Hello guys!
Today we will go on talking about Fashion Photography.
In the previous posts we taked about the history of the genre, and now we are going to talk about the war era.
The Second World War, which started in 1939, negatively affected the fashion and photography sectors as much as it affected every sector. Apart from the shortage of materials due to impossibilities, everything other than war has lost its importance in the eyes of the society due to the fear that war has created on them.
Great Depression: While Photographers Turn to Documentary Photography
The active war, especially in Europe, caused a shortage of materials, photographers had a hard time finding films, and studio photography was almost at the point of extinction as the places lost their security. The lack of materials has also hit the fashion industry, and clothes have started to be produced almost as a single type, without any design concerns, for the purpose of meeting the needs, giving importance to comfort, durability and cheap cost. All these conditions have led photographers to documentary photography, which is less expensive than studio photography, and the use of outdoors in photographs has increased considerably.
When the works of photographers of the period are examined, it is possible to see that the darkness and pessimism created by the war prevailed in many of these photographs. For example; Erwin Blumenfeld and the American John Rawlings started to work on themes such as death and horror in their photographs. Rawlings, who was the director of Vogue’s London studio for a while, created an indescribable effect of time and space by making use of mirrors. Vogue had a very meaningful cover while Second World War was still going on. Some of the photographs taken by Blumenfeld, who started working in the United States after escaping the Nazi camp where he was held captive, bring to mind the incarceration and the fragmentation created by the war, rather than the seductive fantasy scenes seen in fashion photographs.
Europe vs. America
In this period, fashion photography in America was in a much better condition than in Europe because there was no war in America’s own lands. Especially New York was not affected by the war, and it continued to progress at the same pace during the war, as photography did before the war. While European photographers have made a forced transition to documentary photography, those in America continue with studio photography and produce extremely colorful and flamboyant photographs, contrary to the pessimism of the war period. Due to the impossibilities created by the war, photographers, like many European artists, immigrated to America, which brought American fashion photography to the most advanced level in the world.
In the postwar years, photographers have had a traditional legacy, including new objectivity, surrealism, and documentary photography. Photographers have tried to combine these concepts with a revived sense of luxury, while at the same time trying to develop specific individual styles. In order to regain the interest of the readers, who were scattered due to the difficult conditions created by the war period, fashion magazines started to produce less elegant but much more ornate fashion visuals than before the war.
The effects of this movement, called “New Sensibility”, can be clearly seen in the photographs of photographers such as Richard Avedon, Lillian Bassman, Louise Dahl-Wolfe, Irving Penn, Bert Stern and Leslie Gill. Louise Dahl-Wolfe, whose main profession is a painter, took photographs based on rich color and decor for Harper’s Bazaar, her excellent sense of color and the power of her ability to create natural decors brought her fame and this style she created became preferred in fashion photography of the period. With the increase in air travel, it has become easier for both Dahl-Wolfe and other photographers to perform their duties, as photographers have the opportunity to shoot anywhere in the world such as the deserts of West America, North Africa, India, and the Caribbean Islands.
For example, another photographer, Irving Penn, who is also a painter, shot the stylish garments he created in the exotic atmosphere of Morocco with model Lisa Fonssagrives, for which he often referenced a well-known painting in his arrangement and color schemes. Leslie Gill, who prefers to work with still-life objects rather than live models in the same style, has signed countless covers for Harper’s Bazaar for 20 years, starting from 1935.
While Fashion Photography was advancing and developing at full speed, the dates were moving towards the 50s.
Do you wonder how the 50s were for fashion photography and who were the prominent names?
Then, stay tuned for the next blog post.
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