Germaine Krull - Kim Sichel

Germaine Krull (1897-1985) led an extraordinary life that spanned nine
decades and four continents. She witnessed many of the high points of modernism and
recorded some of the major upheavals of the twentieth century. Her photographs
include avant-garde montages, ironic studies of female nudes, press propaganda
shots, as well as some of the most successful commercial and fashion images of her
day. Her political commitments led her from communist allegiance to incarceration in
Russia as a counterrevolutionary to support of the Free French cause against Hitler
to a reclusive existence among Tibetan monks in India. Kim Sichel's study of this
remarkable artist reveals a life of deep convictions, implausible transformations,
complex emotional relationships, and inspired achievements.

Krull
refused to limit herself to one long-term relationship, one geographical region, or
one set of religious and moral beliefs. Contemporary critics ranked her with Man Ray
and Andr Kertesz. Younger photographers such as Berenice Abbott looked up to her.
Yet until recently the absence of an archive has made a proper evaluation of Krull's
contribution to photography and to modernism difficult if not impossible. In this
book Sichel examines Krull's autobiographical texts and photographic oeuvre to
present and unravel the rich mythology that Krull fabricated around her life and
work. The chapters follow the geographical and chronological sequence of Krull's
life, moving from Munich to Moscow to Berlin to Amsterdam to Paris to Brazil to
Africa to Bangkok and other locations. This book, which accompanies the first major
retrospective exhibition on Krull, should secure Krull's rightful place among the
masters of twentieth-century photography.

EXHIBITION SCHEDULE:
Museum Folkwang Essen, Germany October 1999 - December
1999

Haus der KunstMunich, Germany
December 1999 - February 2000

San
Francisco Museum of Modern ArtSan Francisco, California March -
June 2000

KunsthalRotterdam, the
Netherlands August - September
2000

Centre PompidouParis, France
November - December 2000