Fred Herzog, born in Germany in 1930, emigrated to Vancouver in 1953 after the war and is known for his unusual use of color in the street photography of the fifties and sixties, a time when art photography was almost exclusively associated with black and white images.
Herzog documented daily life in Vancouver, with a focus on street scenes, ordinary people, and urban landscapes. His work captures the atmosphere and character of the city in the fifties, sixties and seventies.
Fascinated by American culture, he documented it by filming with Kodachrome slide films, capturing his subjects in color, at a time when most photographers shot in black and white. Kodachrome film is known for its rich and vibrant colors.
Despite being active for decades, Herzog remained relative unknown until his later years. His work only gained widespread recognition when technology made it possible to create high-quality pigment prints that could match the colors and intensity of Kodachrome. The retrospective Fred Herzog: Vancouver Photographs in 2007 in Vancouver Art Gallery was part of this.
By the time he rose to fame, Herzog had amassed an impressive collection of approximately 100,000 color slides.
Herzog is now considered a pioneer of color photography and one of the most important street photographers of the 20th century. His work has contributed to the revaluation of earlier color photography and has influenced the international conversation about it.
"how you see and how you think creates the right moment to take a picture" ~ Fred Herzog
During the day he worked as a medical photographer and in his spare time he documented daily life as he observed it. His photography provides valuable historical and social documentation of Vancouver and reflects the changes in the urban landscape and culture of the time.
Herzog's photo Bogner's Grocery (1960) was released in 2014 as stamp in limited edition as part of Canada Post's Canadian Photography Series. This is an image of a group of children playing in front of an old supermarket in 1960. Today, that location – on West 5th Avenue in Vancouver – is just an empty warehouse; but by 1960, Bogner's Grocery was part of a much more vibrant community.
Herzog died on September 9, 2019 at the age of 88.
This book brings together more than 230 images, many of which have never been reproduced before. It is the most comprehensive publication on this important photographer to date.
Fred Herzog. Modern Color - texts: David Campany, Hans-Michael Koetzle, Jeff Wall
Pages: 320
Price: €32.98
Publisher: Hatje Cantz
