2. Best-known for her role in the avant-garde's from 1920 to 1940, and a pioneer of
modern photojournalism.
She was the first to publish in book form as an end in itself.
In the 1920s Man Ray said to photographer Germaine Krull, “Germaine, you and I
are the greatest photographers of our time; I in the old sense, you in the modern
one.”
Yet despite this early recognition of her work, Krull has not received the critical
attention that her associates attracted.
3. Biography
• Born in Wilda-Poznań, East Prussia, in 1897, she had a nomadic childhood.
• Was homeschooled by her father who was liberal.
• This nomadic lifestyle and unconventional upbringing laid the foundations for her
colourful adult life.
• After studying photography in Munich, Krull became involved in the political upheavals
of post-war Germany in 1919, her role in the communist movement leading to a close
shave with the Bolsheviks in Moscow.
• Krull was the first artist of her generation to publish single author publications of her
photographs such as Metal (1928), 100 x Paris (1929).
4. • She also held a prominent position on the photography magazine VU which was
founded in 1928(1928-1933).
• She produced reportage for many other magazines, such as Jazz, Variétés, Art et
Médecine and L’Art vivant.
• Most importantly, and unlike any other photographer of her generation, she published a
number of books and portfolios as sole author: Métal (1928), 100 x Paris (1929),
Études de nu (1930), Le Valois (1930), La Route Paris-Biarritz (1931), Marseille (1935).
These various publications represent a total of some five hundred photographs.
• During the Second World War, she joined the Free French (1941) and served the
cause with her camera.
• Shortly afterwards she left Europe for Southeast Asia, becoming director of the Oriental
Hotel in Bangkok, and then moving on to India where, having converted to Buddhism,
she served the community of Tibetan exiles near Dehra-Dun.
5. Self Portrait with Icarette
around 1925
Gelatin silver print
23.6 x 17.5 cm
• Using a small format Icarette camera
enabled Krull to take more intimate and
engaged photographs of her subjects.
• She captured the elements of modern life
with her unconventional style and offered
a unique interpretation of the vast range of
subjects she chose to depicts.
• Modernist photojournalist.
6. Self Portrait, Paris
1927
Gelatin silver print
23.9 x 17.9 cm
Left-wing convictions,
The love of cars and road trips,
The fascination with hands and
maverick spirit that drove her work and kept
her outside schools and sects.
7. Krull describes her 1928 book Metal
as depicting
"the essentially masculine subject of
the industrial landscape."
Métal
Cover of the photogravure
portfolio Métal (set of 64 plates)
1928
30 x 23.5 cm
8. Bridge crane, Rotterdam
about 1926
from the series Métal
Gelatin Silver Print
21.9 x 15.3 cm
Marseille
June 1930
Gelatin Silver Print
21.2 x 15.3 cm
9. Rue Auber in Paris
about 1928
Gelatin Silver Print
10. Étude pour La Folle d’Itteville
[Study for The Madwoman of Itteville]
1931
Gelatin Silver Print
21.9 x 16.4 cm
Jean Cocteau
1929
Gelatin Silver Print 1976
23.7 x 17.2 cm
12. Gibbs Advertising
January 18, 1930
36.7 x 27.8 cm
Étude pour La Folle
d’Itteville
[Study for The
Madwoman of Itteville]
1931
Gelatin Silver Print
21.9 x 16.4 cm
14. Étalage: les mannequins [Display:
mannequins]
1928
Gelatin Silver Print
10.8 x 15.7 cm
Mannequins in a shop window
1930
Gelatin Silver Print
13.7 x 23.5 cm
