Described by Jean Cocteau as a “reforming mirror”, the Modernist photographer Germaine Krull took on subjects as diverse as fashion, war and architecture.

Born in Wilda, East Prussia, Krull studied photography in Munich. After being imprisoned and then deported from Russia she moved to Berlin in 1922, where her work comprised fashion and advertising, nudes and street photography.

The central theme of Krull’s work is the modern city, which she depicted in radical angles and near-abstract close-ups. Her urban and industrial images were regularly published across Europe and having moved to Paris in 1928, Krull was acknowledged as one of the three top photographers, along with Man Ray and André Kertész.

According to Ms Sichel, “Her greatest contribution as a photographer is the industrial, geometric abstractions that she did in Holland and France in the 1920s, the work for which she is best known. However, it is equally important to look at her pioneeing street work. In the press of the time Krull and André Kertész were the two names everyone cited. They were the people to look at and learn from, whether you were Cartier-Bresson or Brassai or Doisneau, or anybody.”

Richard Pinset, Art Newspaper ‘A photographic pilgrimage’ June 2000