Lost Writings

Reassessing the career of the hugely influential Harperâs Bazaar art director, who changed the course of twentieth-century American photography and graphic design
 
This lavishly illustrated volume explores the influence and significance of the Russian-born photographer, designer, and instructor Alexey Brodovitch (1898â"1971), best known for his art directorship of the American fashion magazine Harperâs Bazaar between 1934 and 1958, as well as his tutelage of many celebrated documentary and fashion photographers, including Irving Penn, Richard Avedon, Eve Arnold, and Lillian Bassman. Though disparate in their aesthetic approaches, these figures are unified by their responses to Brodovitchâs dictum to âastonish me.â The authors address Brodovitchâs impact on photography as an artistic medium in the mid-twentieth century and explore how European art and design became the foundation of a new American print culture. Brodovitchâs own work will be illuminated through his personal projectsâ"such as the magazine Portfolio and the photographic project Ballet, which depicted performances of the Ballets Russes de Monte Carlo in the United States (whose evolution echoed Brodovitchâs own ©migr© condition). Case studies of his transformative collaborations with photographers such as Arnold, Avedon, Penn, Lisette Model, Henri Cartier-Bresson, Hans Namuth, and Andr© Kert©sz reveal pivotal encounters that may surprise even the most ardent photography aficionado. An illustrated chronology offers an important tool for scholars on this influential but often overlooked figure.
 
Distributed for the Barnes Foundation
 
Exhibition Schedule:
 
Barnes Foundation, Philadelphia
(March 3â"May 19, 2024)