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| Gustav Klimt, Emilie Floege, 1902, Oil on canvas, 181×84cm. |
All five pictures above were photographed by Gustav Klimt in 1907. The model is Emilie Floege, Austrian fashion designer and the life companion of the painter. What is important of the pictures is that the dresses she's wearing were thought to be designed by Klimt himself and those were photographed to publish in a catalog of Floege's boutique for advertising.
Yesterday I went to a library near my home, and while searching for some novels, found a book titled "Klimt & La Mode". The little book contains representative works of the painter and short essay literally about Klimt and fashion. And I found a shocking description which says, "Klimt might be the world-first fashion photographer." I immediately doubted the author Christian Bradstatter, because any books or articles about fashion photography -though the number is quite restricted- even doesn't mention the name Gustav Klimt. Soon I gathered all books about the painter, and searched for any descriptions about Klimt and fashion photography. Some of them introduced the photographs of Floege, and give the same brief comments on it as Bradstatter. However I still couldn't believe it and started to study seriously about "Who is the first fashion photographer?"
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Yesterday I went to a library near my home, and while searching for some novels, found a book titled "Klimt & La Mode". The little book contains representative works of the painter and short essay literally about Klimt and fashion. And I found a shocking description which says, "Klimt might be the world-first fashion photographer." I immediately doubted the author Christian Bradstatter, because any books or articles about fashion photography -though the number is quite restricted- even doesn't mention the name Gustav Klimt. Soon I gathered all books about the painter, and searched for any descriptions about Klimt and fashion photography. Some of them introduced the photographs of Floege, and give the same brief comments on it as Bradstatter. However I still couldn't believe it and started to study seriously about "Who is the first fashion photographer?"
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It is the sum of their perceptions, their knowledge of their time, their feelings about humor, charm, pain and especially about people and society. It is these qualities, beyond aesthetic considerations, by which we measure fashion photographers.
(Robert Riley, Forward to The History of Fashion Photography, 1979.)
As a person who have studied fashion photography, I've been thinking about its birth. De Mayer? Lartigue? Or if only the photography is defined simply as photographs of fashionable dresses or models, I should probably look back to 1839, the memorable year of Daguerre.
According to Nancy Hall-Duncan, the first person who summed up the history of fashion photography (The History of Fashion Photography, 1979), the exact beginning of the genre hasn't been determined. But, she notes that it was not until the 1880's or 1890's that "true" fashion photographs reach a large audience. And she insists, "it (fashion photography) is important as a record not only of fashion description and photographic style but also of artistic influence, commercial impact and social and cultural customs".
Hence, the minimum yet significant condition of fashion photography is not whether it presents beautiful garments but whether it reveals sociological aspect. Or more concretely, fashion photography is "index in miniature to culture and society, to people's aspiration, limitations and taste".
Then, I go back to Klimt's photographs of Floege. Those can be regarded as fashion photography? They passed one item that it was commercial, and definitely reached to some extent a large audience, even though it was limited to bourgeois madams. However, th
Hence, the minimum yet significant condition of fashion photography is not whether it presents beautiful garments but whether it reveals sociological aspect. Or more concretely, fashion photography is "index in miniature to culture and society, to people's aspiration, limitations and taste".
Then, I go back to Klimt's photographs of Floege. Those can be regarded as fashion photography? They passed one item that it was commercial, and definitely reached to some extent a large audience, even though it was limited to bourgeois madams. However, th
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