Susanna Brown – George Hoyningen-Huene: Photography, Fashion, Film

Review by Gerhard Clausing •

George Hoyningen-Huene was one of the foremost fashion and celebrity photographers of his time. He was also a participant in filmmaking and various other pursuits. Born in St. Petersburg in 1900, surrounded by Baltic-Russian nobility as well as having part American heritage, he was able to transition, via London and Paris, into a very successful career in Hollywood.

This retrospective photobook, beautifully printed on generously large pages, presents us with multiple views and analyses of his work. The essays provide us with many aspects of the photographer’s history and times, and contain numerous interpretations of his work.

As you can see from the first image below, the volume is divided into nine sections: Vogue Years – Models & Muses – Interpreting Couture – English Influences – To See the World – A Dream House – Harpers Bazaar – Star Portraits – The Movie Business. An extensive chronology, a description of the archive, and many details on the sections are also included.

We get a superb overview of the variety of pursuits in which he excelled. There are travel and architectural photographs, but most importantly, we are able to see many of his classical images as well as less well known work involving his interpretive view of of dancers, motion picture stars, and others.

I have chosen a few images that show Hoyningen-Huene’s mastery. I was particularly enchanted by his use of light and shadow. The well-known image of a couple ‘at the beach’ is just a start. Images 5 and 6 below illustrate his depiction of light and shadow more succinctly. There is a certain feeling of the great unknown in the photographs, and this intentional semi-pictorial lack of clarity allows the viewer to bring his or her own interpretation to the viewing of these images. His work exudes much grandeur and glamor as well.

The last three images below are of particular interest. The commercial color image of a lady with jewelry strikes us as very modern. The next to the last image of Ginger Rogers, dancer and movie personality, has a distinct otherworldliness, evoking the idea of a spirit floating in the sky. The last image is a portrait of the director and producer George Cukor; you can imagine the ideas bubbling in his head and the excitement that he brought to his motion pictures, subtly hinted at in the background.

There is much more to this photobook than I can discuss in this short presentation. I recommend this book highly for all who wish to study creative portraiture, especially with a commercial touch, and excellent fashion photography geared at particular preferences. This book is also an important contribution to the history of one of the centers of creative illusions, Hollywood, in times gone by.

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Gerhard Clausing, Editor of the PhotoBook Journal, is an author and artist from Southern California.

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Susanna Brown – George Hoyningen-Huene: Photography, Fashion, Film

Photographer: George Hoyningen-Huene (1900-1968; born in St. Petersburg, died in Los Angeles)

Editor/Author: Susanna Brown

Texts: Susanna Brown, The George Hoyningen-Huene Estate Archives, Lucy Donaldson, Keith Lodwick, Lydia Caston, Mitchell Owens, Damarice Amao, Robin Muir, Alistair O’Neill, Ivan Shaw

Language: English

Design: BankerWessel

Hardbound, debossed, with tipped-in image; 328 pages, paginated; 10.25×13.5 inches (26×34 cm); printed in China by C&C Offset Printing Co. Ltd.; ISBN 978-0-500-02659-5

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Articles and photographs published in the PhotoBook Journal may not be reproduced without the permission of the PhotoBook Journal staff and the photographer(s). All images, texts, and designs are under copyright by the authors and publishers.