François Kollar
François Kollar was born in Hungary in 1904 and moved to Paris in 1924. Very passionate about photography, he learned the trade with the well known Draeger Frères printing house, then with the Chevojon studio and the Lecram agency. He set up his own studio in 1930. It was in 1931 that he began his collaboration with the Horizons editions of France, with a series of reportages on the working world, to be published under the title “France Working” . This investigation, rich of more than 2,000 photos and which lasted nearly 4 years, lead François Kollar to the four corners of the country, where he photographed all sectors of industry and agriculture. “La France Travaille” appeared in the form of booklets from 1932 and met a great public and critical success which launched the career of the young photographer. Advertising photography, fashion photo, industrial reportages, styling of the pavilions of the international exhibition of 1937, his production is abundantly exposed and published, within the framework of his collaborations with Le Figaro Illustré, the review Plaisirs de France, the magazines Vu and Harper’s Bazar, but also with many professional journals, until the mid-60s. He died in 1979. The Forney library kept all the pictures of “France Working”, donated by the publishing house Horizons de France to the library in 1975.
Agence Roger-Viollet
6, rue de Seine 75006 Paris
