stars, however, as he was able to convey anything
from charming affability—as inCary Grant, 1934—
to iconic inaccessibility, which he captured in his
portrait of the expatriot American dancer and per-
former,Josephine Baker, 1929.
Hoyningen-Huene’s personal life overlapped with
his work in his relationship with Horst P. Horst, who
was his apprentice, model (as inBeach Fashionand
Swimwear by Izod), and lover. One of the most
fruitful relationships in the history of fashion photo-
graphy, the two men worked and traveled together
in the early 1930s, even building a house together in
Tunisia. Horst’s own photography would be deeply
marked by what he learned from Hoyningen-
Huene—occasionally to the point of virtual indistin-
guishableness—and so it appeared only natural that,
when Hoyningen-Huene left Paris in 1935 to join
Harper’s Bazaarin New York, it was Horst who
succeeded him at FrenchVogue.
Working forHarper’s Bazaarbrought significant
changes to Hoyningen-Huene’s style as he strove to
meet a different editorial style. Not only did he work
in color more frequently, but he often left the studio
to shoot outdoor assignments and even agreed to
participate in advertising campaigns. While these
changes demonstrated his considerable adaptability,
they also revealed the fragility of his carefully con-
trolled aesthetic. The photographs from this period
sometimes seem cluttered and even tentative, losing
the concise elegance of his Paris work as they deviate
more toward the pretty than the powerful.
With growing discontent over the demands and
limitations of magazine work, Hoyningen-Huene
sought new subjects for his camera, taking extended
trips to Africa in 1936 and Greece in 1937. Beginning
with the bookAfrican Mirage, from 1938 to 1946 he
published several works based on his travels, com-
bining photography with literary texts and essays.
Despite some stunning portraits, like the enshrouded
young man inTunisia, 1936, these projects evinced a
preference for landscapes and architecture, and Hoy-
ningen-Huene adjusted his methods accordingly.
Seeking basic geometrical patterns and the play of
planes, he produced monumental views with strong
lines and cutting shadows, as inValley Temple of
Khaf-Re, Egypt, 1943.
Given these changing interests, at the end of
World War II, Hoyningen-Huene decided to leave
the fashion world entirely, moving to Hollywood in
- Always attracted to the cinema, he had pro-
duced and directed several short movies over the
years, and with the encouragement of his friend
and lover, film director George Cukor, he found
work with the studios as a ‘‘color coordinator.’’
The position was particularly nebulous in the still-
nascent color motion picture industry, and it suited
Hoyningen-Huene’s appetite for new creative and
collaborative challenges, allowing him to combine
his interests as he worked in production design, cos-
tume design, and even cinematography to develop
the overall aesthetic of productions likeAStaris
Born(1954),Let’s Make Love(1960), andANew
Kind of Love(1963). He supplemented this film work
with occasional publicity portraits of Hollywood
stars and taught photography at the Art Center
School. Never returning to full-time photography,
he died of a heart attack in Los Angeles in 1968.
StephenMonteiro
Seealso:Conde ́Nast; Fashion Photography; His-
tory of Photography: Interwar Years; Horst, Horst
P.; Man Ray; Miller, Lee; Penn, Irving; Ritts, Herb;
Steichen, EdwardBiography
Born in Saint Petersburg, Russia, 4 September 1900. Stu-
died at the Imperial Lyceum in Saint Petersburg; tutored
in drawing by Andre ́Lhote, Paris. Chief photographer
for FrenchVogue, Paris, 1926–1935; photographer for
Harper’s Bazaar, Paris and New York, 1935–1945;
photography instructor at the Art Center School, Pasa-
dena, California, 1947; production consultant on movie
studio films, Hollywood, California, 1946–1963. Recipi-
ent of the Photokina photographic award, Cologne,
Germany, 1963. Died in Los Angeles, California, 12
September 1968.Individual Exhibitions
1970 Huene and the Fashionable Image; Los Angeles County
Museum of Art; Los Angeles
1977 Photography by Hoyningen-Huene; Sonnabend Gal-
lery; New York
1980 Eye for Elegance: The Photography of George Hoynin-
gen-Huene; International Center of Photography; New
York, and traveling
1984 Hoyningen-Huene; Staley-Wise Gallery; New York
1984 Hoyningen-Huene; The Chrysler Museum; Norfolk,
VirginiaGroup Exhibitions
1928 Salon Inde ́pendant de la Photographie; Salon de l’Esca-
lier; Paris
1929 Film und Foto; Stuttgart, Germany
1963 Photokina; Cologne, Germany
1965 Glamour Portraits; Museum of Modern Art; New
York, and traveling
1974 1930s Portraits and Fashion Photographs; Sonnabend
Gallery; New York
1975 Fashion 1900–1939; Victoria and Albert Museum;
London
1977 History of Fashion Photography; International Museum
of Photography; Rochester, New YorkHOYNINGEN-HUENE, GEORGE