Prof. L. Fritz Gruber

Fritz Gruber was born in Cologne in 1908 and died there in 2005. A lifetime of 97 years. I guess he was one of the most significant heroes of photography in the 20th century. He was not a photographer, but he was the father of the real photograph artists.

After his death, two museums were opened using the legacy he left behind. Let’s think about what he kept under his hat. It was he who founded Photokina in 1950. Photokina was not only a technical fair for the professional photography of that era, but at its peak also served as a “photo art” setting. Of course, the fair continues to the present day, but its structure has changed a lot. There is a curious phrase in Turkish: “A horse neighs according to its master.” That bright era has passed together with the generous, strong personality of Fritz Gruber.

My then wife Engin Çizgen and I got to know Fritz Gruber during our visits to Photokina when we started publishing Yeni Fotoğraf Dergisi.

He became very excited when I gave the first issues of Yeni Fotoğraf Dergisi to him has a gift. It was the natural behavior of a person with that kind of accumulation exhibited when faced such an accomplishment in Turkey in the 1970s, half a century ago.

Back then, he was in his 70’s. Despite being wounded in the World War II and having a slight limp, he was still hale, hearty and very much alive. He used to brighten up whenever there was a photography event, and become the hero of the moment, like a gazelle.

During Photokina evenings, Fritz Gruber used to bring together the world’s most distinguished photograph artists at his elegant home in Cologne, which instantly became the capital of the world photography society. Thanks to these gatherings, I got to meet the most important photograph artists of that period, and became friends with them. Erwin Fieger was one of them.

The first main exhibition at Photokina by Fritz Gruber was called “Magie der Farben Photographie (The Spell of Colorful Photography),” and it was organized to represent the color world of that time. I knew Erwin Fieger from Istanbul, who participated in the exhibition and it was probably his profile that influenced my photography art the most. We worked together in Istanbul, and then in Stuttgart. He had a brilliant style and working pattern, and I learned a lot from him.

The Imaginary Photo Museum is an anthology Fritz Gruber collated from his visits to photograph museums around the world. The pieces were exhibited in Photokina and subsequently turned into an album.

Along with many other significant books and albums, this is one of the pillars of world art photography.

Over the years, he wrote many books and became involved in several book projects including Man Ray & L. Fritz Gruber: Years of a Friendship 1956 to 1976, the Transforming Eye: Photographs By Clarence John Laughlin and Famous Portraits.

Of course we invited Fritz Gruber to Turkey. I remember hosting him and his wife Renate in İstanbul, and having some great conversations over rakı and fish.

Oddly enough, my relationship with Fritz Gruber continued even after his death. By this, I mean we opened the 990 Faces exhibition of Hans-Jürgen Raabe, a significant German photograph artist, at the Istanbul Photography Museum, of which I am the Founding Curator. The artist had extensive resources, and invited a plane full of distinguished art and photograph press from Germany to Turkey for a symposium. Fritz Gruber’s wife Renate was on that plane too. The moment that we embraced each other in tears is an unforgettable Gruber memory for me. Before he died, he had signed a copy of his latest book for me, and Renate had brought that book with her. How can one not weep?

The Fritz Gruber photograph here is a status portrait. It reflects the excited state of Fritz, who was the guest of many hundreds of lenses in those days.

The vertical black and white frame reflects his mood.

This text was written for Fotoğraf Dergisi (Journal of Photography)