RON HENGGELER |
January 14, 2016
Photos by my mentor Mark Anstendig
After graduating from high school in 1971, I spent a year and a half in the art department at Kansas University in Lawrence Kansas before dropping out and moving to Arkansas to live in a tipi. Those were the heady days of change and revolution. The Vietnam War, the Counter Culture Movement, Gay Liberation, the King and Kennedy assassinations, Women's Lib, the American Indian Movement, drugs, and Seeking. I met Mark Anstendig during this time. I was 21, Mark was 38. Mark was a graduate of the Juilliard School of Music. He was one of the six to eight conducting majors under the French conductor, Jean Morel. He studied with Nadia Boulanger in Paris and Fontainebleau, and was one of the few Active Conductors in the Herbert van Karajan conducting practicum. While in Berlin, where he lived for nine years, he was the associate of Mr. Joseph Dahl, the inventor of the Messraster focusing device. From Mr. Dahl, and from Professor Hayek-Halke, the photography teacher at the Technische Hochscule, Mark learned photography, photo-optics and photo-graphics. For the past 40 years, Mark has been my dearest friend, my lover, and my mentor. My background in photography begins with Mark. My life would have gone in a completely different direction had I never met him. Here are some of his photos.
This tin-type photograph of me was taken in Arkansas on my 20th birthday in 1973. |
These few photos of my tipi and campsite in the Ozark Mountains of Arkansas were taken in 1974 during a visit by my parents and two youngest brohers. |
This is a photo of my Dad and I. The photo was taken by my Mother. |
From left to right: My youngest brother Tom, Dad, Mom, and brother Paul. 1974 A couple of months after these photos in Arkansas were taken, I had moved away from Arkansas, and was heading for a new life in San Francisco. |
Shortly after my parents visit, I received this postcard from my friend John in Kansas City. John's brief note on the back of the postcard informed me that Mark Anstendig from San Francisco would soon be visiting him in KC. John added that Mark was a most remarkable man, and that if I wanted to meet him, I should come up from Arkansas. |
My meeting Mark in Kansas City that summer in 1974 was a game-changer for me. I eventually broke down my campsite in Arkansas and moved to San Francisco. Before my departure to San Francisco, I set up the tipi in John's backyard in Kansas City to illustrate the process of it's construction. These photos were taken by my friend Kay Upton. |
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The photos that now follow, were taken were taken by this man, Mark Anstendig. |
Berholt Brecht's Three Penny Opera |
W H Auden |
Harkness Ballet Daphnis |
James Baldwin |
May Day Parade in East Berlin |
Ansorge |
Ekkehard Schall as Arturo Ui Brecht Theatre |
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Ekkehard Schall as Arturo Ui Brecht Theatre |
Siegrid Gräfin von Richthofen, The Countess of Richthofen |
W H Auden |
James Baldwin |
The great German sculptor, Bernhard Heiliger, in his studio at the Hochschule fuer Bildende Kunst (State Academy of Art) |
Ekkehard Schall as Arturo Ui at a rally Brecht Theatre |
Beryl Cunningham |
Beryl Cunningham |
Blind Poet/Musician Moondog New York City |
Suzanne Bloch |
Arturo Ui Brecht Theatre |
Suzanne Bloch |
W H Auden |
On the bow of the Queen Mary |
Valeska Gert The great grotesque pantomime |
Brandenburg Gate |
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Valeska Gert The great grotesque pantomime |
Cain and Able |
New York City's Central Park West |
Cain and Able |
New York City's Central Park circa 1962 |
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Joseph Dahl |
Das Kleine Mahogony |
Mark's nephew David |
Dieter Schwager |
Domino |
Don Quixote |
East Berlin Guard |
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Ekkehard Schall doing his Hitler role inArturo Ui |
Beryl Cunningham |
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From Mark's annual Fasching (Carnival season) party in Berlin. Everyone who came was required to dress up and eventually face the camera. |
Mark Anstendig From Mark's annual Fasching (Carnival season) party in Berlin. Everyone who came was required to dress up and eventually face the camera. |
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Frau Hoffman |
Brandenburg Gate |
Valeska Gert The great grotesque pantomime |
Cain and Able |
Valeska Gert The great grotesque pantomime |
James Baldwin |
Harkness Ballet |
Valeska Gert The great grotesque pantomime |
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Down and out in New York City |
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Guards at the Brandenburg Gate |
Hammer |
Harkness Ballet |
Harkness Ballet |
The great German sculptor, Bernhard Heiliger, in his studio at the Hochschule fuer Bildende Kunst (State Academy of Art) |
Brandenburg Gate |
Helene Weigel, Bertold Brecht's widow and a great actress in her own right, who was also the director of the Brecht Theater after Brecht's death. |
Kennedy in Berlin |
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Helene Weigel, Bertold Brecht's widow and a great actress in her own right, who was also the director of the Brecht Theater after Brecht's death. |
Hitting bottom in New York City |
Frau Hoffman |
Kennedy in Berlin |
Jeno Vincze |
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Harkness Ballet |
Lucille |
Jeu de Polizei May Day Parade in East Berlin |
Werner Juhrke From Mark's annual Fasching (Carnival season) party in Berlin. Everyone who came was required to dress up and eventually face the camera. |
Werner Juhrke |
Kennedy in Berlin Right after saying "Ich bin ein Berliner" |
Harkness Ballet |
Kennedy in Berlin Right after saying "Ich bin ein Berliner" |
Klaus |
The great German sculptor, Bernhard Heiliger, in his studio at the Hochschule fuer Bildende Kunst (State Academy of Art) |
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Heinz Oestergaard, Designer |
Leaders of the Eastern World |
Werner Juhrke From Mark's annual Fasching (Carnival season) party in Berlin. |
Lissa Bauer |
Lothar |
Heinz Oestergaard, Designer |
The Magnificent Lucille Ellis |
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May Day Parade in East Berlin |
Minna von Barnhelm |
Ula Larsson |
Brunilda Ruiz Harkness Ballet Solo Dancer |
Mark's Mother, his girlfriend Gisela, and his dog Napoleon (Nappi) at the Tempelhof Airport in Berlin West |
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Napoleon |
Siegesaule, The Victory Monument in Berlin 800 mm lens |
The Magnificent Lucille Ellis |
Kennedy in Berlin |
New Jersey Beach 1962 |
Heinz Oestergaard, Designer |
Radio City sculpture |
Van Cliburn |
Reichstag and soldier |
Rhodes-Daphnis |
Richard Krauss |
Helen Anstendig Mark's Mother |
Siegrid Gräfin von Richthofen, The Countess of Richthofen |
Napoleon |
Russian War Monument |
Schall doing make-up |
Brunilda Ruiz Harkness Ballet Solo Dancer |
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Siegesaule, The Victory Monument in Berlin |
Queen Mum and Queen Elizabeth II in Berlin |
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St. Michael |
Anthony Strilko |
Brunilda Ruiz Harkness Ballet Solo Dancer |
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Siegrid Gräfin von Richthofen, The Countess of Richthofen |
Queen Elizabeth II in Berlin |
Klaus |
Brunilda Ruiz Harkness Ballet Solo Dancer |
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Tino Bierling, Artist |
Queen Elizabeth II in Berlin |
Helene Weigel, Bertold Brecht's widow and a great actress in her own right, who was also the director of the Brecht Theater after Brecht's death. |
Heinz Oestergaard, Designer |
Anneliese Römer Anneliese Römer was one of the great actresses of the Schiller and Schlosspark Theater Ensemble in Berlin. |
Brunilda Ruiz Harkness Ballet Solo Dancer |
Van Cliburn |
Lothar |
Helene Weigel, Bertold Brecht's widow and a great actress in her own right, who was also the director of the Brecht Theater after Brecht's death. |
Werner Juhrke Fasching |
Willy Brandt at the Kennedy speech in Berlin |
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Brunilda Ruiz Harkness Ballet Solo Dancer |
Ula in traffic |
Siegesaule, The Victory Monument in Berlin |
Ula with paper |
Uwe Jens Serger artist |
Van Cliburn |
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President Richard Nixon in Berlin |
Queen Elizabeth II in Berlin |
Ula |
Visits from East Berlin to the West after the Wall was up. Mark considers this series of photos his best work. |
I've worked with and studied under Mr. Anstendig since 1974. He taught me how to see and hear, and how to be still enough to sustain the finest, most rarified experiences. All that I know, love, and appreciate, about music comes from Mr. Anstendig. It is the source of all my art, refinement, and artistic discrimination. From him, I learned the uncompromising pursuit of artistic vision. Without his training, support, and encouragement, my life could never have become as rich as it is today. To find out more about Mr. Anstendig, visit these sites: |
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