HORST P. HORST
Horst P. Horst was born in 1906 in Weissenfels, Germany. In 1931, he moved to Paris and joined the team of French Vogue, where he started as a model and later became a staff photographer. In 1951, Horst moved to New York and rented a studio. There, he met Coco Chanel for the first time and then photographed her fashion shows over three decades. In the 1960s, he did a great deal of travel around the globe, and he visited Moscow and Leningrad in 1975. In the 1980s he worked for British, Italian, and Spanish Vogue and collaborated with the American Vanity Fair magazine. In 1989, Horst received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Council of Fashion Designers of America, and in 1996, the International Center of Photography in New York honored him with the prestigious Master of Photography Infinity Award. His works were exhibited in the Victoria and Albert Museum, the Louvre, the National Portrait Gallery, and the International Center of Photography in New York. Photos in which fashion models and other famous people adopted the dramatic postures of Greek gods and goddesses made Horst widely popular. He shot them only indoors; he needed artificial lighting to emphasize the unreality of the imagined images and bring them as close to the ideal as possible.
ROUND THE CLOCK I, NEW YORK. 1987
This photo belongs to the ‘Round the Clock’ series shot by Horst in New York in 1987. It is filled with a special aura, thanks to the atmosphere of elegance and grace created by the artist. Later, he spoke about this photo: “I don't know how I shot it. I would not be able to repeat these photos again. It was pure emotion.” All in all, there are three photos in this series with a similar motif, which are gems of erotic photography. © The Horst Estate
THE MAINBOCHER CORSET, PARIS. 1939
In 1939, on the threshold of World War II, Horst took his most famous photograph: a girl in a Mainbocher corset, which brought him worldwide fame. This picture is justly deemed one of the most recognizable and iconic of his works. Mainbocher himself admired this photograph, which later inspired Madonna’s controversial ‘Vogue’ video. The silhouette of a girl in a corset alluded to the fashion of Victorian dresses. In the version of the photo published by Vogue, the corset is retouched and appears to fit tightly to the body. The corseted torso caused a scandal in the world of fashion. Horst was not trying to make his photograph absolutely flawless. The ribbons hanging loosely down at the bottom create the right balance. Otherwise, the image would be correct from the viewpoint of staging. Horst used to say that there has always been a bit of a mess in his best photographs. In this photo the model looks like a living sculpture. The proportions of her body are perfect, resembling the silhouette of the goddess Aphrodite. © The Horst Estate
AMERICAN VOGUE COVER (MAY, 1941)
Alex Liberman, the legendary art director, asked Horst P. Horst to take a picture of a model lying on her back with her legs thrown into the air, creating the illusion of balancing a large red ball on her feet. The model is dressed in a white bathing suit and a white bathing cap, creating a contrast with the red ball. This photo from the cover of the May 1941 American Vogue was licensed by the Condé Nast collection, The New Yorker fashion house, Vogue, Vanity Fair, and other well-known publications. © The Horst Estate
MURIEL MAXWELL, EMSEMBLE BY SALLY VICTOR BAG BY PAUL FLATO, SUNGLASSES BY LUGENE (VOGUE USA, JULY 1939)
his photo depicts Muriel Maxwell demonstrating beach fashion. The model poses for the photographer in round white glasses, which was a true trend of the time. Dressed in a white T-shirt and holding a red-and-white striped bag, she tints her lips with bright red lipstick. The photo was an absolute sensation and appeared on the American Vogue cover in July 1939. © The Horst Estate
LISA FONSSAGRIVES -PENN (VOGUE USA, JUNE 1, 1940)
In 1940, Lisa Fonssagrives-Penn, who appeared on the Vogue cover about two hundred times, became the first model to ever receive the status of ‘supermodel.’ For the June issue in that same year, she was dressed in a blue and white swimsuit and sat in a ‘V for Vogue’ position. This publication was devoted to bathing fashion of that time, and the photograph turned into one of the most vivid and memorable images in the history of the magazine. © The Horst Estate