99kuenstler.com

What It Is

99 Künstler (“99 Artists”) is an artist portrait project launched in 2013 by Wolfgang Weßling, a lawyer and photographer based in Nordhorn, Germany. The site’s subtitle is “Künstlerportraits in Wort und Bild,” meaning “artist portraits in words and images.” According to the FAQ, the project focuses on artists from the German-speaking world, not only in the visual arts but also in performing arts, music, literature, and related humanities fields.

Core Features

The site lists completed portrait entries in reverse chronological order, showing the artist’s name, shooting date, and location, with each photo linking to the corresponding article. It functions more like a long-running cultural archive: the photography is handled by Wolfgang Weßling, while the texts are written by authors such as Andreas Meistermann, Jürgen Rasch, and Dr. Thomas Ebers. The site also includes basic blog features such as comments, subscription options, contact email, and phone information.

Pricing

The project is free for readers. The FAQ clearly states that the artists being visited do not pay any fees, and that the costs of the project are covered by the team itself. As such, it is not a commercial photography platform or a paid artist-promotion service.

Pros and Cons

Its strengths are a consistent theme and long-term continuity: the first entry dates back to 2012, and the project was still being updated in 2025. Entries include time and location details, giving the site a degree of archival value. Its non-commercial nature also strengthens its independence. Downsides include the fact that the site is mainly in German, which raises the reading barrier for Chinese users; categorization, search, multilingual support, and visual interaction are all fairly basic; and the selection of artists depends on the team’s subjective interests, so it should not be treated as a complete or authoritative artist database.

Who It’s For

It is suitable for readers interested in the German and German-speaking art scene, art critics and researchers, portrait photography enthusiasts, and anyone looking for a reference for long-term personal documentation projects. It is not suitable for users looking for downloadable image assets, commercial artist promotion, online exhibition transactions, or artwork purchases.

Access from China

The site appears to be hosted as a WordPress.com-style blog. Based only on the crawled content, there are no obvious signs of blocking in China, and it can usually be accessed directly. However, actual speed may be affected by cross-border network conditions and the loading of WordPress resources.