Fred Herzog: Modern Color

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Fred Herzog, as we said, is known for his unusual use of color in the fifties and sixties, a time when art photography was almost exclusively associated with black and white imagery.

Professionally employed as a medical photographer, he spent his evenings and weekends photographing the city and its inhabitants in vibrant color. Roger Bamber’s 50-year career spanned everything from the Falklands War to Live Aid, but it was in his home city that he found most of his inspiration, as Ailsa McWhinnie discovers.The Canadian photographer worked almost exclusively with Kodachrome slide film for over 50 years, and only in the past decade has technology allowed him to make archival pigment prints that match the exceptional color and intensity of the Kodachrome slide. The Canadian photographer worked largely with Kodachrome slide film for over 50 years, and only in the past decade has technology allowed him to make archival pigment prints that match the exceptional color and intensity of the Kodachrome slide, making this an excellent time to reevaluate and reexamine his work. Fred Herzog is the most comprehensive publication on the work of this important photographer to date.

Herzog also had the vision, and courage, to shoot in color when virtually all serious art photography was in black and white. Herzog’s work has much in common with William Eggleston, who eschewed big scenes in favour of the quotidian. The most comprehensive book yet published on the Canadian color-photography pioneer Fred Herzog is best known for his unusual use of color photography in the 1950s and 1960s, a time when art photography was almost exclusively associated with black-and-white imagery.Fred Herzog is known for his unusual use of color in the 1950s and 1960s, a time when art photography was almost exclusively associated with black and white imagery. In the 1950s and 1960s, many in the art world didn’t take color photography seriously, considering it amateurish and garish. In his work, we’re shown a world we recognise, anachronistic as some of it may be, yet we relate to it.