1906 - 1999

Horst P. Horst was a photographer best known for his photographs of women and fashion taken while working for Vogue.

Horst was born Horst Paul Albert Bohrmann on 14 August 1906, in Weissenfels, Germany. He enrolled in at the Kunstgewerbeschule in Hamburg in the late 1920’s, and studied design and carpentry under Walter Gropius, who was the founder of the Bauhaus movement. In 1930 he moves to paris, where he studies under the architect, Le Corbusier. It was during this time that Horst was introduced to George Hoyningen-Huene, who introduces him to photography.

In 1931 he starts to work for French Vogue, and in 1932 photographs his first Hollywood Actress for Vanity Fair, Bette Davis. In 1934 Horst meets Coco Chanel, who would later become a great fan of his work. In the following year, Vogue featured one of his photographs as a cover. In September of 1939 Horst takes his most famous photograph, the Mainbocher Corset. Not long after this, the outbreak of WWII causes Horst to move to America and become a U.S. Citizen. Horst established a great career for himself continuing to work with Vogue for the rest of his career. Horst died in 1999, at the age of 93 in Palm Beach, Florida. He went on to inspire many fashion photographers.