Hermann Hesse, Photo Martin Hesse

© Sibylle Siegenthaler-Hesse

Only a single piece of film footage featuring the media-shy writer is thus far known to exist. Hermann Hesse's voice, however, is to be heard on several sound recordings made for radio and phonographs.

There are a large number of Hesse portraits, for which we have his youngest son and photographer, Martin, to thank. They paint an impressive picture of the man Hermann Hesse in familiar surroundings. Painters and sculptors also produced likenesses of the writer - both during his lifetime and in more recent years. In 1932, Martin Hesse took a look around the town in which his father was born and produced a number of highly atmospheric photos of Calw.