F.C. Gundlach: Itineraries

Salon de la Photo, Paris
November 8th to 12th, 2018

Throughout his life, Paris was a source of inspiration for F.C. Gundlach and the starting point for numerous fashion shoots. In 1950, he crossed the French border for the first time, his longed-for destination being Paris. The result was a series of atmospheric images with strong contrasts of light and shadow, reminiscent of the film noir aesthetic of the 1940s. Nighttime shots of the Place Pigalle and the Champs-Élysées evoke Brassaï's Paris de nuit. "Paris...", F.C. Gundlach recalled, "...photographed itself."

The city strikes him as a breathless metropolis with a vibrant, public cultural life. For the network of urban bohemians, street cafés like the "Flore" become meeting places and centers of literary and philosophical exchange. The young photographer is right in the thick of it. F.C. Gundlach portrays the protagonists of this cultural metropolis: the couple Yves Montand and Simone Signoret, Gérard Philipe, Jean Cocteau, Jacques Hébertot, Jean Marais, and many others. As early as 1951, F.C. Gundlach has his first solo exhibition at the Librairie Jean Robert in Saint-Germain-des-Prés.

Frequent visits to Paris, along with his contacts in the German and Parisian magazine scenes, eventually sensitized him to fashion photography. In 1952, F.C. Gundlach photographed "Dior in Paris" for Elegante Welt. From then on, the names of the major Parisian fashion houses regularly appeared in his fashion shoots: Chanel, Jacques Fath, Yves Saint Laurent, and Pierre Cardin. When ready-to-wear fashion surpassed haute couture in popularity, F.C. Gundlach responded with fashion reportage characterized by a high degree of spontaneity, narrative elements, and a focus on the emancipation of women. For more than four decades, F.C. Gundlach thus documented fashion and social change. With his covers and fashion spreads in Film und Frau, as well as later in Brigitte, Germany's highest-circulation women's magazine, he had a far-reaching influence on fashion and the image of women in his time.

The theme of travel serves as a fitting metaphor for F.C. Gundlach's life and work, for Paris was only the beginning: From Hamburg and Berlin, his journey took him around the world: from South America to the Nordic countries, to the Near and Far East, from Africa to the USA and the Caribbean. As a commissioned photographer, his product was the printed image in the editorial fashion sections of magazines. Nevertheless, he adhered to his high formal standards, constantly seeking surprising visual ideas, which he often realized on location. For example, he staged a swimwear photo series entitled "All Day at the Beach in the Desert in Front of the Pyramids of Giza." In the studio, he staged Pop Art fashion with the future Vogue editor Grace Coddington in a jersey dress by Daniel Hechter against a hand-painted backdrop in the style of Roy Lichtenstein. His photography is characterized by the consistently skillful interplay between model and background, creating a vivid connection between fashion content and composition.

Photo Salon
Pavilion 5 - 1st floor
Parc des expositions - Porte de Versailles
1, place de la Porte de Versailles 75015