FRED HERZOG | LEE FRIEDLANDER

FRED HERZOG | LEE FRIEDLANDER: A CONVERSATION

This online exhibition juxtaposes the work of Fred Herzog and Lee Friedlander—photographers who share many common experiences, influences, and points of view. Both photographers came from families of German ancestry, both spent formative years along the northern Pacific coast, and both were deeply influenced by the photography of Eugene Atget, Walker Evans, and Robert Frank.

Their work is easily distinguishable—Herzog used Kodachrome color slide film nearly exclusively, whereas Friedlander primarily shot black and white negative film—yet when seen together they feel like partners in the creation of a North American panorama that spans 60 years. Their photography reveals a shared interest in the ways that urban complexity intersects with people's lives.

Both Herzog and Friedlander were consciously influenced by Eugène Atget and his pictures of Parisian streets and storefronts. Atget’s use of shop windows as a framing device, as well as the window's ability to reflect the street opposite, is a key inspiration.

The influence of Robert Frank’s unvarnished pictures of American life also can easily be seen in both photographer's work. Frank’s dedication to investigating far flung places along America’s highways is a key precursor for many of Friedlander’s pictures.

Finally, Walker Evans’s clear eyed documentation of vernacular architecture influenced the way Herzog and Friedlander depicted the rapidly changing North American landscape.

Both photographers were interested in recording the unique look of modern life. Herzog and Friedlander’s pictures celebrate the visual excitement of mid-century North American architecture, cars, and signage, using these surroundings to frame the daily moments of the people living amongst this rich visual landscape.