Spezial Fotografie #24 (Stern Portfolio S.) [Paperback]

Horst (Author)

Book Description

Series: Stern Portfolio S. | Publication Date: August 1, 2001

Horst P. Horst engineered the classic and elegant studio photography of the 1930s. Atmospheric with the extensive use of silhouettes, dramatic lighting and highly-posed models, he created iconic portraits of Coco Chanel, Marlene Dietrich, W.H. Auden and Truman Capote over an astonishing 60 year period. Arriving in Paris in the early 1930s, his career was to take an irreversible direction. Vogue Paris photographer, Baron Hoyingen-Huene, spotted and hired a young Horst as an assistant and sometime subject. Hoyingen-Huene's influence bore greatly on the development of Horsts own work both in the studio and his choice of subject matter. He quickly developed a rapport with the confines and controlled lighting that the studio had to offer and gained him the reputation of the innovative photographer that he came to be. Commercial work for Vogue in the 1950s saw shoots out on location in the great outdoors and Horst was flung from the studio into a 50s wilderness. Not until the 1980s did the fashion for studio work return. Throughout that time Horst had furthered his style and much of his figurative work, mainly men and much too racy for magazines at that time, can be seen to be precursors to the Herb Ritts and Bruce Weber homoerotic shots of the 1980s. Horst maintained his standing and late in his career he photographed an advert for Klein: a pair of muscled legs cycling in the air, wearing only Calvin Klein socks. In the history of 20th-century fashion and portrait photography, Horst's contribution figures as one of the most artistically significant and longest lasting.

Editorial Reviews

From the Publisher

. HIS PHOTOS ARE ICONS OF PHOTOGRAPHIC HISTORY
. IN 1989 MADONNA COPIED ONE OF HIS VOGUE PICTURES FOR A MUSIC VIDEO
. ACCESSIBLE OVERSIZED PAPERBACKS—STERN PORTFOLIOS—AT AN AFFORDABLE PRICE

Product Details

• Paperback: 96 pages
• Publisher: Stern Gruner + Jahr AG & Co. (August 1, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 3570192954
• ISBN-13: 978-3570192955
• Product Dimensions: 14.2 x 10.5 x 0.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,903,986 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A nice review and high quality publication., January 15, 2006

By 

Rudi Franke - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Spezial Fotografie #24 (Stern Portfolio S.) (Paperback)

I have been searching for information about Horst for quite some time and eventually ran across this book on the Internet. It gives a broad overview of his work, but, as I'm mainly interested in fashion, nudes, and photographing women in general; I feel there are too many other areas of his work represented that do not address these interests. This book has spurred my continuing interest and I'd like to see more of his fashion and nude photographs and would most certainly be interested in a definitive biography of this fascinating photographer.

3 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars the man has style, May 19, 2003

By 

A. Dan "simoril" (israel) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Spezial Fotografie #24 (Stern Portfolio S.) (Paperback)

well i got to this book as a aprt of an erotic photography search and though the front cover does look very erotic, at least to me, the rest of the book isn't that alureing, it is however a great though a bit too short collection of a great inovating photographer which is just so plesent and interesting to look at, i got it a few weeks ago and i simply can't stop looking at it, the power and delicute of those photos, everything's done to it's extream styling which just send you stright away into a total fantasy world.

so, it's not what i was looking for, but i'm very very pleased with it.