F.C. Gundlach: Photographic Work

The photography of F.C. Gundlach defines the look of post-war fashion in Germany. Using strong contrast effects, he was able to create a style that unified model, clothing and backdrop into a single composite, merging, for example, in one famous series, the bold stripes of an Op Art jacket with the pyramids at Giza beyond, or clustering a model in boa feathers within a phalanx of police officers. During the four decades following the end of the Second World War, Gundlach worked for high-circulation magazines in Germany such as Film und Frau, Constanze, Annabelle, Stern and Quick. In 1963 he signed an exclusive contract with the magazine Brigitte, and from this point on he began to embody the image of 60s couture photography in Germany, with his frequent borrowings from Op and Pop art idioms. Born in 1926, Gundlach was also the founder of the photographic supplies company PPS and the PPS Galerie, one of the first photo galleries in Germany, and has done much influential work as a lecturer and exhibition curator. This monograph, the first in English to offer an extensive consideration of Gundlach’s oeuvre, and co-designed by Gundlach himself, establishes his significance as a trailblazer in the industry.