The mid-century is known for its interpretation on design from homes through to textiles and fashion. It is an era defined by a select group of fashion photographers from Irving Penn to Deborah Turbeville. The art of fashion photography, which began in the early years leading up to World War I, developed into a global industry with Paris, Milan and New York as its major centres.
Photography As Art
Mid-Century – The Art Of Photography is an ongoing series that reveals the beauty behind the pages of fashion editorial that reigned supreme post the Second World War. It is about those photographers who captured the fashion moments for VOUGE, Harpers, and other leading magazines, at a time when print magazines were so important to the fashion world. A time before social media. It was the era where photographers brought fashion editorial to life through the beauty of still images. And where the models they used were as famous as the magazines themselves.
Louise Dahl-Wolfe
Louise Dahl-Wolfe (1895 – 1989) was known during the infancy of fashion photography for her standards of her own work and those that she chose to collaborate with her. After studying painting, figure drawing, and design at the San Francisco Institute of Art, Dahl-Wolfe began experimenting with photography in 1921. Initially she worked as a freelance photographer, she was 40 years old when editor Carmel Snow hired her in 1936 to take pictures for Harper’s Bazaar.
The Magazine Editorial
“From the moment I saw (Dahl-Wolfe’s) first colour photographs I knew that Bazaar was at last going to look the way I had instinctively wanted my magazine to look.” wrote Snow. For the era Louise Dahl-Wolfe was given great creative freedom and became part of the editorial team, which included fashion editor Diana Vreeland.
Harper’s Bazaar reflected a new era of creativity empowering the spirit of fashion. It is a publication that embraced a new woman – such as Lauren Bacall, and movie stars like Ingrid Bergman, Vivien Leigh, and Bette Davis.
The Art Of Lighting
The composition of Dahl-Wolfe’s work at the time was revolutionary, where she presented her models against works of art. Her use of natural light became one of her signatures – where she coaxed her subjects outside capturing moments that were natural and vibrant. It was the new American look. Each picture, though meticulously planned, gave you the impression of a story that just took place. Her work is cited from those photographers that came after her, such as Irving Penn and Richard Avedon. “She was the bar we all measured ourselves against.” – Richard Avedon.
When the first commercial flights began rattling across the Atlantic, Snow sent Dahl-Wolfe and Vreeland to France, Spain, Mexico, Cuba, and other exotic locales for shoots. Dahl-Wolfe preferred classic beauties like Evelyn Tripp and Mary Jane Russell. Her models posed for hours for her to get the perfect image.
The Study Of Colour
“You have to study colour like the scales of the piano,” she wrote in her 1984 autobiography, A Photographer’s Scrapbook. “It’s really scientific”.
Though she cut an unlikely figure in the fashion world, Louise Dahl-Wolfe redefined photography showing women in natural and relaxed settings. Her colour photography has left a legacy of beautiful works that are still relevant today. She hated publicity and was shy in nature. She withdrew from photography completely in 1960, moving with her husband to the New Jersey countryside, where she lived quietly until her death in 1989 at age 94. Dahl-Wolfe’s life work is her legacy to the fashion, beauty and magazine industry.
Explore more about Louise Dahl-Wolfe by visiting the Harper’s Bazaar Archives, which includes the backfiles of the US and UK editions of the magazine. Editorial Note: Images for this article are from the archives of Harper’s Bazaar and the Louise Dahl-Wolfe collections.
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