Fred Herzog: Modern Color

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Photography in Canada, 1960-2000, National Gallery of Canada". National Gallery of Canada. Archived from the original on 8 September 2018 . Retrieved 10 October 2019. Herzog’s images, taken in Canada, do much the same. ‘Content cannot be manufactured, in my opinion,’ Herzog says. ‘That which I can find is better than that which you can make. That which we find, the work and the use of the people out there, it’s natural, that’s what ordinary people do, that interests me.’ By then, and for decades afterwards, Herzog, like his contemporary Saul Leiter, another flaneur with a camera, did not feature in the received history of the medium.

His photographs often depict mundane scenes and overlooked corners of the city, from neon-lit shops to passing strangers. However, Herzog had an eye for the quiet drama of these scenes, capturing the life and spirit of the city and its inhabitants. Career Highlights In his work, we’re shown a world we recognise, anachronistic as some of it may be, yet we relate to it. Despite slight shifts in social, cultural and technological parameters, the world now looks much the same as it did in the ’60s and ’70s. As a photographer, Herzog was undoubtedly ahead of his time, his vision honed by his unhurried wanderings through pre-gentrified Vancouver, his skill evolving free from the dictates of commercial attention or pressure. Ditmars, Hadani (12 September 2019). "Vancouver Street Photographer Fred Herzog has died, age 88". The Art Newspaper. Archived from the original on 22 September 2019 . Retrieved 10 October 2019.Fred Herzog: Modern Color" is a comprehensive presentation of Fred Herzog's pioneering work in color photography during a time when the art form was largely monochrome. Herzog's innovative use of color can be seen as a precursor to the New Color photographers of the 1970s. With more than 230 images, some of which are reproduced for the first time, the book offers an expansive view of Herzog's work, capturing the richness and intensity of his Kodachrome slide film. The book's essays by David Campany, Hans-Michael Koetzle, and Jeff Wall provide enlightening commentary and analysis, making it a valuable resource for photographers looking for inspiration in the craft of color photography. Finally got through this. The various introductions were mostly interesting, but way too long. There's got to be a term for an overly-wordy analysis of a piece of art. One one hand, it kind of teaches you what to look for in a piece of art, on the other had, it can feel like it blows things out of proportion. The neon signs and the soft drink signs, the cigarette ads and the billboards and the posters and the grafitti and collages of torn-off posters, all that contributes to make the city a place where art actually happens." — Fred Herzog The Vancouver photographs of Fred Herzog are awash with vibrant color. They are complex, mysterious, exuberant, and full of life, much like the city he photographed. Fred Herzog was born in 1930 in Germany, and came to Vancouver in 1953. He was employed as a medical photographer by day, and on evenings and weekends he took his camera to the streets, documenting daily life as he observed it. Focusing his camera on storefronts, neon signs, billboards, cafes and crowds of people, he eloquently depicts the architecture of the street as a framework for human interaction, presenting a view of the city that is both critical and elegiac. Fred Herzog: Photographs. Vancouver: Douglas & McIntyre, 2011. ISBN 978-1553655589. With essays by Claudia Gochmann, Sarah Milroy, Jeff Wall and Douglas Coupland.

Almost overnight, Herzog went from anonymity to renown, his standing in Vancouver approaching a kind of mythic status particularly among locals who remembered the places and faces he had photographed. “People came to the exhibition and broke into tears,” he later recalled, “because they recognised a city they had forgotten existed.” Seine Fotos liegen ganz auf meiner Linie. Der überwiegende Teil sind in Farbe. Ist doch mal ein schwarzweiß-Foto dabei, dann passt es motivisch aber auch so.Boat Scrapers 1’, 1964: Through colour and form we find scenes that may be overlooked. Developing images

Even though the photos in this book are by an amateur, there are certainly aspects to be learned from examining the images, particularly after reading the accompanying essays in the book. I learned quite a bit about Herzog including why he photographed what he did and why he wasn't attempting to be 'artful' or capturing the 'decisive moment' or going for posterity. Quite a humble person in terms of his photography -- the photographs in this book and other well-known images of his were taken purely as Herzog the amateur photographer (when he was off work) and not as a professional. The ironic thing is that his profession was as a medical photographer and it wasn't until decades later that his personal photography (that which we all see now) began to be seen, quite by accident.

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Later in the same interview he attempted to clarify his remarks, saying: “I should not have said that”, while also adding, “... there are some doubts in my mind that the real story is being told.” When the interviewer, Marsha Lederman, herself a child of Holocaust survivors, told her family story, he replied: “I stand corrected. I stand corrected.” Lederman noted that the elderly Herzog seemed “troubled”.

Fred Herzog wins Audain Prize". The Vancouver Sun. 24 November 2001. Archived from the original on 21 March 2017 . Retrieved 21 March 2017. 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 was 76 years of age.Fred was born Ulrich Herzog in Stuttgart, Germany, in 1930 and spent his childhood in Rottweil, Germany. He lost both of his parents during the war, and in 1946 Herzog went to work as an apprentice in his grandparents' hardware store. Disillusioned by the ravages of war and the situation in Germany, he emigrated to Canada in 1952 and settled in Vancouver in 1953. During the next several years. Herzog studied photography magazines while working aboard ships for the CPR steamship line, and in 1957 he was hired as a medical photographer at St. Paul's Hospital. In 1961, he became the head of the Photo/Cine Division in the Department of Biomedical Communications at UBC, and in 1970 was appointed Associate Director of the Department. Herzog was also hired as an Instructional Specialist in the Fine Arts Department at Simon Fraser University in 1967, and in 1969 became an instructor in the Fine Arts Department at UBC. [2] Ironically, considering his images were film through and through, it’s the world of digital that has finally brought his work to the world’s attention. Herzog was able to scan his images and present them as he’d always wanted them to be seen. If ever there was a case for the marriage of analogue and digital practices, this is it. SCORE: 5 out of 5 Zwar sind die Fotos teilweise wirklich alt, aber das mindert sie nicht und teilweise ist es eine Zeitreise. Es startet mit einem Selbstportrait 1959. Dann folgen Texte zunächst in Englisch, gemischt mit einigen Fotos. Schließlich viele Fotos. Es sind Alltagsfotos in Kanada die dominieren und sie haben ihre ganz eigene, hohe Qualität, obwohl sie natürlich nicht dramatisch sind. Der in Deutschland geborene, aber seit über 60 Jahren in Kanada lebende Fotograf Fred Herzog ist bemerkenswert.