Erwin Blumenfeld
1897–1969 · Germany / France / United States
Making fashion photography a laboratory.
The story
Erwin Blumenfeld practised drawing, collage and photography before developing a career in fashion in Paris and then New York. He experimented with mirrors, distortions, veils and interventions in the image. His explorations circulated between personal projects and magazine pages. Commercial photography thus became a field for graphic invention, fragmentation and the transformation of the body.
Understanding the work
Compare the face or silhouette with its reflections and fragments. Transparency and montage alter perception even before the clothing is identified.
Key works and series
Collages; portraits; covers and fashion photographs for Vogue.
Sources & further exploration
Works in collections.
3 recordsPhotographs to explore on museum and library websites, with titles, dates and processes. Each link opens the collection record and its image where one is available.
