Horst P. Horst, the fashion photographer who died in 1999, produced some of the 20th century’s most famous fashion images. His classic style is still admired around the world, and influenced generations of fashion photographers and editors. And now the Victoria & Albert Museum in London has launched one of the first extensive exhibitions of his work, in a career that spanned 70 years and involved friendships with couturiers and taste-makers like Chanel, Schiaparelli and Salvador Dali. Horst is a name that deserved to be more widely known.
Horst, who once famously said “Fashion is an expression of the times. Elegance is something else again,” was born in 1906, and lived through the fashionable excess of the 1920s, the austerity after WWII and the beginnings of the New Look in Paris. Rescu. sat down with Susanna Brown, the V&A’s Curator of Photography and the exhibition’s driving force, to ask about inspiration, influence and why Horst will never be forgotten.
RESCU: What set Horst’s style apart from other fashion photography of the time?
SB: I think Horst’s images transcend fashion and time. He was a master of light, composition and atmospheric illusion and his work was informed by his training in 3D design and architecture.
Horst was one of the few photographers of the past century whose career straddled the opulence of pre-war Parisian haute couture and the rise of ready-to-wear in post-war New York. The 1930s ushered in technical advancements in colour photography and Horst was at the forefront, creating some of Vogue’s most memorable colour images, including an impressive 94 covers for the magazine.
RESCU: What was Horst’s relationship with the world of haute couture?
SB: He became a close friend to many of the 1930s’ leading couturiers and models, Lisa Fonssagrieves, Lud and Helen Bennett among them. His atmospheric, spot-lit studies of the Paris collections are displayed alongside nine couture gowns from the V&A’s collection. The gowns are very similar to those Horst photographed, and were made by Chanel, Schiaparelli (below), Lanvin, Mainbocher, Vionnet and other star designers of the period.
RESCU: What does the exhibition reveal about how Horst worked?
SB: The exhibition includes sketches, showing how he meticulously planned certain pictures, as well as contact sheets, cameras and diaries. Horst was admired for his dramatic lighting, sometimes arranging the lights for two days for a single shoot. A previously unseen film of him at work in the Vogue studios during the 1940s gives a fantastic insight into his process and reveals the collaborative nature of the job.
RESCU: What influence has Horst had on the history of fashion photography?
SB: In his 60-year career Horst created a vast body of work that includes some of history’s most evocative fashion images. He ranks alongside Irving Penn and Richard Avedon as one of the pre- eminent fashion and portrait photographers of the 20th century, but I think his influence extends beyond the transient world of fashion. His work is all about light, elegance and a sense of classicism, and you can see his influence everywhere.
RESCU: Could you tell us about the experience of curating the exhibition and editing the book?
SB: By reading many of the letters and telegrams he preserved and talking to the people who were closest to him – his friends, assistants and favourite models – I was able to learn something about his character and his approach to photography, the particular skills he employed to draw out the best out of his sitters. The book which accompanies the exhibition includes essays by numerous scholars as well as an interview with one of Horst’s favourite models, the brilliant Carmen Dell’Orefice, who first sat for him in the 1940s and is still modelling today.
RESCU: Many people are familiar with Horst’s most famous images – what else will they discover about the artist from the exhibition and its accompanying book?
SB: Horst is best known for his fashion images and portraits from Hollywood’s golden age, but his oeuvre is actually much wider. I wanted to shine a light on Horst’s lesser known projects too, such as his Surreal still lifes, the documentary photographs from his two trips to the Middle East, his work for the US Army, and his 1946 book Patterns from Nature.
RESCU: Is there one Horst image that you feel is truly representative of his style, or just love?
SB: My favourite photographs are the ones with fascinating stories behind them. I think the supremely elegant portrait of Coco Chanel that Horst made in 1937 (above) is particularly special. Horst and Chanel first met at a fancy-dress ball in Paris and became close friends. The portrait he made of her a few years later became Chanel’s favourite picture of herself for many years.
Horst: Photographer Of Style runs at the Victoria & Albert Museum, London until 4 January 2015. The accompanying book, edited by Susanna Brown ($AUD63.50), is available from V&A’s online shop, vandashop.com. With thanks to the Victoria & Albert Museum Archives and Susanna Brown.