Jochen Herling was born in Braunschweig, Germany. His father worked for the company Voigtländer, a camera manufacturer, and passed on his interest in photography to his son. His mother not only worked as a nurse, but also as an usher at the cinema, a place Jochen Herling also discovered as a child. At the age of fifteen, he was offered an apprenticeship at the Deutsche Drogisten Akademie in Braunschweig, where he completed his training as a photo lab assistant.

He familiarised himself with Agfacolor photography before beginning his professional training as a photographer at the vocational school in Herford in 1958, which he completed in 1962. From 1962 to 1963, he did his military service in the German army. After his return to civilian life, he found a job in the photography department of the Gevaert company. After being called up again by the army in 1963, he decided to move to Luxembourg. There, he found work at the Lëtzebuerger Revue, the leading illustrated weekly magazine in Luxembourg, at first in the reprography department and later as a photo reporter. From 1963 to 1981, he accompanied the Grand Ducal family on its travels and worked in the Information and Press Department of the Ministry of State. At this occasion, he travelled to many destinations such as England, Scotland, Tunisia, Russia, China, Japan, South Korea, Germany, Senegal and France. In 1979, Herling co-founded the Friends of Edward Steichen. Following the ending of his contract with the Lëtzebuerger Revue in 1981, Herling worked as a freelance photographer. In 1982, together with his wife Marcelle Herling-Majerus, he opened the Grand Duchy’s first photo gallery in Luxembourg City: Photo-Galerie 52. There, he simultaneously served as independent curator, artist and gallerist. He published several books, including exhibition catalogues with portraits of Luxembourg artists. From 1982 to 2001, he also worked as a photo reporter for the weekly newspaper D'Lëtzebuerger Land. In 2016, he bequeathed over 300,000 negatives to the Photothèque de la Ville de Luxembourg, along with a fairly comprehensive inventory of his work. Herling had two children from a first marriage. In 1980, he acquired Luxembourg nationality and married Marcelle Majerus, with whom he had a daughter.

His photographic work focuses on reports and events, but he was also expanded his activity to scientific and artistic fields. He always adhered to analogue photography and did not venture into the digital age. Herling's style is personal, mainly having worked in black and white, but also in colour and with a deep sense for aesthetics.

As his creative development progressed, he experimented with photographic techniques, adding substances such as lead and engraved text to the prints. He also played with unusual framing, sometimes achieving graphic effects. Occasionally, he used two or more superimposed images, double exposures or overprints. In addition, he created collages of Polaroids on silver prints. To a lesser extent, he also expanded his artistic activities to painting, sculpture and graphic art.

Herling owned a camera from an early age. After winning a photography competition organised by the city of Braunschweig about the Riddagshausen nature reserve as a teenager, photography became his professional goal. Nature was his first source of inspiration. His second favourite subject was people. With a deep sense of social commitment, he was able to capture the intimacy of the different social strata of his time. Luxembourg also played an important role in his creations, featuring landscapes of the countryside, the Moselle as well as the urban environment.

As a consequence of his work in photojournalism, he developed a particular sensibility towards a more humanistic photography, focusing on various contemporary subjects, which included portraits of children in 1973. Later, in 1980, he spent 18 months capturing the romantic landscapes of the Oesling in all four seasons. He followed this up with two exhibitions, one depicting views of the Luxembourg Moselle and the other showing rural life in Luxembourg. In 1981, he dedicated himself to preserving the nostalgically charming little village shops in a series of photographs entitled Tante-Emma-Läden.

As a freelance photographer, he offered his services for reportage, advertising, press and illustration photography. Yet, he also photographed art collections, including those of the Banque et Caisse d'Épargne de l'État (BCEE).

By opening his art gallery Photo-Galerie 52, he consolidated his reputation as an art photographer, exhibiting his own collection of Polaroids, amongst others. He became known as a photographer and as a curator, presenting other photographers of national and international renown, but above all those he admired – such as Edward Steichen, the influential photographer and curator of Luxembourg origin. Herling exhibited Steichen's work at his gallery in 1982. This was the first time Steichen’s work was shown at a Luxembourg art gallery.

In 1986, Herling conducted a sociological exploration into the personal lives of Esch-sur-Alzette's residents. He captured their bedrooms with his camera and subsequently arranged the series of photographs into small collages, by overlaying polaroids, which the inhabitants had taken to highlight unique aspects of their homes onto his own larger-format silver print. In 1987, he took photographs of scarecrows that were gradually disappearing from the Luxembourg landscape. In 1992, he revealed another dimension of his artistic expression through the introduction of his lead sculptures. In 1993, the woman of today became the main focus of his attention. In 1993, his enduring fascination with humanity resurfaced through his photographic exploration, capturing the rich diversity within the elderly population. In 1994, he covered photographs with a layer of lead. 

Herling also served as a jury member in competitions focused on painting, photography, and cartoons.. He was not only a collector of works of art, but also a great sportsman with a passion for cycling. In 2002, he brought together a number of artists, friends and personalities from different fields to discuss this theme in an exhibition and catalogue entitled Art et vélo.

From 1973 to 2002, Herling showcased his photographic works in several solo exhibitions and actively participated in numerous group exhibitions, primarily within Luxembourg.His first solo exhibition entitled Mir Kanner for UNICEF's World Children's Day 1973 was first shown at the Cercle Cité, then at the Théâtre de la Ville de Luxembourg and the Foire Internationale, and, in 1978, at City Concorde alongside Josiane Kartheiser's illustrations from her first book (Flirt mit Fesseln). In 1980, his second monographic exhibition, entitled Idylle und Schöpfung, presented landscapes from the Oesling to Winseler. In 1981, he staged Eis Musel gesi mat der Kamera, where he retraced the landscapes of the Luxembourg Moselle at the Museum 'A Possen' in Bech-Kleinmacher, as well as Silos at the Thomas Mann Bibliothek in Luxembourg City. This show was followed by photographs of the city of Luxembourg at the Foire internationale de Luxembourg in 1982. In his own gallery, Photo-Galerie 52, he presented Polaroid Collections in 1982. In 1986, an exhibition tracing the lives of the citizens of Esch with the subtitle Den Escher op d'Bett gekuckt was showcased at the Galerie d'Art Municipale d'Esch-sur-Alzette. In 1992, he presented his lead sculptures (Bleibilder) at the Théâtre des Capucins in Luxembourg City. Finally, in 2018, a retrospective entitled Jochen Herling - le photographe: Trésors de la Photothèque was organised at the Cercle Cité. His photographs were also presented at a number of group exhibitions in Luxembourg, Belgium and Germany, including at the following venues: Centre Culturel Français (1992 and 1993), Théâtre national du Luxembourg (1993) in Esch-sur-Alzette at the Théâtre - Galerie d'Art (1994), Théâtre des Capucins in Luxembourg City (1994), Université libre de Bruxelles (1994), Salon du Cercle artistique de Luxembourg (1994), and the Galerie Fred Becker in Luxembourg City (2002).

At the start of his professional career in Luxembourg, he was influenced by Lucien Thiel (1943-2011), chief editor of the Revue magazine from 1967 to 1979 (Herling 7). Together with Romain Durlet (1950-2011), a journalist working for the same magazine, he participated in the production of a UNICEF film as part of his first solo exhibition Mir Kanner, in 1973. He cultivated strong ties with the Grand Ducal Court (Maison du Grand-Duc) and undertook the task of capturing private photographs for the royal family. He also covered state visits to Luxembourg by foreign dignitaries, such as Queen Elizabeth II of England in 1976 and Pope John Paul II in 1985. Together with Evy Friedrich (1910-1989), a journalist at Lëtzebuerger Revue, he produced a book with Winseler landscapes. He worked extensively for the Bibliothèque nationale du Luxembourg, several museums, and the Salon du CAL (1982-2002), but he also illustrated literary publications such as the cultural review Estuaires in 1973 and 1993 and Cahiers luxembourgeois. In Saarbrücken, he  worked for the Saarbrücker Zeitung, illustrating articles by Paul Bertemes and collaborated with Monika Zorn (1941-). Between 1982 and 2013, he illustrated the catalogues of several artists, including Roger Bertemes, Robert Brandy and others. In 2000, he was selected for an exhibition at the Museum für Moderne Kunst Weddel in Germany together with Joseph Beuys (1921-1986), curated by the German artist Bernd Löbach-Hinweiser (1941-). Herling's Photo-Galerie 52 featured artists from Luxembourg and abroad, including Edward Steichen, Monika von Boch (1915-1993) and others.

Herling's photographs can be found in several private and public collections. Due to the bequest, most of them can be found at the Photothèque de la Ville de Luxembourg. His photographs are also present in the collection of the Musée national d'archéologie, d'histoire et d'art (MNAHA).

Herling exhibited a monumental photograph depicting a portrait of the grand-ducal couple on the evening of their wedding, on 13.02.1981 in the public space in Helfenterbrück.

According to Martin Jaspers, the cultural director of the Braunschweiger Zeitung, his success in the photography competition as a teenager was a defining moment in the artist's life (Jaspers quoted in Thill). The prize-winning photograph testified to his interest in nature and his "social commitment, to which he has always remained faithful throughout his long career" ("Der Fotograf Jochen Herling: Auf dem Schiltzberg."). His first exhibition Mir Kanner was a great success in 1973 (Herling et al. 2018: 20). In 1982, his Polaroids, "small format pieces resembling abstract paintings thanks to sophisticated alienation techniques", attracted attention (Herling et al. 2018: 13). In the same year, he was acknowledged as a photographer creating genuine works of art in a review published about his exhibition Eis Musel gesin mat der Kamera ("Jochen Herling" 9). In 1986, his exhibition with the provocative title Den Escher op d'Bett gekuckt caused a sensation (Herling et al. 2018: 27). In 2018, a monograph entitled Von Braunschweig nach Luxemburg was published, including a quote from 1981 which stated that "the quality of his work has long been recognised" (Herling et al. 2018: 30).

The Photo-Galerie 52 has played a crucial role in promoting photography in Luxembourg(Herling et al. 2018: 13). Furthermore, in 1994, critics praised Herling's paintings for evoking the horrors of the war in Bosnia (Georgette). At the 1994 Brussels exhibition, the international level of Luxembourg's creations was highlighted, and it was Herling's "allusion to human flesh beneath a metallic décor" that was especially noted (F.M. 3). Finally, on the subject of his sculptures, the critic Joseph Paul Schneider stressed the highly original technique (lead and acid), combining the means of engraving and sculpture in "a path marked out by 'signs' that express his 'celtitude'" (5). After the artist's death, the journalist Marc Thill summed up his photographic work as follows: "He was able to capture a very lively part of Luxembourg's history; these were years of renewal and transformation marked by social and cultural openness".

In Luxembourg’s history of photography, Herling has played an essential role in promoting the medium of photography and the perception of his idol Edward Steichen, in a society that was still very reticent in the early 1980s. His artistic works exude a sense of freedom of expression, a celebration of life and a love for his adopted country. Thanks to his vision, he has given us a photographic panorama of great richness, which preserves the heritage and culture of his time.

Works cited

Beck, Simone. “Jochen Herling (1943-2021).” Jochen Herling (1943-2021). N.p., 2022. Print.

"Der Fotograf Jochen Herling: Auf dem Schiltzberg." Journal 02.07.1993: unknown. Print. (Archiv Herr, LH 12 Herling, p.1b.)

Bertemes, Paul et al. Jochen Herling. Luxembourg: Photothèque de la ville de Luxembourg, 2018. Exhibition catalogue.

"Jochen Herling, renommierter Photograph und ‚Land‘-Mitarbeiter, stellt außer Haus aus". D’Lëtzebuerger Land: 10.09.1982:9.

F.M. "Formes et couleurs. Six artistes luxembourgeois exposent à Bruxelles." Luxemburger Wort 25.03.1994 : unknown. Print. (Archiv Herr, LH 12 Herling, p.3.)

Georgette, "Ecce homo: Exposition sur l’art religieux dans l’art contemporain en l’église de Limpertsberg." Luxemburger Wort 05.03.1994 : unknown. Print. (Archiv Herr, LH 12 Herling, p.2.)

Herling, Jochen, Kartheiser, Josiane. Vom Herzogtum zum Großherzogtum. Luxembourg: [J. Herling], 2018:30. Print.)

Herling, Jochen. Art et vélo. Godbrange: Edition M/H, 2002. Print.

Schneider, Joseph Paul. "A la recherche de nouveaux artistes." Luxemburger Wort 24.10.1994: unknown. (Archiv Herr, LH 12 Herling, p.5.)

Thill, Marc. "Fotograf Jochen Herling ist tot." Luxemburger Wort 08.01.2022. Web. Accessed 14.11.2023.