F.C. Gundlach at Work – An exhibition for the 95th anniversary

Elbschloss Residence Hamburg
July 18 to October 17, 2021

Dark blue blazer, pocket square, distinctive glasses – always impeccably and elegantly dressed, that's how F.C. Gundlach is known. He is considered the epitome of Hanseatic chic and a grand seigneur of German fashion photography. In more than four decades of active work, he rose to become one of the most renowned fashion photographers of the 20th century. His style-defining fashion photographs shaped the zeitgeist of entire generations and have long since become icons in the collective visual memory. His models pose and float gracefully across the frame in the latest collections, seemingly effortlessly. But what appears so natural is often the result of hard work and meticulous preparation. The young photographer's recipe for success, and his guiding principle well into old age, can therefore be summed up as: diligence, discipline, and a touch of luck!

F.C. Gundlach began his career at a time when the entire process of a photoshoot wasn't yet organized by large production companies. The rule was: the photographer was self-employed, often fulfilling all roles – location scout, lighting technician, hairdresser, stylist, and assistant. His clients, besides the elegant magazine Film und Frau, already included high-circulation publications like Stern , Quick , Twen , and Annabelle . However, it wasn't until he switched to Brigitte in 1964 that he was accompanied by a small team consisting of the fashion editor, an assistant, and the models. Suitcases containing the fashion to be photographed and the equipment were still carried to the location by hand or transported by porters hired locally. And so the journeys continued on foot, by camel, jeep, or seaplane through jungles, pampas, or deserts…

Besides his distinctive visual and formal language, his success was largely based on his early and extensive travels, which took him around the globe like no other fashion photographer of the German post-war era. Under an exclusive contract with Lufthansa, F.C. Gundlach flew around the world from 1956 onwards. As a photographer, he documented the inaugural flights of the new long-haul routes. He cleverly had his payments reimbursed in the form of frequent flyer miles, allowing him to later return to the most beautiful locations with models and fashion for his photo shoots. Fashion magazines thus benefited from the sense of distant lands and exoticism that F.C. Gundlach conveyed with his glamorous photographs. Long before mass tourism and package tours, he visited the pyramids of Egypt, the temples of Angkor Wat, downtown New York, and Oscar Niemeyer's futuristic jungle city of Brasília. With great sensitivity, these famous monuments became part of his architecturally sophisticated compositions.

The exhibition "F.C. Gundlach at Work," featuring approximately 95 black-and-white and color photographs, offers insight into the photographer's clear visual language and aesthetic approach. Work photographs show the photographer in action and the sometimes adventurous circumstances under which his images were created all over the world.

The theme of travel runs like a thread through the life and work of F.C. Gundlach. He received his first camera, an Agfa Box, as a gift at the age of ten. After training in Kassel, he launched his career as a photojournalist in Stuttgart. These roots remained with him throughout his life in the form of his composition and reportage style. In 1950, he traveled to Paris for the first time, the place of longing for all young Europeans. There, he visited the glamorous shows of haute couture and developed his distinctive visual language in fashion photography.

Location tours took him to the most remote places on earth: Egypt and the Near East were among his early destinations, followed immediately by Persia, Cambodia, Hong Kong, Central and South America, the entire African continent... F.C. Gundlach's constant travel meant that he often didn't know where he was when he woke up or where the next day or flight would take him.

But photography is and remains his constant driving force. Even after his time as an active photographer: whether as an entrepreneur, collector, curator, gallery owner, museum founder, or patron. A life dedicated to photography.

For more information or images, please contact us.

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

Elbschloss Residence
Entrance Elbschlossstraße 11
22609 Hamburg
Daily 9am – 6pm
Appointments for viewings can be arranged by calling the following number:
040 – 819 91 10
Current hygiene measures apply.