George Hoyningen-Huene: Glamour & Style
With a flourish of glamour and an unmistakable sense of style, JAEGER ART proudly unveils a captivating collection showcasing the timeless allure of renowned personalities from the enchanting decades spanning the 1920s to the 1960s. This extraordinary exhibition pays homage to the visionary lensmanship of George Hoyningen-Huene (1900–1968), a pioneering photographer whose creative brilliance left an indelible mark on the intersection of art, fashion, and film during one of the most culturally dynamic periods in history.
George Hoyningen-Huene, celebrated as one of the era’s most innovative photographers, possessed a unique ability to elevate his craft beyond mere documentation. His photographic artistry was a masterful blend of technical precision, artistic intuition, and an innate understanding of the symbiotic relationship between fashion and culture. Each photograph captured by Hoyningen-Huene reflects not only the external beauty of his subjects but also serves as a window into the zeitgeist of an era marked by societal shifts and artistic evolution
- Opening: Friday, 26 January 2024, 7 – 10 pm
- Duration: 26 January – 23 March 2024 / Wed – Sat, 12 pm – 6 pm
- Location: JAEGER ART, Brunnenstrasse 161, 10119 Berlin
L ́Instant Sublime (Gala and Salvador Dalí), 1939
© George Hoyningen-Huene Estate Archives
In this exclusive exhibition, JAEGER ART invites you to step into the captivating world of Hoyningen-Huene’s lens, where every image is a testament to the seamless fusion of elegance, sophistication, and the avant-garde. The curated selection of photographs showcases iconic personalities from the realms of cinema, fashion, and the arts, immortalized in moments of grace, allure, and unparalleled charisma.
Working mainly in Paris, New York, and Hollywood, George Hoyningen-Huene achieved international fame for his highly sophisticated fashion and portrait photography.
His carefully lit studio compositions with elements of modernism, neoclassicism, and surrealism made him one of the leading photographers for Vogue and Vanity Fair magazines from 1926 to 1935 and later at rival magazine Harper’s Bazaar. Revered by his contemporaries, he inspired subsequent generations of legendary photographers and filmmakers worldwide. Richard Avedon called Hoyningen-Huene “a genius, the master of us all.”
Divers, Swimwear by A. J. Izod, 1930
© George Hoyningen-Huene Estate Archives
The exhibition Glamour and Style illuminates the photographer’s circle of contemporaries and companions through his iconic portraits.
The images he took of the top model Lisa Fonssagrives, alongside those of Lee Miller and Agneta Fischer, both of whom made significant contributions to photography themselves, transport viewers to an era marked by grace and elegance. He also had strong friendships with prominent artists like Man Ray and Salvador Dalí, collaborating with them on several projects.
Besides his interests in art and fashion, Hoyningen-Huene had a lifelong passion for the film industry that began in his youth and he continued to photograph celebrities when he left Vogue for Harper’s Bazaar in 1935. He photographed numerous actors and artists, meticulously preparing for each session to portray the unique essence of each Hollywood icon.
Hoyningen-Huene was deeply committed to his craft and never regarded magazine photography as inferior to fine art. He often urged his peers to create images “with the aspiration that they would one day be part of the world’s most prestigious photographic art collections.”
Josephine Baker, 1929
© George Hoyningen-Huene Estate Archives
In many ways, Hoyningen-Huene was ahead of his time: he celebrated independent, modern women and openly acknowledged his homosexuality.
George Hoyningen-Huene passed away in 1968 and left his life’s work to his former partner and close friend, Horst P. Horst, who was also one of the most acclaimed photographers of the time. Horst took it upon himself to preserve Hoyningen-Huene’s legacy, carefully curating his archives. In the 1980s, Horst began producing platinum-palladium prints from chosen subjects using the original negatives and released them in limited editions. These extraordinary prints boast a luxurious, matte texture, offering a tonal spectrum from deep blacks to a range of subtle grays and soft whites.
Since 2020, Benjamin Jaeger has been a senior advisor for the George Hoyningen-Huene Estate Archives in Sweden. The estate’s mission is to safeguard the renowned photographer’s legacy, making his work accessible to a wide audience, and sparking inspiration among contemporary photographers and creatives around the world.
