Horst Horst

Horst P. Horst (1906–99) possessed a deep understanding of architecture, having studied it in Hamburg and apprenticed with Le Corbusier in Paris. Horst later designed his own house on Long Island, and from the 1960s to the ’80s he photographed the luxurious homes of style icons throughout the world. One of the most striking of these shoots took place in 1966 at the Roman palazzo of seminal artist Cy Twombly. The home that Twombly and his wife Tatiana Franchetti created on Via di Monserrato was a seamless blend of art and life, and Horst deftly captured its atmosphere of raw elegance: some rooms appear starkly empty, while others are inhabited by antique furniture and classical sculpture, the figures from the myths that inspired Twombly.

The generous proportions of the palazzo suited the large scale of Twombly’s paintings, which he liked to move from one lofty room to another. Horst also photographed Twombly’s dandyish manner of dress: the velour hats, the handwoven tweeds and the World War I greatcoat worn while posing by his gleaming 1928 Alfa Romeo. Including many previously unseen photographs from Horst’s archive, Horst: Cy Twombly offers an intimate insight into the home of a largely private artist, and will appeal to fans of Twombly and interior design aficionados alike.

While Horst P. Horst is primarily famous for his classic photographs in black and white, this book foregrounds his extraordinary talent as a colorist. Horst first experimented with color film in the late 1930s, embracing the then new vibrant Kodachrome technology. In Horst Color we discover both early and late examples of his diverse output, from nostalgic travel pictures to dazzling fashion studies, pastel-hued still lifes, environmental portraits and studies of glamorous houses and gardens. Selected by renowned creative director Beda Achermann, who was given full access to Horst’s expansive archive—the home of many unpublished pictures and unprinted negatives—the photographs in this book demonstrate Horst’s impeccable taste, his eye for beauty and his technical finesse, and are sure to surprise even connoisseurs of his oeuvre.

Horst P. Horst (1906–99) was one of the 20th century’s master photographers. He launched his career in the melting pot of 1930s Paris, where he befriended such influential figures as Coco Chanel and Salvador Dalí and began his lifelong association with Vogue. Over the next 60 years Horst established his international reputation through his work in Vogue and other magazines, including Vanity Fair and House & Garden. His photography has been the subject of major exhibitions including Horst: A Retrospective at the International Center of Photography (1996) and Horst: Photographer of Style at the Victoria and Albert Museum (2014–15).