Only 9 days left to see the exhibition on Frank Horvat!

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While we often highlight profiles of creators and artistic directors on the blog, today we wanted to shine a light on another perspective in the world of fashion, namely that of a photographer who came to change the codes of fashion photography. On the occasion of the exhibition on Frank Horvat, Paris, the world, fashion, presented at the Jeu de Paume until September 17, we reflect on the “reportage style” that the photographer developed and introduced to fashion photography.

What is the “reportage style” highlighted in the exhibition on Frank Horvat?

A total of 170 prints and 70 original documents have been gathered to trace the first 15 years of the photojournalist’s career on the occasion of this first exhibition of this magnitude dedicated to him. Presented since June 16 at the Jeu de Paume and about to close, the exhibition on Frank Horvat, who passed away in October 2020, highlights a career intimately linked to the evolution of illustrated press, which shaped his work by including him in photojournalism from the very beginning.

An approach to photography that he embraced in the 1950s, during the renaissance of this press, in the post-war period. He continuously explored its possibilities until its decline in the mid-1960s. This 15-year span reveals a perpetual quest, that of searching for a photographic style known as “reportage style”, experimenting with various angles, subjects, environments… A relationship to the image and its technique that nurtured his perspective, and the message emanating from his snapshots.

The exhibition on Frank Horvat covers the years 1950 to 1965, from his first notable snapshots to his rise within prestigious agencies such as Magnum, as well as his work in fashion photography for major magazines, including Harper’s Bazaar.

From his snapshots and publications, we discover a unique vision, reflecting a distinctive eye and sensitivity towards the world. His works demonstrate a reflection on gazes, bodies, feelings, the notion of being seen and seeing. Noise, silence, movement, stillness, black, white… The framing and contrasts construct striking images, staging suspended moments amidst the hustle and bustle of crowds and the vibrancy of cities.

Through iconic snapshots, some lesser-known, and many revealed for the first time, the exhibition on Frank Horvat allows us to encounter his vision and the evolution of his relationship with photojournalism that guided his various career paths.

How does the exhibition on Frank Horvat reflect an eclectic career?

Divided into five parts, which can be observed as chapters, the exhibition on Frank Horvat emphasizes the photographer’s relationship with photojournalism and how it nourished his subjects and collaborations. Travels, social studies, political subjects, fashion photography… As he explored photography, evolved his equipment, and met various people, his “reportage style” refined itself by incorporating various domains.

One of the first series presented in the exhibition on Frank Horvat is rooted in his beginnings, between 1950 and 1954. This series, created during a transformative journey in Asia, with a Leica he bought for the occasion, offers an intimate look at religious ceremonies, scenes captured in the red-light district of Hira Mandi, and opium and hashish smokers. Alongside scenes reflecting the poverty of Calcutta, as well as series on wild elephants, his unique perspective on society resonates and makes him known.

His perspective addresses society with irony, as seen during his time in London, where he captured nuns at a flower festival, businessmen bustling in the city, and young people boxing in the streets. A gaze that also becomes voyeuristic in other series, like one commissioned on prostitution, where the photographer captured images from his car, concealed in the streets of the capital and in the Bois de Boulogne. His “reportage style” is linked to film noir inspirations and offers a fresh perspective on this milieu.

The work around gaze, bodies, and what is shown or concealed continues with a commission from an American magazine about the Parisian cabaret Le Sphinx. The prints present in the exhibition on Frank Horvat testify to a work around the complicity between the strippers and the photographer, in this intimate setting where unique moments of life unfold alongside their performances on stage.

The exhibition on Frank Horvat also highlights the photographer’s creative and initiatory work, particularly with his telephoto lens experiments. A new approach to photojournalism that led him to find new perspectives, needing to take more distance and height concerning his subjects. The framing is rethought, and we witness a spirit of time frozen in a constantly moving capital, where the inhabitants merge with Paris, which becomes a character in its own right.

These different series allowed him to define, refine, and quickly impose his “reportage style,” thus initiating a new trajectory for his career in fashion photography.

How did Frank Horvat change the codes of fashion photography?

Last May, we shared a reflection on the exhibition Azzedine Alaïa and Arthur Elgort, which highlighted the collaborative work of the two artists, particularly the vision of the fashion photographer that aimed to be more spontaneous, opting for natural settings and moving away from the stereotypical poses of traditional fashion photography. This desire actually echoes the work that Frank Horvat proposed twenty years earlier.

Indeed, recognized for his series around the city of Paris captured with a telephoto lens, Frank Horvat was invited in 1957 by the artistic director of the magazine Jardin des Modes, Jacques Moutin, to bring his “reportage style” to the magazine’s covers. Accepting this new challenge only on the condition that he could work in a lightweight setup, with a small format camera, and in natural settings and light, the photographer rethought the entire aesthetic of fashion photography, claiming the genre and modernizing it.

The exhibition on Frank Horvat emphasizes the photojournalist’s desire to change the codes in place to bring more naturalness and authenticity to the photos. To achieve this, he asked that the models be more lightly made up, staging them in moments of everyday life, abandoning the stereotypical poses typical of fashion photography. Thus, Parisian brasseries, tavern counters, trams, muddy streets, and other forests became his new grounds for expression to showcase the silhouettes of the models.

The snapshots, all more striking than the last, captivate with their frame composition, where everything is thought out in detail, revealing an atmosphere between glamour and fantastical touches. The models no longer pose front and center, but blend into the decor. Yet, a white dress, a sidelong glance, or a graceful posture immediately draws the eye towards them thanks to plays of contrast and lines.

Quickly gaining fame in the fashion photography field, Frank Horvat went on to work with other magazines such as Elle, British Vogue, and the iconic Harper’s Bazaar, collaborating with great photographers like Irving Penn. Before his lens, prestigious brands envelop models, as seen in this snapshot, presented in the exhibition on Frank Horvat, of a Givenchy hat, in front of which one could linger for hours, so the work around gaze, contrasts, and lines is stunning.

On one side, the woman concealed by her outfit, which radiates and illuminates the frame. And, in the background, these men, twins in hand, looking off into the distance without noticing the woman hidden from them. Games of gazes, postures, what is seen and unseen, the question of voyeurism… We find the themes characteristic of Frank Horvat through this glamorous snapshot.

His rise as a fashion photographer for many prestigious magazines led him to capture the silhouettes of increasingly well-known individuals, such as Judy Dent, with a style that aims to be a bit more sophisticated and framed.

Little by little, the photographer, who initially was not drawn to fashion photography, no longer feels fulfilled in this domain and decides to distance himself in 1962. He then goes back to explore the world, through a photojournalism project on 12 non-European cities for a German magazine, but much of it will not be published due to the crisis the illustrated press was experiencing in the mid-60s.

The exhibition on Frank Horvat offers a privileged insight into the photographer’s work, with snapshots that leave a mark through their composition and the role of gaze, both that of the subjects, the photographer, and ours.

Photos: Pinterest / Frank Horvat / Jeu de Paume