Gerhard Vormwald was born in Heidelberg. He studied after his apprenticeship as an offset printer from 1966 to 1971 painting, sculpture and applied graphics at the Free Academy Werkkunstschule / University of Applied Sciences Mannheim, worked as a stage photographer at the Mannheim National Theater and took over the studio of the known for his tube sculptures artist Hans Nagel. In 1983, Vormwald opened Fotostudio 52 in Paris and since 1984 has been dedicated to photography, painting, drawing and printmaking. South of Paris, he founded in 1988 then the country studio "Le Couèche". Since 1999, he also held a professorship for photography at the University of Dusseldorf, until he died unexpectedly on March 9, 2016.