Fred Herzog: Modern Color

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For over fifty years, the Canadian photographer exclusively used Kodachrome slide film, and only in the last decade have advances in technology enabled the production of archival pigment prints that faithfully match the remarkable color and vibrancy of the Kodachrome slides.

Herzog’s big breakout occurred late in life when The Vancouver Art Gallery held the first major retrospective of his work in 2007: Fred Herzog Vancouver Photographs curated by Grant Arnold. Herzog’s work has much in common with William Eggleston, who eschewed big scenes in favour of the quotidian. Furthermore, his shots were taken using mostly Kodachrome slide film, meaning he was limited in terms of actually getting to exhibit his images in public. The most comprehensive book yet published on the Canadian color-photography pioneer Fred Herzog is best known for his unusual use of color photography in the 1950s and 1960s, a time when art photography was almost exclusively associated with black-and-white imagery.The young German immigrant was fascinated by all aspects of Canadian life and set out to document it with his camera.

Professionally employed as a medical photographer, he spent his evenings and weekends photographing the city and its inhabitants in vibrant color. Herzog also had the vision, and courage, to shoot in color when virtually all serious art photography was in black and white.Fred Herzog is best known for his unusual use of color in the 1950s and 1960s, a time when fine art photography was almost exclusively associated with black and white shots. Herzog started taking pictures in Germany in 1950 where, as part of a youth group who every summer went hiking in the Alps, he was given a Kodak Retina I camera.

By taking color rather than black and white photographs, he made his street scenes seem much more modern. By using the Web site, you confirm that you have read, understood, and agreed to be bound by the Terms and Conditions. It was the best film and most reliable development, although he had to wait an age for the results as he sent them to Palo Alto, California, or Rochester, New York. Fred Herzog might not be a household name in the photography world, but his work holds its own against the likes of Walker Evans and William Eggleston, two photographers with whom Herzog shares an aesthetic. There’s defiance in the work of Herzog, whose images focused largely on the working class of Vancouver, Canada.It’s impossible to sum up all of the heartfelt passions of the artists in the pages or a gallery exhibit of Walks to the Paradise Garden.

In this respect, his photographs can be seen as prefiguring the New Color photographers of the 1970s. In his work, we’re shown a world we recognise, anachronistic as some of it may be, yet we relate to it. This book will bring together over 230 images, many never before reproduced, and will feature essays by acclaimed authors David Campany and Hans-Michael Koetzle. Until that point, so few photographers had taken up the idea of simply touring the everyday streets and capturing what they saw.In this respect, his photographs can be seen as a pre-figuration of the New Color photographers of the seventies. S., and Robert Frank, whose photographs were published in the influential book The Americans and who also died Monday. It was through focusing on the everyday in the US that Eggleston was able to reveal the deeper truths of the world. For more than 50 years, the Canadian photographer worked almost exclusively with Kodachrome slide film, and it is only in the past decade that technological advances have enabled him to produce archival pigment prints that match the extraordinary color and intensity of Kodachrome slides.