Evelyn Richter

From 1948 to 1952 Evelyn Richter (German, 1930–2021) trained as a photographer in Dresden, then worked as a photographer for a year at the Technical Mechanics Department of the Technische Universität Dresden. She studied photography from 1953 to 1955 at the Hochschule für Grafik und Buchkunst (HGB) (Academy of Graphic Design and Book Design) in Leipzig. After her graduation Evelyn Richter worked as a freelance photographer on books and subjects of her own choosing. She became a member of action fotografie in Leipzig in 1956/57, and in various series she has explored the relationship of music to the visual arts and portrayed artists in several long-term projects. Richter had a lectureship at the HBG in Leipzig between 1981 and 1990, then taught at the University of Applied Arts and Sciences in Bielefeld, only to return to the HBG where she eventually became honorary professor. She was awarded various prestigious prizes, among others in 1975 Ehrenpreis für Fotografie by the Kulturbund, in 1978 an honorary award from the photokina Cologne. In 1992 Richter was awarded the Culture Prize by the German Photographic Association or Deutsche Gesellschaft für Photographie (DGPh). She held a residency at the German Academy in Rome at the Villa Massimo in 1997. In 2020, Evelyn Richter was honored for her life’s work with the Bernd and Hilla Becher Prize of the City of Düsseldorf. Her work has been shown in several solo exhibitions, most recently at Albertinum in Dresden in 2020 and at Museum Kunstpalast in Düsseldorf in 2022.