GEORGE HOYNINGEN-HUENE HORST P. HORST
The Staley-Wise Gallery opened in 1981 with a Horst
exhibition and we are proud to celebrate our 25th
anniversary with this Horst retrospective for the
centennial of his birth.
As well as gelatin silver and platinum prints we will be
showing rare, vintage prints from the collection of
Horst.
A master of light and shadow, Horst’s love of
classical architecture and sculpture figure prominently in
much of his work, as does the influence of Surrealism.
His dramatic lighting, elegance and imaginative
settings changed the look of portrait and
fashion photography.
Horst lived in the center of artistic and social activity of
the 20th century. Born into a conventional German
family, he soon left for Paris and an apprenticeship
with the great architect Le Corbusier. A chance
meeting with the gifted photographer Baron
George Hoyningen-Heune changed the course of his life,
opening the doors to a career in photography and a life
spent among the artistic and social achievers of Paris
Horst began working for Vogue in 1932, dividing his year between Paris and New York until the outbreak of World War II, during which he served in the United States Army. Horst worked for Conde Nast publications, and over the course of sixty years he photographed fashion, interiors, and every artistic, political and social figure of note. Horst’s work has been the subject of numerous articles, books, and documentary films. Museum exhibitions have been held at the International Center of Photography, the Louvre, the Nassau County Museum, London’s National Portrait Gallery and Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.