Horst, Barefoot Beauty. NY, 1941

Horst P. Horst   Master Artists

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

After studying art at the Kunstgewerbeschule (Hamburg), Horst moved to Paris in 1930 to train with Le Corbusier . Frequently moving in bourgeois circles, he met George Hoyningen-Huene, director of the Vogue France studios. Encouraged by him, Horst took up photography and published his first photographs in the French fashion magazine. In 1937, he left Paris for New York, where he met Coco Chanel. More than thirty years of collaboration and several dozen world-famous photographs followed. During this period, he was admired and supported by influential figures in the fashion world, such as Diana Vreeland. After the Vogue studios closed in 1951, he devoted himself to his own studio and took numerous photographs 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 prepared his shots meticulously, combining dramatic lighting, attention to detail, and theatrical poses. His work is largely influenced by Greek sculpture, for which he had a deep admiration. "He photographed women as goddesses: unattainable and serene Olympians." His photographs are part of a surrealist and neoclassical movement.

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 collected and published in numerous books: Horst, his work, Horst: Photographer of Style, etc. In 1989, he received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the CFDA (Council of Fashion Designers of America) and, in 1996, the Master of Photography Award from the International Center of Photography (New York).

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