A photography icon turns 95: We celebrate F.C. Gundlach

Photography has always defined F.C. Gundlach's life, as a photographer, gallery owner, collector, exhibition curator, teacher, museum director, benefactor, and patron. F.C. Gundlach remained active well into old age: as a producer of renowned international exhibition projects, as a supporter of young photographic talents and custodian of extraordinary photographic estates, as an advisor and visionary regarding the medium of photography.

It is thanks to F.C. Gundlach that the city of Hamburg is now internationally recognized as a city of photography and photographers. The F.C. Gundlach Foundation, established in 2000, has played a significant role in this, championing photography as a cultural asset through exhibitions and publications. Furthermore, he initiated the Triennial of Photography in 1999, founded the Working Group for Photography (now the Friends of the House of Photography) as early as 1993, and curated numerous photographic exhibitions at the Hamburger Kunsthalle, the Hamburger Kunstverein, and the Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe. In 2003, he was appointed by the Senate as the founding director of the House of Photography and established a new, innovative platform for engaging with the medium of photography in the southern Deichtorhalle.

F.C. Gundlach, born on July 16, 1926, is arguably one of the most famous fashion photographers of the German post-war era. Many of his images are now firmly established as icons in the cultural visual memory.

After completing his photographic training in Kassel, he initially worked extensively for illustrated magazines such as... German illustrated magazines like Quick and Stern . In 1950, he traveled to Paris for the first time. He created home stories of film stars and his first fashion photographs of Parisian haute couture. But fashion and fashion photography also experienced a golden age in post-war Germany. The elegant magazine Film und Frau became F.C. Gundlach's biggest client in 1954, for which he photographed over 100 covers until 1963. In many issues, he was also able to design fashion spreads of up to 30 pages.

An exclusive contract with Lufthansa opened the world to F.C. Gundlach in 1956. Alongside fashion photography, he soon began producing travel and architectural reportage. From 1963, F.C. Gundlach photographed for Brigitte magazine under an exclusive contract and began featuring the young and fresh ready-to-wear fashion scene. With great success: by 1989, he had photographed more than 160 cover images and over 5,000 pages in the editorial fashion section of Brigitte, Germany's leading fashion and lifestyle magazine.

F.C. Gundlach's dedication to photography encompassed many aspects of the medium. As early as 1967, he founded the company Creative Colour in Düsseldorf, followed in 1971 by PPS. Professional Photo Service in Hamburg, another service company for professional photographers. In 1975, he opened the associated galleries in Düsseldorf and Hamburg. They were among the first photography galleries in Germany, where he presented more than 140 exhibitions by internationally renowned photographers and artists.

From the early 1980s onward, F.C. Gundlach increasingly focused on collecting photographic works, developing photographic museum exhibitions and book publications, and teaching. Numerous awards and honors, such as the conferral of an honorary professorship at the Hamburg University of Fine Arts (HfbK Hamburg), the Federal Cross of Merit, and the Henri Nannen Prize, attest to the high regard for his contributions to the medium of photography. To ensure the long-term preservation of his extensive photographic collection, he placed a large portion of it on permanent loan to the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg upon the founding of the House of Photography in 2003.

The F.C. Gundlach Foundation, which celebrated its 20th anniversary last year, continues its commitment to photography:
"With expertise and discerning judgment, we promote the perception of photography as a cultural asset, in Hamburg and far beyond," says Sebastian Lux, Director of the F.C. Gundlach Foundation. "We advise, curate, unearth treasures from archives, and send images and entire exhibitions to museums worldwide. We do this in the spirit of our founder, the photographer F.C. Gundlach, who himself united many aspects of the wonderfully diverse medium of photography in his prolific work."

For more information or images, please contact us.

F.C. Gundlach Foundation
Parkallee 33
20144 Hamburg
040 – 44 45 51
mail@fcgundlach.de