Paul Himmel (1914 – February 8, 2009) was a fashion and documentary photographer in the United States. Himmel was the son of

Ukrainian-Jewish The history of the Jews in Ukraine dates back over a thousand years; Jewish communities have existed in the territory of Ukraine from the time of the Kievan Rus' (late 9th to mid-13th century). Some of the most important Jewish religious and ...

immigrants. He took up photography as a teenager and studied graphic journalism under art director

Alexey Brodovitch Alexey Vyacheslavovich Brodovitch (also Brodovich; be, Аляксей Брадовіч, russian: Алексе́й Вячесла́вович Бродо́вич; 1898 – April 15, 1971) was a Russian-born American photographer, designer ...

. From 1947 to 1969, he worked as a professional photographer for

Vogue Vogue may refer to: Business * ''Vogue'' (magazine), a US fashion magazine ** British ''Vogue'', a British fashion magazine ** ''Vogue Arabia'', an Arab fashion magazine ** ''Vogue Australia'', an Australian fashion magazine ** ''Vogue China'', ...

and

Harper's Bazaar ''Harper's Bazaar'' is an American monthly women's fashion magazine. It was first published in New York City on November 2, 1867, as the weekly ''Harper's Bazar''. ''Harper's Bazaar'' is published by Hearst and considers itself to be the st ...

, and several of his photographs were included in

Edward Steichen Edward Jean Steichen (March 27, 1879 – March 25, 1973) was a Luxembourgish American photographer, painter, and curator, renowned as one of the most prolific and influential figures in the history of photography. Steichen was credited with tr ...

's "

Family of Man ''The Family of Man'' was an ambitious exhibition of 503 photography, photographs from 68 countries curated by Edward Steichen, the director of the New York City Museum of Modern Art's (MoMA) Department of Photography. According to Steichen, ...

" exhibition. In the 1950s, Himmel started his own projects, including series on boxers, the circus and ballet. He experimented with grain structure in his negatives and prints, using a series of silhouetted and elongated forms abbreviated almost to the point of abstraction. Himmel took his last photograph in 1967, and by 1969, he became disenchanted with photography and retrained as a psychotherapist. An exhibit of his photographs in New York City in 1996 brought him back to public attention. Himmel's photographs are fresh and unusual. Many are high-contrast, emphasizing the design and patterns contained in an image. His subjects ranged from New York City scenes to nudes reduced to grainy vestiges to color abstractions. Himmel and

Lillian Bassman Lillian Bassman (June 15, 1917 – February 13, 2012) was an American photographer and painter. Early life and background Her parents were Jewish intellectuals who emigrated to the United States from Ukraine (then in Russia) in 1905 and settled i ...

, herself a well-known fashion photographer, married in 1935, had two children, and had been married over 73 years when Himmel died in 2009. Bassman died three years later in 2012.

References

External links

Paul Himmel Photographs Paul Himmel - Galerie f 5,6
{{DEFAULTSORT:Himmel, Paul 20th-century American photographers People from New York (state) 1914 births 2009 deaths American people of Ukrainian-Jewish descent Fashion photographers Documentary photographers

References

Further reading

External links