Dreams of Desire 18 (Germaine Krull)

Etudes De Nu-Germaine Krull

When Man Ray met Germaine Krull in 1920’s Paris he remarked to her that “Germaine, you and I are the greatest photographers of our time, I in the old sense you in the modern one.”

At the time she certainly was a name; busy in the field of fashion photography, portraits and photo-journalism. Her photobook  of 1928 Metal which consisted of 64 black and white shots of bridges, buildings, ships and bicycles wheels to illustrate her contention that the industrial landscape was essentially masculine was selected as one of the most important photographic books of the 20th century. In 1930 she published Etudes De Nu (Studies of Nudes) and contributed to the first photo-novel with George Simenon, Le Follie D’Itteville. She frequently contributed to the modernist periodical VU and the Belgian Surrealist journel Varietes. Krull was a major influence on Eli Lotar who contributed to Georges Bataille Documents.

Above and below are some of Krull’s photographs, focusing on her ground-breaking representation of the female form which amply illustrate  the truth of Man Ray’s statement.

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