Rico Puhlmann (1934‒1996) was a leading international fashion photographer of his generation whose influence shaped fashion photography over the last four decades of the 20th century. The exhibition pays tribute to Puhlmann’s career, particularly his work for fashion magazines from the 1950s to the 1990s. It reviews diverse aspects of the history of fashion, photography, the press, and culture.

The exhibition offers comprehensive insights into Puhlmann’s drawn and photographic oeuvre, which he created over a 40-year period, first as an illustrator and then as a fashion photographer working for important magazines, including Brigitte, petra, and Constanze, as well as internationally for Vogue, Harper’s Bazaar, Glamour, and GQ. The most sought-after photo models of the time posed for his camera: Gloria Friedrich and Gitta Schilling, Cheryl Tiegs and Jerry Hall, Cindy Crawford and Naomi Campbell. Puhlmann’s photos appeared on countless magazine covers and filled several consecutive double-page spreads on glossy paper.

The majority of the exhibits originate from Rico Puhlmann’s archive of works, which is administered by his brother and sister-in-law, Klaus and Anne Puhlmann. They have generously made works available to the exhibition.

Berliner Chic in the Postwar Period

Puhlmann began his career as a fashion illustrator in his native Berlin, where “Berliner Chic” reached a new high point after World War II. He was repeatedly engaged, initially to draw designs for fashion houses and then increasingly to take photographs – both for magazines and company publications. Puhlmann helped shape the image of West Berlin fashion, much like his colleagues F.C. Gundlach, Regi Relang, and Helmut Newton. Their photographs visually attest to an unwritten dress code around 1960.

Changing Fashions and Technical Developments

Op and Pop Art, the novelty of space travel, London’s Swinging Sixties, and the adaptation of clothing styles and fabric patterns from the most diverse cultural circles all contributed to changing fashions in the 1960s, as well as to the notion of fashion itself. Editorial teams increasingly sent their fashion photographers on shoots at distant locations. Technical developments such as flash technology, the growing popularity of color film, Polaroid and the more flexible 35mm film gradually expanded photography’s scope and design potential.

The 1970s American Look and A New Freedom

Due to the slump in the upscale Berlin fashion industry and the associated decline in the importance of fashion in the city, Puhlmann redirected his focus and moved to New York in 1970. He received his first photo commissions in his new workplace from the magazines Glamour and Harper’s Bazaar. Parallel to this work, he made fashion films for the Modejournal show produced by Sender Freies Berlin (SFB). Consequently, Puhlmann belongs to the pioneers who brought the “American Look” to Europe.

By the mid-1970s, Rico Puhlmann had established himself as a fashion photographer in New York. His photos expressed a new freedom. There are no more stilted poses, accompanying gentlemen, or cultivated, sophisticated urban spaces; instead, the scenes reflect a naturalness, movement, spontaneity, informality, and interpersonal closeness that sets the tone of the imagery. In two models, Cheryl Tiegs and Patti Hansen, Puhlmann found the perfect complement to convey this new attitude towards life.

A Changing View of Women and Men

Rico Puhlmann worked regularly for Harper’s Bazaar until the early 1990s. Through this work, he helped bring about a transformation in the image of women, which became increasingly self-confident. Around 1980, he received exclusive commissions for various editions of Fashions of the Times, the fashion supplement of the New York Times. For the men’s magazine GQ, he employed a subtle, sensitive visual language at the start of the 1980s to convey a man’s new self-image in terms of fashion, styling, and body care.

Puhlmann’s Work in a Media World Organized by Divisions of Labor

For some time, ever-larger editorial teams had become involved in the production of fashion images. Alongside Rico Puhlmann, fashion and accessory content teams, art directors, makeup artists and hairdressers actively participated in the visual design process. Working collaboratively with the editors in charge in the 1960s, Puhlmann himself selected the designs for the fashion presentations, the locations, and the models. He approved the styling and makeup after the photo models got dressed and applied their own makeup. He choreographed the poses and gestures and also chose the props and accessories.

Future Plans and An Abrupt End

Puhlmann died in a plane crash in 1996. A book publication on his oeuvre was already in the planning, as was his return to Berlin coinciding with negotiations for a teaching position at the local Hochschule der Künste (now the Berlin University of the Arts). And his first digital camera was ready for use. After more than 40 years of creative output, Rico Puhlmann still had plans.

Curatorial Team

The exhibition is curated by Dr. Britta Bommert, director of the Fashion Photography Collection at the Kunstbibliothek – Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, and Hans-Michael Koetzle, Munich, co-curator, in close cooperation with the Rico Puhlmann Archive (Anne and Klaus Puhlmann), Berlin.

Catalogue

An extensive catalogue accompanying the exhibition, with texts by Britta Bommert, Gerlind Hector, Hans-Michael Koetzle, Adelheid Rasche, Marie Arleth Skov, and Christine Waidenschlager, is published by Verlag Kettler, Dortmund.

A special exhibition of the the Kunstbibliothek – Staatliche Museen zu Berlin