Hans Hansen is not necessarily well known to anyone but the most studious of photographic historians. Throughout a long career, the self-taught German photographer has quietly carved a niche as a master of still life and commercial image-making. His work explores colour and composition, as well as drawing lessons from modern artistic movements, resulting in some of the most striking and memorable product images of the 1970s, 1980s and beyond.
Hans Hansen, photography for Nikon, 1985
Curated by Dr Esther Ruelfs, Claire Müller and Justus Brinckmann, ‘Photo: Hans Hansen’ is a large-scale retrospective of Hansen’s work, a collection of 220 photographs that cover every aspect of a six-decade career. Hansen’s clients have included brands such as Volkswagen, Kodak, Erco, Nikon and Lufthansa.
In unskilled hands, his stark compositions and use of light and shadow would create stark, lifeless imagery, but somehow, Hansen ekes out the playful and the unexpected, creating images that have formed the heart of influential campaigns in the process.
Hans Hansen, photography for Kodak
Born in Bielefeld in 1940, Hans Hansen studied lithography and Applied Graphics at the Düsseldorf Art Academy, although he never graduated. Working with a medium-format Rolleiflex camera, Hansen began his career with a collaboration capturing the Finnish designer Tapio Wirkkala’s glass collaborations with Iittala.
Hansen used the camera as a compositional and creative tool, part informed by the era’s rediscovery and rehabilitation of the Bauhaus and other modern movements. This is photographic minimalism, to be sure, but it’s also technically precise.
One of Hansen's glass collages
Among the images on display are his seminal vision of the 1988 Volkswagen Golf, dismantled into 6,843 constituent parts. This advertising photograph was actually an update of an earlier campaign for the VW Beetle, part of the ‘Think Small’ series commissioned by the pioneering New York ad agency Doyle Dane Bernbach.
A 1970 ad image for Volkswagen by Hans Hansen
Working with the deep-pocketed auto industry – he also worked for Porsche, Mercedes-Benz and Fiat – also helped Hansen acquire studio space and technology, including custom flash units. He was able to deploy the unexpected use of colour to highlight form and brand, taking car photography away from its serious, quasi-scientific roots.
Mercedes-Benz SL, photographed in 1989
His work for Lufthansa was paired with the typography of Otl Aicher, showcasing the very best in German creativity. Other specialities included the use of abstracted series, especially for the work done for lighting manufacturer Erco, as well as food photography and his own personal projects, including the most recent, Analog.
A series of light-shaped still lives for Erco
The Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe Hamburg manages Hans Hansen’s 10,000-strong slide archive, as well as his personal collection of art glass, documentation and correspondence. The exhibition is a rare opportunity to revisit the work of this pioneering photographer.
‘Photo: Hans Hansen’ is at MKG Hamburg from 17 April to 1 November 2026.
For more information, visit MKG-Hamburg.de, @MKGhamburg, Hansen.Works
