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Werner Braun, Israeli, born Germany, 2018-1918

Werner Braun was born in Nuremberg, Germany, in 1918. His factory had a furniture factory. His mother was an amateur photographer, and Braun began to photograph when he was eight years old. With the rise of the Nazi party to power in Germany, his high school studies were stopped and he was sent to train in the city of Furth, where he began to work as a photographer. During World War II he escaped to Sweden. There, he studied agriculture and met his first wife. He then moved to Denmark. During his stay there, he published in the Swedish press the series of photographs "Stick and Down" with images made of matches.

In 1946 Brown immigrated to Palestine and settled in Jerusalem. At first he worked for a Lebanese-Christian photographer who worked near the Jaffa Gate. Later, he purchased a photo lab called Photo Europe, which was located in a basement on Ben Yehuda Street. From the time of the War of Independence, Braun documented various events in the life of the state. Among other things, he served as a photographer in the Eichmann trial (1961). Between 1952 and 1998 he was a photographer at the Hebrew University. From the 1950s Braun was involved in underwater photography and from 1966 he also began to specialize in aerial photography. Brown resided in Mevasseret Zion.

Werner Braun's photographs are characterized by the influence of "new objectivity" and "German new photography." At first he took pictures in black and white, but later he took photographs of color. In his works, the use of composition is seen as a means of empowering the subject.

Awards And Prizes

1954 First Prize, Photography Competition, The Bezalel National Museum, Jerusalem
1979 Third Prize, Nikon International Contest
1989 The Enrique Kavlin Photography Prize, Israel Museum, Jerusalem
2007 Lifetime Achievement Award, The Audio-Visual Conservation Forum in Israel