Germaine Krull (1897–1985) was a German photographer and pioneer of avant-garde photography and modern photojournalism. A key figure in the Neues Sehen (New Vision) and New Objectivity movements, she embodied the ideal of the Neue Frau (New Woman) of the early twentieth century, leading a nonconformist and adventurous life.
Beyond her artistic career in Paris, where she collaborated extensively with avant-garde magazines such as VU, Krull was a left-wing political activist who lived multiple lives. During World War II, she joined the Free French forces, working as a war correspondent in Africa and Indochina. She later moved to Bangkok, where she managed the renowned Oriental Hotel for nearly twenty years, before retiring to India among a community of Tibetan Buddhist monks.
