The overlay of positive and negative images lends a solarized effect to this graphic image of one of our cultural icons. See: Roigiers and Baque, Francois Kollar, p.103; Stallabrass, Paris Pictured, pl.30; Bonhomme, Patimonie Photographique Catalogue, p.312; and the Journal des Arts (11/4-11/17, 2005 issue), cover. For the single image variant, see: Lelieur and Bachollet, Francois Kollar: La France Travaille, Regard sur les Anees Trente, p.64.

François Kollar was born in 1904 in Szenc, Slovakia.

Kollar moved to Paris in 1924 and in 1927 became the head of the Draeger Frères photographic studio. He was involved in the creation of 'La France Travaille', which included over 10,000 photographs of French workers. He also did commercial and fashion photography for prestigious clients including Chanel, Lanvin, Balenciaga, Balmain, Van Cleef and Arpels, Omega, Christofle, Hermès and Moët et Chandon. His work was published in Harper's Bazaar, l'Illustration, Vu, Voilá and later Plaisir de France magazines.

As described for a retrospective of his work at the Hungarian House of Photography in Mai Manó House in 2004, his photographs are "of a staid, rational man, halfway between the pure modernism of Bauhaus and humanist photography." His montages--many of which were solarized--were the result of considerable artistic research.

In 1951 he made a large series of images on the French territory in West Africa, and in the 1960s he photographed industrial and environmental subjects and the workers effected.

Kollar died in 1979 in Créteil, France. Shipping and insurance costs will be added to the price and must be paid for by the buyer. Pennsylvania buyers must pay appropriate local sales tax. International clients are responsible for their VAT and other custom's oriented charges.