The photographer Ruth Hallensleben (1898 -1977, born and died in Cologne) was primarily active in the fields of landscape, architecture, industry, portraiture, travel and advertising. Hallensleben, who initially lived in Cologne and later in Wiehl and Wuppertal, was known for her idealized depictions and precise staging. Until now, Ruth Hallensleben has primarily been exhibited as an industrial photographer; now, for the first time, pictures from all her fields of work are being shown.

Ruth Hallensleben came to photography late in life. After working in social and administrative professions for almost 15 years, she began an apprenticeship in the photo studio of renowned Cologne portrait photographer Elsbeth Gropp in 1930. Just one year later, Hallensleben had her first publication in the Vereinigte Stahlwerke magazine "Das Werk". From 1934 to 1973, she took on numerous assignments as a freelance photographer throughout the former German Reich as well as in the later Federal Republic of Germany and was thus active in two different political systems.