Horst P. Horst

On the 14th of August 1906, in Weißenfels-an-der-Saale in Germany, a legend was born. Horst Paul Albert Bohrmann, known as Horst P. Horst, is considered a master in his field. He died on the 19th of November 1999 in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida. 

After studying art at Kunstgewerbeschule (Hambourg), Horst moved to Paris in 1930 to train with Le Corbusier. Often spending time with bourgeois circles, he met George Hoyningen-Huene, the director of Vogue France studios. Encouraged by him, Horst threw himself into photography and published his first pictures with the French fashion magazine. In 1937 he left Paris for New York, where he met Coco Chanel. Over thirty years of collaboration and several dozen world-famous photographs ensued. During this period, he was admired and supported by important members of the fashion world such as Diana Vreeland. Following the closure of Vogue studios in 1951, he devoted himself to his own studio and produced numerous photos of interiors, landscapes, still lifes and nudes.

Nicknamed the photographer of elegance, Horst is best known for his photographs of glamorous and sophisticated women. He would prepare his shots meticulously, combining dramatic lighting, attention to detail and theatrical poses. His work is largely influenced by Greek sculpture, for which he had enormous admiration. “He photographed women as goddesses: inaccessible and calm Olympians". His photos are part of a Surrealist and Neoclassical trend.

Adopted by the fashion world, Horst began exhibiting his work in major art galleries from 1932 until the end of his career. His works have been assembled and published in numerous books: Horst, His Work, Horst: Photographer of Style, etc. In 1989 he received the CFDA (Council of Fashion Designers of America) Lifetime Achievement Award, and in 1996, the Master of Photography Award from the International Center of Photography (New York).

His works have been exhibited at the Fortuny Palace in Venice (1989), the Louvre in Paris (1991), the Museum Ludwig Cologne (1992), the National Portrait Gallery (2001) and at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London (2007).