Photo of the week

Lee Miller and Agneta Fischer for Vogue, 1932

Hoyningen-Huene produced this magical image by combining two separate shots. The result is a photograph in which Lee Miller appears like a fortune teller, looking down at a miniature Agneta Fischer dressed in a diaphanous gown inside a shimmering crystal ball. Both models appeared frequently in Huene's pictures from the 1930s, and both became photographers themselves.

‘ON THE COVER — “Trois”: Three flannel tiers, three vivid colors — lemon, cyclamen, scarlet — a romantic cape to throw over a black afternoon or dinner dress. Created by Valentina. The cover is a Kodachrome by Hoyningen-Huene.’
Harper’s Bazaar, October 1941

Vintage magazine from the collection of @icp

Swipe to see an alternate version of this image, a vibrant Kodachrome transparency from the collection of @metmuseum

The life-size illustration is by the French master Marcel Vertès

‘VIONNET — Everywhere, a touch of gold or silver around the waist, sometimes in colour, sometimes on white - as on this Vionnet dress of sheer crepe romain where the gold leather is cut in flowers and leaves to bind soft folds around a slim waist.’
Harper’s Bazaar, November 1936

At first glance it’s hard to distinguish the living model from the static mannequin. They posed for #georgehoyningenhuene wearing Grecian-inspired gowns, their elegant arms intertwined.

‘They sweep down the stairs into the night club, into the party, into a whirl of gaiety symbolic of night life anywhere in the world. A flower-printed satin Alix gown, with a chiffon scarf. Salon Moderne, Saks Fifth Avenue. A dusty blue taffeta wrap, designed by Bergdorf Goodman. A black net and rayon taffeta dress from Paquin in Paris. The set, the sparkle, the ballet girls – all by courtesy of the Radio City Music Hall.’
Harper’s Bazaar, July 1935

Another stunning colour image by #georgehoyningenhuene

Bronze sculpture by Siegel, 1928
Published in American Vogue, July 15, 1928, 'Vogue's Eye View of the Mode'.

Siegel was a manufacturer of mannequins and other metal accessories hangers. In the 1920s and 1930s Siegel supplied the majority of clothing shops in Paris.

Photo by George Hoyningen-Huene, 1928.

Princess Natasha Paley was a Russian aristocrat who, like Huene, fled her homeland to begin a new life in Paris. She became a well-known socialite and house model for the designer Lucien Lelong, marrying him in 1927. In this image for Vogue, she wears a spectacular feather and paillette cape by Lelong. She posed for Huene’s camera many times and starred with Horst P. Horst in a movie that Huene began shooting in 1932 but never finished.

Photo by George Hoyningen-Huene from 1933.

Photographer George Hoyningen-Huene met Joseph Pilates in New York and became a Pilates enthusiast. Huene took the photographs for the Pilates book 'Return to Life through Contrology', first published in 1945.

Photo: Huene exercising by the Pilates method, part of a series of similar self-portraits. Undated.

Published in Harper’s Bazaar, September 1939

Maggy Rouff (1896–1971), opened her couture house in Paris in 1929, and opened a London outpost in Park Lane in 1937. The New York Times praised the beautiful drapery of her late 1930s ‘romantic Greek evening gowns [which] glorify the very feminine, supple, amphora figure.’ Her many famous clients included Princess Margaret and Grace Kelly. This ivory rayon lamé dress was available to purchase in the US at Bergdorf Goodman.
Photo by George Hoyningen-Huene in 1939

Swipe to see - A version of the dress survives in the collection of the Museum at FIT (Fashion Institute of Technology, New York, Museum Number: 92.149.2

Serge Lifar and Olga Spessivtzeva as Bacchus and Ariadne

The Paris Opera premiered the ballet Bacchus et Ariadne in May 1931. The ballet was choreographed by Serge Lifar, one of the greatest dancers of the twentieth century. It was performed to a score by Albert Roussel within a set designed by Giorgio de Chirico. Huene photographed Lifar with his partner Olga Spessivtzeva, their angular limbs arranged to form a star-like composition at a moment of high drama.

Tilly Losch, 1933

For this portrait of Austrian-born performer and painter Tilly Losch, Hoyningen-Huene chose to focus attention on her expressive dancer’s hands and beautiful profile. She gazes upwards with wide eyes, her face veiled in black tulle studded with delicate white flowers.

The year 1934 was a turning point in Carole Lombard's career. She starred in several successful movies including the comedy Twentieth Century and Now and Forever with Gary Cooper. In this seductive portrait, she appears to be in character as the fan dancer Alabam Lee, from her film Lady by Choice.

Portrait by George Hoyningen-Huene in 1934.

Happy Birthday George Hoyningen-Huene!

Baron George Hoyningen-Huene (1900-1968) was a pioneering photographer whose elegant and carefully crafted images helped define the aesthetic character of an era. Known simply as Huene, he worked during the golden age of couture fashion and cinema.
Huene was born in St. Petersburg to a wealthy family, but they had to flee their home during the Russian revolution in 1917. Huene spent time in England before moving to Paris where he studied with the Cubist André Lhote. In 1926, Huene was employed to create photographs for Vogue and Vanity Fair magazines and rapidly established himself as a visual innovator, fusing elements of neoclassicism and surrealism to create glamorous, arresting images. He befriended the stars of the artistic milieu in The City of Light, including Man Ray and Salvador Dalí, with both of whom he collaborated.
In 1935 Huene joined Harper’s Bazaar magazine, where he remained a contributor until 1946, regularly travelling the world on assignment. His sense of adventure and love of different cultures led to extensive travels through Europe and Africa. In the late 1940s he settled in California and embarked on a second career as a colour coordinator for Hollywood movies. Huene remains an enduring source of inspiration for today’s photographers, artists and filmmakers.

This handsome portrait was made in 1933 by his fellow Vogue photographer and good friend Cecil Beaton. The two spent time together in France, England and Tunisia, and Huene was at the peak of his career when this photograph was taken.

Happy Birthday Horst P. Horst. Born in 1906, this handsome young German arrived in Paris in 1930 and met George Hoyningen-Huene soon afterwards. They quickly became close and Horst posed for some of Huene's most iconic photographs of the early 1930s. Huene taught Horst everything he knew about photography and Horst became one of Vogue's star photographers himself, enjoying a career that spanned six decades.

Summer’s here! For seaside chic, follow the example of Hoyningen-Huene’s model wearing sunglasses rimmed with cornflower-blue petals. She reclines on a canvas sail in a Peter Pan dress of coffee-coloured linen. Her glossy red lips, nails and sandals add a vibrant pop to this Kodachrome shot.

Published in Harper’s Bazaar, 1939