Archive

GEORGE HOYNINGEN-HUENE
Timeless elegance

Gallery OstLicht presents in collaboration with the George Hoyningen-Huene Estate Archive, Platinum palladium prints by pioneering photographer George Hoyningen-Huene.

Platinum palladium prints are prized for their permanence and rich tonal spectrum. Employing metals more precious than gold, the process was used to artistic effect by masters such as Alfred Stieglitz and Edward Steichen around 1900. In the 1960s, Irving Penn started experimenting with platinum palladium and others followed, including Horst P. Horst. In 1968 Huene had bequeathed his archive to Horst, and in the 1980s Horst began to make platinum palladium prints from Huene’s negatives. These prints have a lush, matt surface and their tones range from velvety blacks to delicate whites. In 2020 the George Hoyningen-Huene Estate Archives launched a new series of limited-edition platinum palladium prints. The creation of these photographs is undertaken with the utmost care and consideration for the photographer’s original vision and intentions. Collectors can be secure in the knowledge that the production of each limited-edition print has been closely supervised and approved by the George Hoyningen-Huene Estate Archives.

Baron George Hoyningen-Huene (1900–1968) was a pioneering photographer whose elegant and carefully crafted images helped define the aesthetic character of an era. Known simply as Huene, he worked during the golden age of couture fashion and cinema. Huene was born in St. Petersburg to a wealthy family, but they had to flee their home during the Russian revolution in 1917. Huene spent time in England before moving to Paris where he studied with the Cubist André Lhote. In 1926, Huene was employed to create photographs for Vogue and Vanity Fair magazines and rapidly established himself as a visual innovator, fusing elements of neoclassicism and surrealism to create glamourous, arresting images. He befriended the stars of the artistic milieu in The City of Light, including Man Ray and Salvador Dalí, with whom he collaborated. In 1935 Huene joined Harper’s Bazaar magazine, where he remained a contributor until 1946, regularly travelling the world on assignment. His sense of adventure and love of different cultures led to extensive travels through Europe and Africa. In the late 1940s he settled in California and embarked on a second career as a colour coordinator for Hollywood movies. Huene remains an enduring source of inspiration for today’s photographers, artists and filmmakers.

The photographs are available as Platinum Palladium Prints.