IT IS AMAZING HOW MUCH PHOTOGRAPHERS COULD DO BACK INT HE DAY WITHOUT THE HELP OF PHOTOSHOP AND HOW MUCH THEY STILL INSPIRE ARTIST AND PHOTOGRAPHERS TODAY.
Creative experimentation began to flourish in the field of photography during the inter-war period and Erwin Blumenfeld was one of its pioneers. Born in 1897 in Berlin, he emigrated first to Holland, then to France in 1936. After participating in the Dada movement under the pseudonym of Jan Bloomfield, creating montages and collages (some of which, such as “Hitler’s Mug”, executed in 1933, remain iconic expressions of an early and visionary denunciation of Nazism), he began working for
Vogue. In 1940, he was imprisoned in several concentration camps in France, but he managed to escape to the United States in 1941. Following his arrival in New York, he shared a studio with Martin Munkacsi, another European exile who was also a central figure in the transformation of fashion photography. His collaboration with
Harper’s Bazaar, which had started in 1939, continued until 1944. He subsequently worked for
Vogue until 1955. During these years, Blumenfeld shot more than one hundred covers. Thanks to his success in satisfying both artistic and editorial demands, he established himself as a key figure and leading exponent of fashion photography, at the time a fledgling industry. Although the discipline was still in its infancy, the magazine having only just abandoned fashion illustration, Blumenfeld transported the pages of the fashion press to a distant and unknown land, one that few photographers have ventured into since. Blumenfeld’s radically modern, highly creative vision propelled editorial output abruptly forwards in time. His work was so bold that present-day images often seem to lag behind in comparison; more than sixty years later, Erwin Blumenfeld is still ahead of the field.
The photographer’s perfectionism was also a reflection of his awareness of the responsibility borne by the artist. In 1951, in the book The Art and Technique of Color Photography, edited by the artistic director of Vogue, Alexander Liberman, he wrote:
“Every page is seen by millions of people and we are responsible for the taste of tomorrow. Our pictures are the essence of a page and every page has to have its own face, its own spirit, to catch millions of eyes or it’s only a scrap of printed matter.”
The present exhibition presents a selection of photographs taken from fashion magazines and chosen for their experimental nature. These strikingly contemporary images bear witness to Erwin Blumenfeld’s creative genius. Close ups, effects of transparency, montages – all serve to capture the sensuality and beauty of women.
“How seriously I take beauty! All my portraits reflect my vision. The artist lives on variations of a single theme.”
americannoirmag
NOIR MAGAZINE 
Posted on February 8, 2012
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