Horst P. Horst

Yesterday, i went to a Horst P. Horst exhibition at the V&A, which happens to be my favourite design museum. I had never heard of Horst before, but i was immediately attracted to a poster i saw on the tube that displayed a photograph that almost looked like an animation; it was so bright. Surprisingly, although the exhibition is presented as being very colourful and fashion orientated; i found that the room with the coloured photos were less interesting than the majority of the exhibition which was mostly postcard-size black and white photographs that were more concerned about light than fashion. 

Horst P. Horst is his official name. Although, he did change his surname to his first name when America declared war on Germany in 1941; probably because his original surname was German. Horst was acclaimed for capturing fashion but later in his life he discovered an interest in botany and interior design. Horst was taught by Hoyningen-Huene, who clearly inspires his concern for light. Unlike Huene, Horst shows affection to obvious shapes.

Horst takes pictures of models and makes them look emotionless and motionless. The attention is on the light, which makes black and white photos more interesting because you aren't automatically drawn to the most vibrant colour but towards the spotlight. The light is never on the place that is expected- normally the corner of the photo, a black piece of clothing or on half an object. This gives Horst a chance to show off his skill's rather than the model's. He manages to catch the sparkle of jewellery but still effortlessly maintain that nonchalant look that all his photos have acquired. Horst uses oddly dispersed lighting and shapes that normally coincide with the models position. Horst wanted to appreciate what was there and what shapes he could enhance rather than what movement was occurring. 

Overall, the exhibition was beautiful and i am now very taken by photography. My favourite part about the exhibition was that there was a large number of photographs for all the different subjects he chose. I would definitely recommend this to all photography lovers because at the end it explains how Horst used to take his photos with the old film cameras. Artists may enjoy it too because he did some work with Dali but if you are going for the fashion then you will find that less than half of the exhibition concentrates on just that. The exhibition at the V&A ends on 4th January 2015.