Herbert Fried: Filmstars am Set und privat

In the organizer's words:

With this exhibition, the MMK Passau and the lending agency Atelier & Friends from Grafenau are unearthing a previously hidden treasure of supra-regional significance: on display are photographs of film stars from the 1950s and 1960s from the estate of the now unjustly forgotten set photographer Herbert Fried (Berlin 1926 - 1981 Rome).
Herb Fried, as he called himself in his adopted country of America after the end of the war, repeatedly spent long periods in Rome, the center of the film industry at the time. On behalf of international agencies, he photographed film stars such as Romy Schneider, Alain Delon, Elke Sommer, Brigitte Bardot, Gina Lollobrigida, Audrey Hepburn, Yul Brynner, Terence Hill and others, both on the set of the Cinecittà and in private surroundings. The atmosphere is often so relaxed and familiar that a friendship between photographer and model(s) can be assumed. The photos that Herb Fried takes of Alain Delon and Romy Schneider during a private restaurant visit in Rome, for example, show a third full plate on the table - the photo shoot thus culminates in a dinner together.
"Herbert Fried's exciting and extensive photographic work shows the stars from different angles: Sometimes in the style of portraits with great expressiveness, sometimes on set in the middle of filming, and then again completely relaxed or even exuberant in private surroundings," says Dr. Marion Bornscheuer, Director of the MMK Passau, summing up the fascination of these images.
The Passau exhibition reconstructs Herbert Fried's eventful biography with archive material for the first time and presents his photographic legacy in a museum setting. The photos came to the Bavarian Forest in a roundabout way: Fried bequeathed part of his work to his friend Klaus Hoins from Hanover, who passed it on to Margarethe Eder, a photography enthusiast, who in turn finally left the boxes full of unsorted photos, black and white prints, negatives and slides to the Atelier & Friends agency 15 years ago.
Together they were amazed and archived the material in folders and digitally in a database. Without any great ambitions, some of it was initially published on a website. A few years ago, the BRAVO publishing house became aware of the collection. It was in possession of thousands more of Herbert Fried's pictures, which he generously gave to Atelier and Friends free of charge.
Markus Sieghart, project manager and designer at Atelier und Friends, enthuses: "As passionate designers, art and aesthetics are in our genes. We immediately saw what was extraordinary about these photos. Our collaboration with the Museum Moderner Kunst Wörlen gave rise to the idea of making this photographic treasure accessible to the public in an exhibition".
Lutz Peter from Hanover has also shown great commitment by lending one of the few remaining copies of Herbert Fried's autobiography and original photographic equipment for the exhibition.