Gisèle Freund

The photographer Gisèle Freund is known for her portraits and reportage work about writers and intellectuals, for having "put a face to the great names of the twentieth century". This is a definition she was very proud of; she used to say that what interested her were the human face and figure rather than photography itself. She was never concerned with technique, just with reflecting the result of a meeting and the gaze of her subjects. Nonetheless, she had her own theory of photography and was a pioneer in the use of colour film. Her flight from Nazism in her native Germany took her to Paris in 1933, representing the first stage in a journey that was to take her to cities around the world at a time when they were the scene of major events that were to mark the history of the last century.

The catalogue features high-quality reproductions of the almost 150 photographs included in the exhibition. Her preferred genre was undeniably the portrait. Complementing the images are texts that speak of her as a person and as a figure, by the exhibition curator, Lydia Oliva, and writers such as Klaus Honnef and Hanna Schygulla. Some of Freund's own articles are also reproduced, explaining the way in which she saw photography and analysing the work of some contemporary photographers.

Authors: Gisèle Freund, Lydia Oliva, Klaus Honnef, Hanna Schygulla

Related to Gisèle Freund. The world and my camara