Frank Horvat Italian, 28/04/1928-21/10/2020
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Manchester Ship Canal, Manchester, 1955. -
Boxing boys, Lambeth, London, 1955.
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Old advertising and bare tree, Paris, 1955.
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Place Beaubourg (Before the Museum), Paris, 1955.
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Champs Elysées, Paris, 1956.
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Place de l'Étoile neighborhood, Paris, 1956.
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Little girl, Saint Michel, Paris, 1956.
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Le Sphynx (Self-porrait with a stripper), Paris, 1956.
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Le Sphynx, Paris, 1956.
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Le Sphynx, Paris, 1956.
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Tan Arnold at Le chien qui fume, Paris, 1957.
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Coco Chanel watching her fashion show, Paris, 1958.
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Givenchy Hat A, Paris, 1958.
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Gare Saint Lazare, Paris, 1959.
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Customer at Lobb's shoe shop, London, 1959.
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Ladies of the Salvation Army, London, 1959.
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Dancing couple in Soho, London, 1959.
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High Fashion with Deborah Dixon on the steps of Piazza di Spagna, Roma, for Harper's Bazaar, 1962.
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High Fashion with Carol Lobravico at Café Flore, Paris, for Harper's Bazaar, 1962.
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Swinging girl, Cairo, Egypt, 1962.
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View of Rockefeller Center, New York City, 1963.
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Shoes and Eiffel Tower for Stern, Paris, 1974.
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Alessandra Ferlini for Vogue Italia, Paris, 1986.
Born in Abbazia, Italy (now Opatija, Croatia) to a Hungarian physician father and a Viennese psychiatrist mother, Frank Horvat's early life was shaped by the tumultuous events of World War II, which forced his family to flee to Switzerland in 1939.
Horvat's passion for photography ignited at the age of 15 when he acquired his first camera, a 35mm Retinamat. After studying art at the Brera Academy in Milan, he embarked on a globe-trotting career as a photojournalist, capturing images for renowned publications such as Life, Réalités, and Picture Post.
His artistic vision gained international recognition when his photograph of an Indian bride was included by Edward Steichen for his landmark exhibition, "The Family of Man," at the Museum of Modern Art.
In 1955, Horvat settled in Paris, where he would redefine fashion photography. Breaking away from the studio-bound conventions of the time, he took to the streets, using a 35mm camera and available light to create a new, more realistic style that contextualized fashion within everyday life. This groundbreaking approach earned him commissions from prestigious magazines like Vogue and Harper's Bazaar.
Throughout his career, Horvat's work transcended the boundaries of fashion, encompassing photojournalism, portraiture, landscape, and nature photography.
Horvat published over 40 books and his work has been exhibited in numerous prestigious institutions worldwide, including "Frank Horvat. Paris, the World and Fashion" at the Jeu de Paume, Paris in 2023.
His work is represented in several prestigious museum collections, including the Museum of Modern Art in New York, Victoria and Albert Museum in London, Bibliothèque Nationale de France in Paris, Musée National d'Art Moderne in Paris, and Kunstbibliothek in Berlin.
Frank Horvat will be remembered not only as a fashion photography pioneer but also as a perceptive photojournalist who chronicled everyday life with profound artistry and humanism. His innovative spirit and ability to adapt to new technologies throughout his career solidified his place as a significant figure in 20th and 21st-century visual arts.