F.C. Gundlach, German photographer born in 1926, marked the second half of the twentieth century in the field of fashion photography. His connection with Paris is one of paramount importance in his career. After studying photography in Kassel (Germany), in search of inspiration and thirsty for culture, he arrived in the French capital in 1950. He photographed the city and began his first independent fashion reports. He quickly became a prominent photographer in German publications of the 1950s and 1960s.
Like his contemporaries, Jeanloup Sieff, Frank Horvat and William Klein, his elegant and refined images illustrate the new creations of the great Parisian couture houses. Through his photographs, young post-war German women discovered new trends in Parisian fashion. By his covers and his portfolios in Brigitte, the most popular women’s magazine in Germany, as well as Film und Frau, he undeniably marked his era. His talent is expressed both in his interpretation of a Christian Dior New Look dress, a Jacques Fath model, or in the Op Art and Pop Art experiments of Pierre Cardin or Courrèges. What interests him most is to enhance the creativity and imagination of fashion designers and, by taking the models in the street, to put the modern woman on the stage, to make the magazine readers who identify with it dream.
Friend of Horst P. Horst, Avedon, and Penn, he rubbed shoulders with the biggest stars of the moment and made portraits of Romy Schneider, Godard, von Stroheim. He worked also with the French and German supermodels: Bettina, Gitta, Wilhelmina …
This large exhibition of 120 photographs retraces his career and his particular links with Paris. While celebrating his 92th birthday this year, he returns to a city dear to his heart: the one that influenced him the most in his early days and which, for three decades of jet-setting around the globe, remains one of his main references. The exhibition recalls at the same time his collaboration with the greatest German fashion designers. With a view always focused on the future and innovation, F.C. Gundlach appears as one of the most inventive German photographers of his time. By putting it in the spotlight, the Salon de la Photo pays homage to a body of work that is fundamentally original and yet little known to the French public.
Simon Edwards
Art Director, Salon de la Photo
Salon de la Photo
November 8-12, 2018
Paris Expo. Porte de Versailles
Paris, France
