Vogue photographer.

Vogue, 1957.

Clifford Coffin’s star shone brightly at London, Paris and New York Vogue in the decade ending 1955. As the elegance and generous use of fabrics of that era, inspired by Dior, gave way to a more severe look he faded from view, disillusioned with the trend in women’s clothing. A fire in his New York studio on Lexington Avenue, which destroyed all his personal work (only that at Vogue survived) saw him quit photography altogether, his fortune made. He moved to Pasadena, living the life of a recluse and on his death his bequests totalled almost $400,000, a startling sum for the time. His earlier education included business studies at UCLA where he developed considerable acumen in money management, as the size of his bequests confirms.

While little known today, he left a large body of studio work for Vogue, all of it quite exceptionally elegant. His perfectionism saw him doing his own hair and makeup for the models, something impossible to conceive of today. There’s a fine monograph on his work by Robin Muir which you can see at Amazon by clicking the image below.

Vogue, November, 1954.

Finally indexed.

Because they are so important a source of visual inspiration, I have indexed the articles here referring to movies.

You can access the index by clicking the drop down menu in the masthead, as illustrated below.

Or just click the image.

A man of the highest caliber.

Go to the web site of Walter Rosenblum and you will find this description in his bio:

“Walter Rosenblum has been a photographer for fifty years, as well as an important figure in the advancement of twentieth century photography. His early involvement with photography began when he was seventeen years old, when he joined the Photo League where he met Lewis Hine and studied with Paul Strand.

As a World War II U.S. Army combat photographer, Rosenblum landed in Normandy on D-Day morning. There, he joined the anti-tank battalion that drove through France, Germany and Austria; he took the first motion picture footage of the Dachau concentration camp. Rosenblum was one of the most decorated WWII photographers, receiving the Silver Star, Bronze Star, five battle stars, a Purple Heart and a Presidential Unit Citation. The Simon Weisenthal Center has honored him as a liberator of Dachau in WWII.”

Rosenblum’s street photography, frequently dealing with the poor, is exceptionally sensitive and introspective. As the son of immigrant parents brought up in a cold water apartment in the slums of the lower East side, it’s little wonder that he had empathy with the poor people whome he portrayed. The words ‘classical pictorial photojournalism’ come to mind as an apt description of his Å“uvre.

His book is available from Amazon – click the image below to go there:

Click for Amazon.

The images are well printed, with satisfying richness. The book includes a fine history of social conscience photography from Jacob Riis and Lewis Hine through the FSA and Rosenblum, written by the photographer’s wife, Naomi Rosenblum.

Recommended for all fans of quality street photojournalism.

While the book is out of print, used copies remain available. My mint copy cost $50.

For more in this genre see also the work of Helen Levitt.

The memory lives on.

Henri Cartier-Bresson died in Paris ten years ago today.

His memory lives on.

A master of style and class.

Seldom mentioned in a pantheon which includes such luminaries as Richard Avedon, Irving Penn, John Rawlings, Clifford Coffin, Cecil Beaton and Norman Parkinson, there’s a strong argument to be made that Henry Clarke was the master of them all when it came to sheer elegance in fashion photography around the middle of the last century.

Click the image for the Daily Mail article.

The Daily Mail recently ran an article on the iconic Vogue photographers and had the great good sense to include several of Clarke’s images, which you can see by clicking the picture. Scroll down and compare Clarke’s refined approach with the crass vulgarity of David Bailey. Of course, the New Look Dior dresses of Clarke’s time remain unsurpassed.