Blumenfeld Studio: New York, 1941–1960

Exhibition of photographs by Erwin Blumenfeld at Somerset House.

Blumenfeld went to America in 1941 and brought his European eye and Dadaist techniques to US photography. He worked for most of the major fashion magazines.

This exhibition was quite sparsely hung which gave the pictures room to breathe and really be looked at a individual objects. The images were very simple and clean.

I particularly liked the war time images and found it fascinating to see the original shot and then how it was cut to be a magazine cover. Also the section which showed how he took a series of pictures for a shoot and changed and adapted the pose until it was right.

It was also amusing to see the very elegant and sophisticated cigarette adverts which would be banned now!

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