Germaine Krull (1897-1985) was a gifted and innovative photographer and a truly remarkable woman. I have been only vaguely aware of just how important and interesting her work and her life are until prompted by my researches for the U3A group I am teaching. I am especially glad to make good this gap in my knowledge as Germaine Krull was a friend and collaborator with two of my heroes, the photographer André Kertész and the Jewish intellectual and cultural historian Walter Benjamin.
Germaine Krull was born in Wilda-Poznań, East Prussia (which became part of Poland after 1919). Her father was an engineer and free-thinker who taught Germaine himself resulting in her having a life-long sense of intellectual inferiority.
She read difficult German philosophy including Hegel and Nietzsche but was unable to enter university because she had no formal qualifications. She elected to study photography at the renowned photography school in Munich.
"Krull always worked for publication: apart from the modernist VU, where she was a contributor from 1928 to 1933, she produced reportage for many other magazines, such as Jazz, Variétés, Art et Médecine and L’Art vivant. Most importantly, and unlike any other photographer of her generation, she published a number of books and portfolios as sole author: Métal (1928), 100 x Paris (1929), Études de nu (1930), Le Valois (1930), La Route Paris-Biarritz (1931), Marseille (1935). She also created the first photo-novel, La Folle d’Itteville (1931), in collaboration with Georges Simenon. These various publications represent a total of some five hundred photographs. Krull also contributed to some important collective books, particularly on the subject of Paris: Paris, 1928; Visages de Paris, 1930; Paris under 4 Arstider, 1930; La Route Paris-Méditerranée, 1931. Her images are often disconcerting, atypical and utterly free of standardisation." [from the catalogue to the 2015 exhibition at the Jeu de Paume curated by Michel Frizot.]
http://www.jeudepaume.org/?page=article&idArt=2238
1928
The video below... 7:30min
Credits:
Photos copyright Germaine Krull under 'fair use' Text by Lloyd Spencer