Fred Herzog: Modern Color

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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’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. Fred Herzog is known for his unusual use of colour in the fifties and sixties, a time when art photography was almost exclusively associated with black and white imagery.

Fred Herzog is known for his unusual use of color in the 1950s and 1960s, a time when art photography was almost exclusively associated with black and white imagery. 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. 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. Fred Herzog is the most comprehensive publication on the work of this important photographer to date.S., and Robert Frank, whose photographs were published in the influential book The Americans and who also died Monday.

Scenes of society in the macrocosm, rather than showing us nothing, showed us everything: race relations, urban alienation, gender politics and class distinctions. In the 1950s and 1960s, many in the art world didn’t take color photography seriously, considering it amateurish and garish. Despite slight shifts in social, cultural and technological parameters, the world now looks much the same as it did in the ’60s and ’70s. In this respect, his photographs can be seen as prefiguring the New Color photographers of the 1970s.In this respect, his photographs can be seen as a pre-figuration of the New Color photographers of the seventies.

This book brings together over 230 images, many never before reproduced, and features essays by acclaimed authors David Campany, Hans-Michael Koetzle and artist Jeff Wall. Professionally employed as a medical photographer, he spent his evenings and weekends photographing the city and its inhabitants in vibrant color.In this regard, his photography can be seen as a precursor to 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. The Canadian photographer worked almost exclusively with Kodachrome slide film for over 50 years, and only in the past decade has technology allowed him to make archival pigment prints that match the exceptional color and intensity of the Kodachrome slide. The real pioneer of the medium seems to change depending on whom you ask (most people, perhaps rightly, would say William Eggleston) but let’s allow some space for another name: Fred Herzog. And a lot of English gentlemen did serious and beautiful photography… But I didn’t have time for that.