Francois Kollar (1904-1979) was born in Hungary. In 1923 he moved to Paris, where he worked as a studio manager for the printing company Draeger. At 24 he became a professional photographer, setting up his own studio in 1930. Kollar employed many of the new vision photographic techniques and found commercial work with several fashion magazines, as well as advertising agencies. Throughout his photographic career, he was drawn to industrial subjects. Kollar often photographed people in their roles in the production process; likely, he was influenced by his first jobs working on the railways and as a lathe operator in a car factory.