Photographs
Fred Herzog
Hatje Cantz
C/O Berlin
English and German
Hardback
Second Revised Edition
192 Pages
190 x 215 mm
2011
ISBN 9783775728119
After immigrating to Canada in the fifties, Fred Herzog (b*1930 in Bad Friedrichshall, Germany) devoted himself to what at the time was an unusual medium: color photography. In doing so, he breached entrenched visual habits and doctrines, which primarily assigned the status of art to black-and-white photography.
As a pioneer in the field of colour photography, Herzog perfected his eye for the supposedly insignificant. His motifs are the streets of Vancouver, supermarkets, gas stations, bars, urban scenes, landscapes, and, again and again, the people in his environment—the heights and depths of the North American dream. He tested the potential of colour photography as a medium for great objectivity and great artistry alike, and his critical gaze shows us the trivial, the ephemeral, and the apparently meaningless. Above all, however, colour lends his photographs a unique atmosphere and force, and is ultimately what lends them such authenticity.
About the Artist
Fred Herzog was born and grew up in Stuttgart, Germany, but was evacuated from the city during the aerial bombardment of the Second World War. His parents died during the war after which he dropped out of school and found work as a seaman on ships. He emigrated to Canada in 1952, living briefly in Toronto and Montreal before moving to Vancouver in 1953. He had taken casual photos since childhood, and began to take photography seriously after moving to Canada. His work focuses primarily on working class people, and their connections to the city around them. He worked with slide film ,which limited his ability to exhibit, and also marginalised him somewhat as an artist in the 1950s and 1960s when most work was in black and white. However, he has been increasingly recognised in recent decades. His work has appeared in numerous books, and various galleries, including the Vancouver Art Gallery.
(Source https://www.equinoxgallery.com/our-artists/fred-herzog/)
About the Publisher
Hatje Cantz Verlag is a German book publisher specialising in photography, art, architecture and design. It was established in 1945 by Gerd Hatje and has offices in Stuttgart and Berlin. Hatje Cantz Verlag has a backlist of nearly 800 titles.
hatjecantz.de
C/O Berlin is an exhibition space for photography and visual media. As a nonprofit organization, C/O Berlin presents works by respected artists, supports emerging talents, and welcomes everyone to discover contemporary visual culture. As a place to exchange new ideas, C/O Berlin organizes Artist Talks, Panel Discussions, Film Screenings and guided tours, offering visitors a place to exchange thoughts on the exhibition program and engage in current debates on visual culture. Supporting emerging talents is an integral aspect of C/O Berlin’s mission. The yearly C/O Berlin Talent Award is the only prize in Europe to recognize an Artist and a Theorist aged 35 years old or younger.
co-berlin.org
Further Reading
https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2019/oct/16/fred-herzog-obituary
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/12/14/magazine/the-odd-otherwordly-glow-of-fred-herzogs-photography.html
