Field Journal 7: Harper's Bazaar Legendary Designer Alexey Brodovitch

In 1934, Alexey Brodovitch was quickly offered the job of Art Director of Harper's Bazaar after meeting Carmel Snow at an Art Directors Club in New York. Snow described his work as "pages that bled beautifully, cropped photographs, typography and design that were bold and arresting" ( harpersbazzar.com). As a Russian immigrant from Paris, Brodovitch became a revolutionary figure in magazine design.  On of Brodovitch's signatures is his use of white space as seen in his  October 1947  and July 1956 covers.

October 1947

1956: The July cover makes a colorful
nod to modernism.

Brodovitch was never afraid to experiment with anything and everything. Here is a photo from 1945 depicting how he thought to use lipstick as paint. 

Another trait of Brodovitch was how he saw a musical type of flow with pictures and text. "The rhythmic environment of  open space and balancing text was [energizing]" (Magg p. 340). This concept of "a musical feeling" can be seen in one of his earlier covers that he did back in 1935.

The covers done under Alexey Brodovitch and a few years after him are so creative and interesting compared to the covers we see today. Its unfortunate to see that the covers of People Magazine look similar to the cover of Seventeen and Cosmo, just one celebrity posed on the front, nothing too original or creative about that. Although one of Brodovitch's last covers from 1958 was one of a women on the front, it seems much more interesting and artistic than the standard cover shot done today. 

November 2010

July 1958

Credit

http://www.harpersbazaar.com/magazine/140-years/bazaar-140-lookbook

http://www.harpersbazaar.com/magazine/140-years/bazaar-140-0607 

Photos courtesy of images.google.com