"For Franz Lazi, photography and film were both mirror and projection of media worlds. His work, which began in the ruins of the Second World War, has a fictious character regardless of whether he was documenting industrial products or architecture, or designing advertising shoots. His work is committed to the illustration of the modern world and can be described in three phases: The first phase, up to the beginning of the 1950s, was characterised by black and white photography. The main emphasis at that time was on object and architectural photography. During the second phase, Lazi's interest shifted towards colour photography. He worked in is own studio and laboratory with elaborate technical equipment. Advertising gained more and more importance with Germany's post war economic growth and Lazi was one of the first photographers to very enthusiastically embrace this attractive genre. The third phase concerns film. During the 1960s, Lazi began to make documentary films and decisively expanded his sphere of activity. Journeys to many countries followed, where he was fascinated by the unknown and above all tempted by uncharted regions such as the Antartic or countries with impressive natural phenomena."
(Manfred Schmalriede)

from: Franz Lazi, an interpreter of contemporary forms (in the catalogue "Franz Lazi. Photography. Architectural, design and advertising photography of the Fiftees ", Edition J. J. Heckenhauer, Berlin/Tuebingen 2003. You can order the catalogue with the complete text by Manfred Schmalriede and a text by Ian Jeffrey on our website).