The F.C. Gundlach Collection
The Image of Man in Photography
on permanent loan in the House of Photography

IAs founding director of the House of Photography in the Deichtorhallen Hamburg, F.C. Gundlach made his private collection The Image of Man in Photography available to the house on permanent loan in 2003. Of the collection (around 9,000 works) 6,000 are housed in an air-conditioned depot in the House of Photography, while 3,000 are stored in an equally air-conditioned external depot.

The image of man has been the subject of photographic work from the very beginning. In the F.C. Gundlach Collection, photographic works that open up new perspectives on dignity and human vulnerability beyond their historical status as contemporary documents are of particular importance.

In a special way, photography testifies to the changing image and perception of mankind. A focal point of the collection are therefore photographs showing the image of man in its external appearance - in fashions, poses, facial expressions and gestures. The broad definition of fashion as zeitgeist on which the collection is based also requires consideration of those photographs that cannot be interpreted as fashion photographs in the narrower sense, but reflect contemporary testimony.

Another focus within the collection is on human images of visual artists working with photography, which accentuate the dialogical character of the medium.