Kollar

Franµois (1904-1979). Hungarian photographer naturalized French. In exile in Paris in 1924, during the Horthy regime he first worked as a worker at Renault, then as a photographer for several agencies, eventually getting published in L’Illustration. He mixed reportages (including a famous one commissioned to him by Horizons de France on the world of labor) with advertising photography (Dunhill), portrait photography (Coco Chanel, Edith Piaf), and fashion photography, for which he used the avant-garde techniques of that time: solarization, exaggerated perspectives, and over-exposure. During the 1930s, he photographed the great Collections by Fath, Balenciaga, Lanvin, and Balmain for Harper’s Bazaar, Le Figaro illustré, Les Modes, L’officiel de la Couture, L’Art et La Mode, and Die Dame. In 1934 he published the book 25 Photos de Kollar. The 1989 retrospective at the Palais de Tokyo in Paris allowed the public at large to rediscover his art. In 1987 his archives were donated to the French State.