The Book as Design: Alexey Brodovitch

Elegant, innovative and striking: Alexey Brodovitch’s work as the art director of Harper’s Bazaar helped create modern design aesthetic and revolutionized photography in magazines.

Brodovitch, native to Russia, was a graphic designer, photographer and professor. Born in 1898, the young Brodovitch had a daring youth during the first World War and  following Russian Revolution. He ran away several times to fight in the war and was subsequently found by his well-off parents and returned home to finish his education with private tutors. Exiled and separated during the Bolshevik Revolution, the Brodovitch family eventually reunited and moved to France.

A poor immigrant working at his first job, Alexey Brodovitch painted houses and ballet backdrops while his new wife, Nina, worked as a seamstress to make ends meet in Paris. Brodovitch designed and sold his plans for china, jewelry and textiles on the side. He worked part-time for magazines, creating the layouts for art and design journals like Cahiers D’art and Arts et Métiers Graphiques. Brodovitch gained public recognition with his first prize award for poster design for Le Bal Banal in 1924. Picasso took second place.

With recognition and awards, Brodovitch's career gained momentum. He designed full-time for a department store catalogue and freelanced in his own studio, L’Atelier A.B. He was influenced by the Bauhaus and Surrealist styles in Paris. He was invited to teach at the Pennsylvania Museum School of Industrial Art and in 1930 moved to the United States to teach in the Advertising Design Department. He trained students, many of whom rose to fame, in the modern European style and challenged the traditional American style of advertising. He instilled in his students the desire to create something striking and new, “He taught me to be intolerant of mediocrity. He taught me to worship the unknown,” said Art Kane, a successful fashion and music photographer.

In 1934, the Editor in Chief of Harper’s Bazaar spotted Brodovitch’s work and offered him a job within the night. As art director of Harper’s Bazaar, Brodovitch became legendary. He revolutionized magazine design, from layout to photography. Famous for his elegant aesthetic and “astonish me” catchphrase, Brodovitch created a style that was sophisticated, modern and excitingly new. He balanced pages with chic white space and used bold swaths of color. His work changed how magazines utilized photography; he used spreads with off-centered photographs, blurred images and cinematic effects. Often he shaded the model’s face or cut out personal features so women reading could insert themselves into the photographs. This photography helped create storylines and a new reality for readers.

Brodovitch demanded originality from his students, his employees, and himself. His work for Harper’s Bazaar lives on through his influence in photography and modern, elegant, and clean layout aesthetic.