George Hoyningen-Huene
Photographers such as George Hoyningen-Huene were more influenced by Art Deco and the Bauhaus than by Haute Couture. In these pioneer days, photographers were given a free hand and competition between the magazines Vogue and Harpers Bazaar encouraged creativity.
During more than two decades as a fashion photographer, George Hoyningen Heuen refind a style that combined a personal fascination with feminiity and a reversend vor the art of ncient western civilizatin
The quality he strove to bring out in photography had been best portrayed he felt by the ancient greek scultors idealisations of femiale serenity In his own most characteristic pictures there was a sense of statuesque monumentality humanised by the model's air of sweet tranquility She seemed a flexh and blood grecian deity - an irrestable image that women sought to make their own by wearing clothes like those that hung so gracefully on Huenes poised figures
By the 1930's fashion photography had become a distinctive visual genre
in the Arts. Couture was still for the aristocratic but fashion itself
was beginning to become less elite. Vogue had become an important arbiter
of fashion, purveying elegant and tasteful images to its affluent readers
who had the time, money and dedication to be well dressed. Development
of hand held cameras and faster film speeds (Particularly the 1/1000 Leica)
made outdoor shoots feasible. The Rolliflex camera and colour film provided
new levels of reality. Images by sport's photographer Martin Munkaacsi
and by the American Fresh Air School captured the new interest in outdoor
activities such as swimming and golf. These vibrant, sporty images ran
side by side with the more traditional Grand Dame studio photographs.
The Surrealism Art movement had a huge influence and there was a marked
shift from classicism to surrealism. Photographs by Man Ray and Horst
P. Horst provided a fusion of contemporary art and fashion.
World War II effectively closed down the fashion industry. Paris became
isolated by the French Occupation in 1940 and photographers such as Man
Ray and Horst P. Horst emigrated to New York. The shift from Europe to
the U.S.A. was coupled with the emergence of a youthful and sporty American
look.
Readership of magazines soared during the war. Fashion became more practical
and realistic, rationing forcing everyone to make-do and mend. Erwin Blumenfeld
pioneered use of the new Hasselblad camera, the wide-angle lens providing
new opportunities in perspective and composition. Irvin Penn set new standards
with exquisite, elegant images. 1947 saw a revolution with the introduction
of Christian Dior's New Look. Austere utility clothes were replaced by
extravagant and feminine ensembles. Public demand was instantaneous and
the New Look quickly became a post war symbol of youth, hope and the future.
Glamour had returned.
The 1950's saw huge changes in society and the role of fashion. Years
of deprivation and rationing fuelled a new consumerism. A booming ready
to wear industry facilitated a huge shift from elitism to mass market
appeal. Fashions from Paris were transmitted to the general public through
the medium of magazines. Photographers such as Clifford Coffin, who adapted
the dentists Ring Light for fashion photography, covered the Paris Collections.
Newspapers also began to feature fashion. Models were beginning to attain
celebrity status as icons of beauty.
New, young photographers were vital. Injecting energy and redefining the
acceptable boundaries of taste and nudity. Richard Avedon pioneered a
semi documentary style, a shoot with a story. Irwing Penn's strong, graphic
images were instantly recognisable, often shot against a white background.
Norman Parkinson's career flourished, his natural and witty images having
timeless appeal.
Bert Sterns lavish lifestyle and photographs of women as sex objects heralded
the 1960's and the growing New York Art scene.