Platinum palladium print
14 × 11 in Edition of 10
$40,000 To purchase: artsy.net
“I like taking photographs because I like life,” said photographer Horst P. Horst, who died in 1999. “And I love photographing people best of all because, most of all, I love humanity.” Lucky for him, most of humanity loved him back, enamored first with his breathtaking fashion and society portraits taken in Paris in the 1930s and then loyally following his long career with Vogue, which included some of the world’s most memorable pictures of everything from interiors to celebrities, including Mick Jagger. Amassing a body of work for Vogue over almost 60 years (and spanning the tenure of several editor in chiefs) is, of course, no small task, but editing it down to a mere handful for a limited-edition sale proved nearly as taxing.
That said, starting tomorrow, September 12, 2013, the online art website Artsy will be selling thirteen rare Horst P. Horst photographs, curated by the Vogue Archive. The body of work featured (which will be previewed on September 11 at NeueHouse in New York at an event hosted by Hamish Bowles, Karlie Kloss, Elisabeth von Thurn und Taxis, and Dasha Zhukova) was curated by the senior director of archives and records at Condé Nast, Shawn Waldron, and looks at Horst’s work with a single model and collaborator, Lisa Fonssagrives-Penn. “When he was at his creative peak, such as with Lisa With Turban, his work transcended genre,” says Waldron. “Horst believed in the power of beauty and was not ashamed to strive for it. It’s a philosophy towards art that I find hugely appealing.”
See the slideshow above. Visit the sale at artsy.net.