In 1940/41 the photographer Hermann Landshoff, member of the Foreign Legion in North Africa at that time, managed a complex escape via the Moroccan cities of Bled and Meknès to Marseille and then to Capvern-les-Bains in the Pyrenees. From there he continued his escape through Franco’s Spain, on to Lisbon and finally to New York. Because he was unable to find a job right away as a fashion photographer, he dedicated himself to documenting the urban architecture in the first months of exile in New York, creating photographic portraits of the city. He not only limited his work to the glamorous side of New York and its impressive high-rise architecture, but also explored the city’s social margins with his camera showing the city, as he did in later photographs, from the poor neighbourhood of Harlem.  

The photographs of New York City clearly show that Landshoff’s work was not limited just to fashion photography, and that he was able to skilfully combine different varieties of photography. His work unfortunately fell into oblivion for a long time. While his fashion photographs, which strongly influenced the photographer Richard Avedon, are characterised by vitality and sporty dynamism and represent a modern image of women, his documentary photographs of New York show that Landshoff was also a critical observer of social conditions.