Bernheimer Fine Art Haldenstr. 11 6006 Lucerne Suisse
In collaboration with the Horst Estate (Miami/Florida), Bernheimer Fine Art Photography is featuring Horst P. Horst, one of the world's best-known photographers. During the 60-70 years of his artistic output, Horst Paul Albert Bohrmann (as he was born) became one of the most important and influential fashion, advertising and society photographers of the 20th century.
The doyen of classic photography, Horst began his career in Paris in 1931, working for Vogue in Paris and its American counterpart, for whom he produced icons of photographic history such as "White Sleeve" (1936), "Mainbocher Corset" (1939) and "Lisa as V.O.G.U.E." (1940).
It is less well-known that, besides his legendary fashion pictures, Horst P. Horst produced works that even today are largely unknown and illuminate his artistic genius from a different angle - and are now also on sale for the first time. The exhibition at Bernheimer Fine Art Photography brings together around 45 photos from the Horst Estate (Miami/Florida), including important vintages, color prints and platinum prints, some of which are being offered in the trade for the first time.
The focus of the exhibition is on his still-life photography, which demonstrates how, in the dialogue with timeless classic fashion shots, motifs recurred in his works - whether commissioned or not - in a number of forms and variants over a period of several decades.
Examples of this are his famous still lifes "Classical Still Life - Circle Disk, Bust" (1937) and the fashion photo "Chanel Beauty" (1987) fifty years on. In both photos, Horst places the figure in the foreground in front of a concave disk, and the handling of light also shows parallels.
Many of Horst's work confirm his masterly handling of light and shadow and his highly developed sense of geometry and line. Examples include his photos "Lisa, I Love You" (1937), with its sophisticated interweaving geometry of pedestal and hat, and the rear-view study "Mainbocher Corset" (1939). These two icons of photography will be on show in the exhibition in the form of special prints.
The sales exhibition takes place from Wednesday, 12 November 2008 to Saturday, 24 January 2009 in the gallery rooms of Bernheimer Fine Art Photography at 7 Brienner Strasse, Munich.