An alluring exhibition of the work of Horst P. Horst (1906-1999), who ranked alongside Irving Penn and Richard Avedon as one of the last century’s leading photographers. In an extraordinary sixty-year career, Horst’s photographs graced the pages of Vogue and House and Garden and he became renowned as a master of expressive lighting and atmospheric illusion.
In the early 1930s Horst moved to Paris – the heart of the creative avant-garde – and befriended designers and artists like Coco Chanel, Elsa Schiaparelli and Salvador Dalí. Horst’s career spanned the opulence of Parisian pre-war haute couture and the rise of ready-to-wear fashions in Post-war America. Not confined to fashion, Horst excelled at portraiture, nude studies, interiors and still life photography, drawing from a wide range of sources from ancient Greek and Roman sculpture to surrealist discourse.
Susanna Brown, Curator of Photographs at the Victoria and Albert Museum (V&A), commented, “We are delighted to collaborate with The Dalí to bring this major V&A exhibition to the U.S. The Dalí’s spectacular galleries and collection provide the perfect context in which to explore the influence Surrealist art had on Horst’s photography and the wider world of fashion and design.”
“Horst: Photographs– Fashion and Surrealism” Exhibit Details:
180 works: original vintage photographs, sketches, films, letters, cameras and large scale color prints made for the exhibition, in collaboration with the Condé Nast Archive in New York
Galleries/Sections: Haute Couture (1930s Paris), Surrealism, The Studio, Fashion in Color, Nudes, Platinum
A lavishly illustrated book, Horst: Photographer of Style, accompanies the exhibition, and will be available at The Dalí Museum Store. The book includes a Foreword by Anna Wintour, interview with model Carmen Dell’Orefice, and new research from eight expert authors. The book is published by Rizzoli and edited by Susanna Brown, V&A Curator of Photographs.
Exhibition organized by the Victoria and Albert Museum, London.
Horst: Photographs – Fashion and Surrealism is curated by the Victoria and Albert Museum, London; and for The Dalí Museum by Joan Kropf. Works are on loan from the V&A, The Horst Estate, The Condé Nast Archive, Richard J. Horst, The Sir Elton John Photography Collection and other private collections.
Image Credits:
Salvador Dalí, 1943 © Condé Nast / Horst Estate
Summer Fashions, American Vogue cover, 15 May 1941 © Condé Nast / Horst Estate
Corset by Detolle for Mainbocher, 1939 © Condé Nast / Horst Estate