Karl Hugo Schmölz

1917–1986

Born to photographer Hugo Schmölz, Karl Hugo Schmölz (German, 1917-1986) was trained as a photographer by his father in Cologne when he was still in school. He officially was an apprentice to Artur Ohler in Stuttgart and presumably also to Willi Moegle. After the death of his father in 1938, Karl Hugo Schmölz took over the studio. Because he had intensively collaborated with his father, the transition was seamless, and as Karl Hugo almost perfectly copied his father’s style, the photographs of one could easily be mistaken for those of the other. After his military service, Schmölz, using his large format camera, documented the city of Cologne and the destruction it had suffered, however always in a strictly factual manner. In 1956 he married the photographer Walde Huth and founded the studio “schmölz + huth” with her. Next to advertising photography the couple also worked for the fashion industry.