Keith de Lellis Gallery is pleased to announce an exhibition of fashion photography by George Hoyningen-Huene.  From February 17 through April 16, the gallery will feature vintage prints from the last decade of the artist's career at Harper's Bazaar.

George Hoyningen-Huene (1900-1968) is one of the great names in 20^th century photography.  His oeuvre spans a legendary career that evolved by way of Paris in the twenties up to his final days in Hollywood four decades later.  He made his reputation as the chief photographer for Vogue starting in 1926, and his exceptional gift for the visual brought him to the pinnacle of his profession.  In Paris , he became as famous as the world-renowned artists and celebrities that posed for his camera. Elegant, dramatically lit photographs of languorous models posed in ultra-chic designer fashions, was his signature style. 

In 1935, Huene left Vogue defecting to the competition.  For the next ten years, he photographed exclusively for Harper's Bazaar alongside editors Alexey Brodovitch and Carmel Snow, although he continued to work for the magazine's Paris division.  He eventually relocated to New York as did many expatriate artists who escaped to America before World War II.

Huene's later fashion photographs were often markedly different from his universally recognized minimalist conceptions. Harper's Bazaar in the 1940s, catered to a younger, more active woman, which was a critical element of the storylines. Huene's sensitivity to the upscale lives of the magazine's readership was formalized by depictions of romantic glamorized social affairs. The gloomier aspects of current events were not ignored, but simply made more palatable. Pairing stunning models with handsome men in military uniforms glamorized the cold fact that America was also at war.

While other contemporary fashion photographers such as Martin Munkasci and Louise Dahl-Wolfe were forging a trend for on-location images made in natural settings, Hoyningen Huene's approach remained traditional. Huene achieved a signature style by crafting studio sets that recreated the ambience of trendy restaurants, fancy apartments, and intimate parties through innovative lighting techniques and elaborate props. The deft choreography of model poses infused his imagery with an amorous mood that was nothing short of magical.          

Huene's images were the pinnacle of modernist American aesthetic which had its genesis in both the advertising and motion picture industries. It is no surprise that Huene's retirement from the world of fashion photography led him to Hollywood in 1945. He referred to his position as a color coordinator; but today, he would be heralded as an art director.

While many of Huene's images have been the subject of books and exhibitions, his later years as a fashion photographer have rarely been exhibited.  Archived by Hans Jorgenson, Huene's studio assistant, the prints on view here for the first time, provide a glimpse of a rarely seen aspect of an artist with an extensive and varied history, while also reflecting the ephemeral nature of commercial photography.