Grisebach is pleased to present a special exhibition on the work of George Hoyningen-Huene (1900-1968) on the occasion of the BERLIN PHOTO WEEK.
Hoyningen-Huene, usually known simply as Huene, was able to combine art, fashion and cinema like no other. He worked primarily in Paris, New York and Hollywood and initially achieved international fame for his highly sophisticated fashion and portrait photography. His carefully lit studio compositions with elements of modernism, neoclassicism and surrealism made Huene one of the leading photographers for Vogue and Vanity Fair magazines from 1926 to 1935, later also for Harper's Bazaar, and one of the most important chroniclers within the interwoven worlds of art, fashion, design, film and high society. Revered by his contemporaries, he also inspired subsequent generations of photographers and filmmakers around the world. Richard Avedon described Huene as "a genius, the master of us all".
The exhibition is a collaboration between the George Hoyningen-Huene Estate Archives, Benjamin Jäger, the art director of the BERLIN PHOTO WEEK, and Grisebach. Around 50 photographs from Huene's extraordinary career will be shown at Grisebach. On display are not only his elegant couture fashion shoots, but also his glamorous portraits of stage and screen stars as well as photographs from his numerous trips through Europe and Africa. Rare prints from the archive will be shown alongside exceptional large-format platinum-palladium prints. Some of the photographs are being presented to the public for the first time.
The first part of the exhibition highlights Huene's influence on fashion magazines, for which he worked with the top models of his time, such as Lisa Fonssagrives and Toto Koopman. Two of his favourite models were the German Agneta Fischer and the American Lee Miller, both of whom later became photographers themselves. He brought grace and naturalness to his photo shoots of exclusive couture creations by designers such as Balenciaga, Chanel, Lanvin, Schiaparelli and Vionnet, and he was considered a specialist in the elegant staging of swimwear.
The second part of the exhibition is dedicated to Huene's portrait photography. The film industry had fascinated Huene since his youth. Dozens of actors and artists were photographed by him and he prepared for each shoot anew, as he endeavoured to capture the different character traits of the respective Hollywood idols. He portrayed Gary Cooper, Marlene Dietrich and Anna May Wong in the 1930s, Rita Hayworth and Katharine Hepburn in the 1940s, Greta Garbo in the 1950s and Ava Gardner in the 1960s.
At some point, his studio became too small for him and, driven by this restlessness, he set off with his camera on a series of journeys that resulted in five books: African Mirage, the Record of a Journey (1938); Hellas (1943); Egypt (1943); Mexican Heritage (1946); and Baalbek/Palmyra (1946). The third part of the exhibition is dedicated to Huene's breathtaking landscapes and unembellished portraits of people he encountered all over the world.
The final chapter of the exhibition deals with the impressive platinum-palladium prints, which are famous for their longevity and rich tonal spectrum. In the 1960s, Irving Penn began experimenting with the platinum-palladium process and others followed, including fellow photographer Horst P. Horst. In 1968, Huene bequeathed his archive to Horst P. Horst, and in the 1980s Horst began producing platinum-palladium prints from Huene's negatives for purchase by museums and collectors. These exceptional prints have a rich, matte surface and their tonal values range from velvety blacks to a variety of greys and delicate whites. The exhibition includes 15 of the prints created under Horst's guidance, including iconic images such as Divers (1930). In 2020, the Estate has released a new series of strictly limited edition platinum palladium prints, some of which will be on display in Germany for the first time.
During his lifetime, Huene was represented in pioneering German exhibitions such as Film und Foto der 20er Jahre (1929) and during Photokina (1963). More recently, his pictures have been shown in exhibitions on the history of fashion photography, but there has never been a solo exhibition of his work in Germany. His work can be found in many top-class collections, including the Getty Museum, Museum of Modern Art, Centre Georges Pompidou, Victoria and Albert Museum and the F.C. Gundlach Collection.