Horst P. Horst

Born Horst Paul Albert Bohrmann in Weissenfels-an-der-Salle in 1906, who chose to be known as Horst P. Horst, studied architecture in Hamburg. Shortly afterwards, he moved to Paris where he apprenticed in Le Corbusier’s studio.  During his time in Paris, Horst became close with Vogue photographer Baron George Hoyningen-Huene; Horst became his lover and photographic assistant.

Horst’s photography was first debuted in the December 1931 issue of French Vogue. He then went on to gain notoriety the next year with his first exhibition at La Plume D’Or in Paris and British Vogue printed three fashion studies and a full-page portrait of the daughter of Sir James Dunn, the art patron and supporter of Surrealism in the March 1932 issue. In 1935, Horst took over as chief photographer for French Vogue. 

In New York 1937 Horst met Coco Chanel and went on to photograph her creations for over three decades. He also photographed a succession of iconic individuals of the time such as Elsa Schiaparelli, Bette Davis, Noël Coward, Lisa Fonssagrives, Cole Porter and the Duke and Duchess of Windsor along others. Horst would set his models under artificial lights, against plain or geometric backgrounds, with fastidious precision. The arrangement of the furnishings, fabrics and lighting within his compositions create atmospheric silhouettes.

When the war broke out, Horst applied for American citizenship, and was called up for service, though he was not officially enrolled until July 1943. He became an Army photographer, which amongst other subjects involved taking pictures of the US President Harry S. Truman.

Horst published several books, including Photographs of a Decade (1945), Patterns from Nature (1946), and Salute to the Thirties (1971, with Hoyningen-Huene). His influence has extended to generations of photographers, including Irving Penn, Richard Avedon, and Helmut Newton. He continued to shoot for Vogue and other major magazines well into the 1980s.

Horst’s work has been celebrated in major retrospectives and is held in numerous institutional collections, including the Victoria and Albert Museum and the National Portrait Gallery in London, the International Center of Photography in New York, the Fortuny Palace in Venice, and the Louvre in Paris.