St Petersburg’s Dali Museum features iconic photographer Horst P. Horst

PanARMENIAN.Net - Opening this Saturday, July 2, and on display through September 6, 2016, Horst: Photographs – Fashion and Surrealism is an illuminating special exhibition at The Dalí Museum, St. Petersburg, FL. The exhibit features 180 works of famed fashion and surrealism photographer Horst P. Horst (1906-1999), who ranked alongside Irving Penn and Richard Avedon as one of the 20th century’s most iconic photographers, Art Daily reports.

In the early 1930s Horst moved to Paris – the heart of the creative avant-garde – and befriended designers like Coco Chanel and Elsa Schiaparelli and artists including Salvador Dalí. Horst’s career spanned the opulence of Parisian prewar haute couture and the rise of ready-to-wear fashions in postwar America. Not confined to fashion, Horst excelled at portraiture, nude studies, interiors and still life photography, drawing from a wide range of sources from ancient Greek and Roman sculpture to surrealist discourse.

Horst’s work also reflects the changes in fashion industry photography. In the 1930s, his mastery of dramatic light and shadow set the standard for the black and white format. And when the industry shifted to color photography in the 1940s, his mastery of dramatic color contrasts made him the perfect choice for creating 94 Vogue magazine covers.

The exhibition is organized in collaboration with the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, and has works on loan from the Condé Nast Archive, The Horst Estate and other private collections. Susanna Brown, Curator of Photographs at the Victoria and Albert Museum (V&A), will be at The Dalí for the opening and will host several events including a lecture for Dalí Museum members.

“Horst is a noteworthy example of a major artist that was inspired by Dalí, and vice-versa,” said Joan Kropf, Curator of the Collection for The Dalí. “We are pleased to be able to share this medium of art with our visitors, and as always, hope this exhibit serves to inspire.”

In conjunction with the exhibition, the Museum will offer a variety of corresponding programming, notably a Coffee with Curator talk on July 6 presented by Ms. Kropf; and The Dalí’s Café Gala has created a refreshing Lavender & Blackberry Almond Milk Iced Latte, served in a high-ball glass for a nod to fashion. Café Gala, located on the first floor of the Museum, is open to the public during Museum hours without an admission charge.