Icons of contemporary history
Chancellor photographer Konrad R. Müller dies at the age of 83
Photographer Konrad R. Müller moved effortlessly between Brandt and Adenauer
© Markus C. Hurek / Picture Alliance
He had them all: Willy Brand, Mikhail Gorbachev, Angela Merkel. What made Konrad Müller famous as a photographer was the imagery of his Chancellor portraits. Now the documentarian of power has died.
The photographer Conrad Rufus Müller – made famous with portraits of all the Federal Chancellors – died at the age of 83. He succumbed to a long, serious illness on Saturday evening, his wife told the DPA news agency in Königswinter near Bonn on Sunday.
No spotlights, tripods or digital cameras
His black and white photos of the chancellors – from Konrad Adenauer (CDU) to Olaf Scholz (SPD) – have an intense visual language, Müller did without spotlights, tripods and other accessories. According to his own statement, he only ever used two cameras and avoided digital photography.
7 images
Müller was present on the Chancellor’s countless trips and appearances and became a contemporary witness, for example when Helmut Kohl met Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev in Bonn in the summer of 1989 or when the CDU politician visited French President François Mitterrand after the fall of the Berlin Wall to convince him of the necessity of German unity.
Particularly good relationship with Chancellor Brandt
Especially the SPD Chancellor Willy Brandt Müller He had a good relationship and described him as “my hero”. In addition to the Chancellor pictures Müller He has realized numerous photo projects as a freelance photographer; his pictures are a journey back in time to the 1960s.