Alexey Brodovitch

"If you know yourself, you are doomed". Such was the attitude with which legendary designer and photographer Alexey Brodovitch, the long-time art director of "Harper's Bazaar", approached each new project and transformed graphic design in the 20th century. Brodovitch was known foremost for his work on "Harper's", but his legacy extended far beyond the magazine's pages: as a teacher in Philadelphia and New York for some five decades, he inspired dozens of young photographers and art directors who would go on to become famous names themselves, including Richard Avedon, Irving Penn, Robert Frank and Lisette Model. Born and educated in Tsarist Russia, Brodovitch was gifted, mercurial, and by turn inspiring and infuriating. He accepted nothing less than constant innovation from himself and his students, yet insisted that no one could ever really teach design - that creation had to come from within. This book chronicles Brodovitch's life and work, documenting his contributions to photography, design and the visual arts, and his collaborations with photographers and artists. Kerry William Purcell includes many quotes from original interviews with Brodovitch's friends, colleagues and fellow photographers. The book is divided into six roughly chronological chapters, beginning with Brodovitch's childhood in Russia and his early design work in the 1920s, and ending with his last difficult and solitary years in New York, when he battled alcoholism and ill health.