Sigurd Rosenhain

Sigurd Rosenhain is a "Leipzig original" and was known throughout the city as the illustrator with a beret, pipe and quick pencil. In half a century, the artist drew over a thousand portraits and had them signed by the people portrayed.

He worked as a graphic artist, decorator and advertising designer from 1946-59. During this time he painted, among other things, theater posters and stage sets for the Theater Döbeln.  As an advertising and display designer, he worked for the optician Neefe and the French brandy company Napoleon, among others. At the same time, he discovered the medium of photography for himself. From 1971-90 Rosenhain worked as a freelance photo journalist and photographer in Leipzig, making a name for himself primarily with photographs of jazz musicians. His photo book "Fascination Jazz. Jazz in the GDR ”from 1974 is the standard work in this field.

After the German reunification and the subsequent opening of the borders, Rosenhain had the chance to draw celebrities outside the narrow national borders. His goal was to portray 1,000 celebrities live. In the following years there was hardly a talk show, a press ball or any other social event in which Sigurd Rosenhain was not included with all the drawing utensils.

On February 24, 2005, Rosenhain died of a stroke. His estate is considered an important document in the history of society, with the first-class portraits Rosenhain has painted a vivid picture of our time.