halls. A number of these photographs recall the
work of Euge`ne Atget, something noted by Walter
Benjamin (see his famous ‘‘Kleine Geschichte der
Photographie’’ from 1931 ).
At this time Krull also worked as a successful
commercial photographer. After 1926, she ran her
own studio, and it supplied German magazines with
dramatically illuminated fashion photography. She
worked as a journalist for French newspapers,
doing this without losing her interest in experimen-
tal photography, especially collages, multiple expo-
sures, and photo montages. The portraits from her
time in Paris have a vividness that results from her
use of deep shadows. After 1929, street photogra-
phy grew in reputation, and she toned down her
style. A nude photo from 1930 emphasizes a simpli-
city that was more reminiscent of Edward Weston
and Imogen Cunningham than of the art photogra-
phy of Paris. During the 1930s, she made photo
illustrations for crime novels and travel books in
addition to planning a photographic novel.
After 1928, Krull’s works were shown at the
famous Salon de l’Escalier, where modern photo-
graphy first made its breakthrough in France, and
at all the important photo exhibits in the following
years. One of the introductory volumes in a series
about contemporary photography was dedicated to
her work, and in 1931, Edward Burra wrote to a
female friend that he did photography ‘‘by the Ger-
maine Krull method’’ (Mellor 1978, 123–125). She
already had an international reputation as a pioneer
of modern photography, but war and emigration
hurt her leadership role. Her ability to change
styles, her aversion to theoretical reflection, and
her part-time occupation with commercial photo-
graphy may have contributed to her being forgotten
for so long.
In any case, Germaine Krull soon gave up photo-
graphy. During World War II, she was certified by
the Allies as a war correspondent and she photo-
graphed in Italy, Germany, and France, publishing
works inLibe ́ration, andRafale. She also photo-
graphed as a war correspondent in Indochina, and
moved to Bangkok after the war, where she opened
a hotel. Living and traveling in the East from 1947
to the early 1960s, she continued to make photo-
graphs but without any special stylistic character.
Her later photography from Asia goes through the
same evolution as photography in both Western
Europe and the United States. It shows a turn
away from formalism and toward the ‘‘humanist’’
values of mirroring the outside world. In the early
1960s, Andre ́Malraux commissioned her to docu-
ment the art memorials of Thailand and Indochina.
Late in life, before returning to Germany in
1983, she lived in northern India among Tibetan
refugees, including the Dalai Lama, with whom she
became close. However, she never again entered the
popular consciousness with her photography. It
was at Documenta 6 in Kassel, Germany, that her
prewar avant-garde works were rediscovered, but a
retrospective of semiabstract photographs that
appeared the same year in Bonn did not have the
intensity of her earlier works.
WolfgangBrueckleSeealso:Architectural Photography; Brassaı ̈; Fash-
ion Photography; History of Photography: Interwar
Years; Modernism; Moholy-Nagy, La ́szlo ́;Multiple
Exposures and Printing; Portraiture; Renger-Patzsch,
Albert; Street Photography; Tabard, Maurice; War
PhotographyBiography
Born to German parents in Wilda-Poznan ́, Poland, Novem-
ber 29, 1897. Childhood in East Prussia, Italy, France,
Switzerland, and Austria. Moved to Bavaria, Germany,- Studied at Bayerische Staatslehranstalt fu ̈r Licht-
bildwesen (the Instructional and Research Institute for
Photography ) in Munich, 1915. Completed exams for
Master’s of Photography, 1917. Opened studio in Mu-
nich, ca. 1918. In the same year her first photography
publication. Traveled to Berlin, Hungary, and the USSR
and was arrested numerous times for her political activ-
ities for Communist groups, 1919–1922. Opened a studio
in Berlin, 1923. Contact with the Dutch avant-garde,
travel, and residence in Amsterdam, 1924–1925. Moved
to Paris, 1926. Worked for magazines and participated
in several international photo exhibits. Moved to Monte
Carlo and opened a studio, 1935. Travel to Brazil, 1941.
Until 1944 organized for the French liberation the photo
agency of the Services d’Information de la France Com-
battante (Radio Brazzaville). Moved to Algeria to the
Office Franc ̧ aise d’Information Cine ́matographique.
Participated in the invasion of southern Italy started at
Naples. Continued work as a war correspondent in Cey-
lon, 1944. Settled in Bangkok, 1946. Became part owner
and manager of the Hotel Oriental, 1947. After a short
stay in Paris, moved to India, 1967. Returned to Ger-
many, 1983. Died in Wetzlar, Germany, July 31, 1985.
Individual Exhibitions
1943 Centre de l’Information de la France Combattante,
Algiers, Algeria
1967 Germaine Krull, 1927–1967, Muse ́e du Cine ́ma, Paris,
France
1968 Alliance Franc ̧ aise, Delhi, India
1977 Germaine Krull: Fotographien 1922–1966, Rheinisches
Landesmuseum, Bonn, Germany
1978 Galerie Agathe Gaillard, Paris, France
1980 Galerie Wilde, Cologne, Germany
Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, The NetherlandsKRULL, GERMAINE