Born 1907 in Engelberg, Swiss American photographer and graphic designer Herbert Matter went to the United States in 1936 and was hired by legendary art director Alexey Brodovitch. Work for Harper’s Bazaar, Vogue and other magazines followed.
Fashion photography by Herbert Matter in the 1940s and ’50s
From 1946 to 1966, Matter was design consultant with Knoll Associates. He worked closely with Charles and Ray Eames. From 1952 to 1976, he was professor of photography at Yale University and from 1958 to 1968, he served as design consultant to the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York and the Museum of Fine Arts in Houston. He was elected to the New York Art Director’s Club Hall of Fame in 1977, received a Guggenheim Fellowship in photography in 1980 and the AIGA medal in 1983.
Matter was known for his pioneering use of photomontage in commercial art. His innovative and experimental work helped shape the vocabulary of 20th-century graphic design. He died in 1984, aged 77. These stunning photos were taken by Herbert Matter that show fashion portraits of classic beauties in the 1940s and 1950s.
French model and socialite Odette photographed by Herbert Matter for cover of Harper’s Bazaar, June 1940
Lisa Fonssagrives photographed by Herbert Matter to illustrate scented oils by Elsa Schiaparelli, Vogue, November 15, 1943
Katherine Cassidy in bare-shouldered afternoon dress of delicately tucked beige chambray by Mildred Orrick, photo by Herbert Matter, Vogue, December 1, 1946
Katherine Cassidy is wearing a summer hood with flying streamers of white rayon straw cloth by Suzy, U.S.A. at Saks Fifth Avenue, photo by Herbert Matter, Vogue, June 1, 1946
Model in a strapless summer dress with tucked and gathered bodice by Mildred Orrick, photo by Herbert Matter, Vogue, December 1946
Leave a Reply