This German photographer might be unknown to many. He made an important contribution in giving the work of architects from Flanders an international appearance. A photo of Kinold was on the cover of the first Flanders Architectural Yearbook, published in 1994.
text by Marc Dubois
Klaus Kinold studied architecture from 1962 to 1968 with Professor Egon Eiermann at the Karlsruhe University of Technology, who was the architect of the German pavilion for the Brussels World Exposition of 1958. As an assistant, Kinold photographed Eiermann's work and then decided to start a studio for architectural photography in Munich. This was the start of an exceptional career as a photographer. He traveled the world to record buildings and sites. From 1969 to 2005 he was the publisher of the magazines "KS Neues" and "Bauen in Beton". His photographic work has been exhibited in various museums and was included in collections in Europe and the United States, including The Metropolitan Museum of Arts in New York.
Kinold had a strong preference for black-and-white photos, but he also started shooting in color later in his career. He photographed analog and with a technical camera. His oeuvre is in line with the great German tradition of capturing immovable heritage in the most professional way. He placed himself in the long tradition of German photography with a high technical professionalism and a perfect framing of the image.
Kinold's oeuvre has appeared in books and in many international magazines. The number of buildings by renowned architects that Kinold has captured on film is impressive. He photographed the oeuvre of Herman Hertzberger and the entire oeuvre of his friend Karljosef Schattner, who was the chief architect of the Catholic University in Eichstatt. The exhibition "Karljosef Schattner, an architect from Eichstatt" was presented in 1991 in Bruges, an initiative of Stichting Architektuurmuseum Ghent (S / AM). The aim was to demonstrate the policy of how an architect such as Schattner could tactfully integrate new constructions into an historical context.
Given his Christian beliefs, Kinold has always had a great interest in religious buildings. From the churches of Alvar Aalto in Finland to the church of Álvaro Siza in Portugal, he has visited them all, trying to capture the essence of the creation with his recordings. Before Bauen in Beton, he had already visited many church buildings, from Perret, Le Corbusier, Förderer and others.
Thus, the idea gradually arose to bundle the photos of these religious buildings in a publication: Europäischer Kirchenbau / European Church Architecture 1950-2000 which appeared in 2002. In 2004 the guide to church building in Europe from 1950 appeared. For this architecture guide, Kinold visited several locations in Belgium and four projects were selected and photographed: the pilgrimage church Notre-Dame in Beauraing by Roger Bastin (1968), the monastery Zonnelied in Ostend by Paul Felix (1957), the pilgrimage chapel in Edelare by Juliaan Lampens (1966) and the church Saint Paul in Westmalle by Marc Dessauvage (1967).
"Ich will Architektur zeigen, wie sie ist"‐ Klaus Kinold
The publication "Bouwen met Beton / Construire en béton" was a biennial publication, an initiative of Kinold. He came up with the concept, took all the photos and determined the design. This publication was printed in large numbers and was distributed free of charge to all architects in Belgium, but also in Germany, the Netherlands and Switzerland. This publication was made possible thanks to the Swiss and German cement industry. For the selection and most of the texts he appealed to guest authors, but especially to Wolfgang Jean Stock, an architectural critic who also lives in Munich. From Belgium, Kinold received the financial support of the "Verbond der Cementnijverheid" (now FEBELCEM) with Jef Apers as coordinator.
My first meeting with Kinold & Stock was in May 1990. Stock was one of the first foreign journalists, except for some Dutch journalists, who was fascinated by the recent developments in Flanders. In the 1990-1991 edition, this resulted in an extensive report “Young Architects in Belgium” with a main emphasis on Flanders. Kinold photographed buildings by various architects in Flanders: Stéphane Beel, Robbrecht and Daem Architecten, Christian Kieckens, Marie-José Van Hee architecten, Vincent Van Duysen, DMT (Driesen, Meersman, Thomaes), Nollet & Huyghe, Jo Crepain, Frank Delmulle, bOb Van Reeth (AWG). In Wallonia, he photographed the work of Charles Vandenhove and Bruno Albert. Kinold photographed both the first and second phases of the renovation of the Katoennatie in Antwerp, designed by Robbrecht & Daem Architecten. It was mainly Beel's first projects that Kinold photographed, which also appeared in a special issue of the magazine Baumeister (1994) with eight projects including the BAC bank building in Bruges that appeared on the cover of the first Flanders Architectural Yearbook, published in the same year.
