| The first German-language monograph on Fred Herzog

After immigrating to Canada in the fifties, Fred Herzog (*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 color 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 color 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, color lends his photographs a unique atmosphere and force, and is ultimately what lends them such authenticity.

Exhibition schedule: C/O Berlin, November 6, 2010–January 9, 2011 | And further venues