German born Horst Paul Albert Bohrmann studied art in Hamburg in the 1920s and later in Paris with Le Corbusier (1887-1965). His first fashion photograph, printed in French Vogue, appeared in 1931 and was followed quickly by an exhibition at La Plume d'Or in Paris in 1932. The exhibition, favorably reviewed by The New Yorker, assured Horst’s career as a fashion photographer. In New York in 1937 he began a three-decade association with Coco Channel (183-1971) applying in 1941, [as Horst P. Horst] for American citizenship. In 1941 he joined the United States Army serving as a military photographer. Throughout his successful career Horst photographed the wealthy, influential, and beautiful receiving a Lifetime Achievement Award from The Council of Fashion Designers of America in 1989, and the Master of Photography Award from the International Center for Photography in 1996. Horst passed away in Palm Beach Florida on November 18, 1999.
In Zoli Models, Horst pays homage to an earlier composition, Movement Study 1924, by Rudolph Kooptiz (1884-1936) one of the leading proponents of art photography in Europe between the wars.
Fahey-Klein Gallery, Los Angeles, California
An Important Photography Collection, Florida
Horst, and Martin Kazmaier. Horst: Sixty Years of Photography. London: Schirmer Art Books, 2001, pl. 196.
Illustrated: Horst, and Martin Kazmaier. Horst: Sixty Years of Photography. London: Schirmer Art Books, 2001, pl. 196.