V&A; Horst P Horst: Photographer of Style - A Review.

Walking in to the exhibition, all the things I had heard were realized immediately. Although I had always heard of Horst and known of some of his work, it wasn't until coming here and experiencing the exhibition in person, had I really appreciated what he has created. The lighting was so on point, soft and dark and the temperature; perfectly warm, making the whole ambience of the first room feel very cocoon like. Greeting me was a large piece of text on the first wall. It beautifully talked about how Horst started his prestigious career; explaining how his German nationality and background but how he spend the majority of his life in Paris and New York and how he had gotten involved in the industry at such a young age. Then, all around, were 35mm black and white images mounted, and held in sleek, black, wooden frames.

Looking at each photograph, they were so beautiful and elegant, making it so hard to believe that they were taken by someone so young who was really just starting out. It is certainly clear that he had a raw talent. Most of these images displayed are portraits and one a self-portrait.
Moving through the images became bigger and we were able to view some of his sketchbook work which was really fascinating. He would not just sketch out his idea for what he would like an image to look like but where he would like the model to sit, the position of the lighting and props that would be used. A lot of the images looked so effortless, it was really surprising to know just how much planning went into them before they were even shot.

Carrying on through, a short video clip was shown of Horst actually capturing the images, a great way to really understand the process and link the viewer even more so to the images.
Although I sometimes felt that the layout of the whole exhibition was a bit stuttered and hard to follow properly, I did enjoy the way that it was all chronologically laid out and you could see how his work developed throughout his working years. Colour would start to show more and more and the final room was circled with gorgeous A1 colour prints and in front, a glass table housing a metres long row of all of the vogue covers that he had photographed for. It was an incredible amount.
The whole exhibition was totally worth the visit and I would absolutely recommend it.


A timeline of his work is available on the V&A website.
http://www.vam.ac.uk/content/exhibitions/exhibition-horst-photographer-of-style/a-timeline/

Summer Fashions, American Vogue cover, 15 May, 1941. © Condé Nast/Horst Estate