-making and printing. He stayed there for four years which gave him the knowledge of colour which was invaluable in his later work and of course in his painting. Although he had always wanted to paint and had had ambition to go to Florence to study it was photography that initially captured his imagination and led him to London via short stints in Paris and New York. Photographers like Alfred Stieglitz, Avedon, André Kertész, Weston, Edward Steichen and Henri Cartier-Bresson influenced his early work.
Once in London, he started to do Reportage and Fashion photography working on assignments for magazines such as Stern, Vogue, Twen, Harper's Magazine and many others. It was then that he was spotted by the advertising industry and since then he has worked on over twelve hundred advertising campaigns, both national and international. Advertising discovered the potential of his images and this helped to make his name into one of the most prolific and successful in the industry - his artistic style has won him over a hundred awards.
Each print is a unique work, emphasizing Heumann's absorption with the artistic side of photography. The final results have been fastidiously worked on, revealing a sensitive feel for the medium. But, as Heumann said during an interview in "Techniques of Masters" (worldwide satellite TV series, sponsored by Kodak): "A bad picture will always be a bad picture, no technique will save or improve it. It is not style or technique that makes the image. It is the thought and the interpretation of an experience in life, our seven senses, which have to be translated into a picture. The technique is only a tool for enhancement of a thought". Andreas Heumann has been described as ‘one of the great natural photographers of our time and certainly one of the most influential’. He is already well known in the advertising industry through thousands of campaigns ranging from the sexy Aristoc images; the Nike campaign showing runners in the dark African bush and his many varied and dramatic shots for the automobile industry.

• Accepted by the Royal Academy of Arts 2007
• The Association of Photographers (UK):

a record number of 6 Gold Awards, 6 Silver Awards, 15 Merit Awards and 3 Judges Choice Awards from the beginning the Awards have been running up to 2006. In 1990 he was honored to be a judge - no work entered.

• Prize winner of the Cannes Advertising Festival 98 - Gold & Silver Awards
• Prize winner of the John Kobal Portrait Awards 95
• Communications Arts - Award of Excellence 94
• The New York Art Directors Club 94 - Merit Award
• Agfa Picture of the Year 94
• Art Director Club Italy 1993 (Gold for best Advertising picture)
• World Image Awards (USA) 1992 - Winner of Fine Art Photography Category
• Campaign Press Awards 1991 (UK) - 1 Gold Award, 5 Silver Awards
• Art Director's Club of France 1990 - Silver Award
• Art Director's Club of Switzerland 1990 - Silver Award
• Art Director's Club of New York 1988 - Gold Award
• Frankfurt Book Fair 1979 - (Germany) Golden Letter Award for best 50 Books of the year.

Augenblick (Ger. n.) - a moment of time; a blink. A blink – a flash, a shutter closing on that instant which makes a work of art. This book shows another aspect of Heumann’s way of seeing, the subtlety of his still life which capture the moment but show that the moment is moving on; himself, the photographer, by essence a ‘voyeur’ catching lights and shadows in moments many are not aware of; a single stem placed in a glass of water; the black cat leaping across one’s path; the hounds waiting for the call of the huntsman; a beautiful woman caught in the shower. Indeed Blue Shower, exhibited at the Royal Academy, was much featured in the BBC’s recent coverage of this year’s Summer Exhibition. The work is so versatile, it makes you wonder what you have missed and what you might see, if you look for that “Augenblick”. - Some pictures make you aware about ironies in life without shouting too loud. In fact, they make you smile.

This book is partly autobiographical; and the photographs are very much part of his own experiences, his creative thoughts and the continuing and penetrating interpretations of his own life. Whilst photography for Andreas is a never ending obsession he has always been interested in painting and took up this medium in 1999. Clearly influenced by Modigliani and Picasso, his expressive use of colour creates work that has been bought by collectors worldwide.

• 8–11 June 2007 - Hackwood Art Festival
• 8–13 October 2007 - Solo Exhibition, The Gallery, Cork Street, London W1 (Photographs and Paintings).