Germaine Krull: Revolution, Erotica and Ads

Pioneering modernist photographer Germaine Krull was as much a photojournalist as she was a story-teller. Through her work, most of which originated over a period of a few years in the 1920s and 1930s, Krull created an impressive portfolio that tackled artistic photography, advertisements, portraits and photojournalism. As one of the most famous female photographers of the inter-war period, she was an avant-gardist known primarily for her artistic nudes and, later, for her documentary photography. Considered by many to be a multi-genre modernist trailblazer (Man Ray called her his equal), her work has, nonetheless, remained largely under-exhibited. A new retrospective at Paris’ Jeu de Plume is set to change that, and introduce the work of Krull to new audiences.

The exhibition focuses on the period from 1926 to 1935, when Krull created many of her most important images and during which time she dedicated herself to the photojournalism genre, which had, until now, remained largely under-seen. Some of Krull’s favorite themes—the female Parisian working class, modernity and machinery—are heavily prominent throughout the show. One hundred and fifty of these prints are presented at the exhibition.