Dr. Mehemed Fehmy Agha - Mannequin and Sculpture
Click for Full Size
|
Contact: Alex Novak and Marthe Smith
Email: info@vintageworks.net
Phone: +1-215-822-5662
Company: Contemporary Works / Vintage Works, Ltd.
258 Inverness Circle
Chalfont, PA 18914 USA
URL: http://www.vintageworks.net
Ref.#: 9558Price: $1,850
Medium: Silver printMount: unmountedPhoto Date: 1940sPrint Date: 1940sDimensions: 13-5/16 x 10-5/16 in. (338 x 262 mm)Photo Country: United States (USA)Photographer Country: Turkey
|
DESCRIPTION:Photographer's stamp and estate stamp on verso of photograph. also stamped: "Only Print Known". The son of a Turkish landowner and tobacco merchant, Dr. Mehemed Fehmy Agha was born in 1896 in the town of Nikolaev in the Ukraine. In 1917 he studied at the Polytechnic Institute in St. Petersburg (then Petrograd) during WWI and the Russian civil war, and was later educated in Kiev and Paris. While in Petrograd, he worked as an apprentice under Kerensky, a painter whose work was used on Communist Party posters during Lenin's brief reign. By 1922 he was working for his brother in a delicatessen in Paris, where he drifted into advertising design work. He left Paris for Berlin, which is where he received his title of doctor, which reportedly was merely a courtesy title. After working for Vogue in Berlin he was bought to the United States in 1929 by publisher Conde Nast. Agha proved himself with Vogue magazine by showing that the art director was an integral part of the editorial process and was soon given the art directorship of House & Garden and Vanity Fair. At the time the latter was the arts and culture showcase of America. He pioneered the use of sans serif typefaces, duotones, full color photographs and bleed images. Agha was noted for his use of some of the leading photographers of his day. Among others he enticed Edward Steichen, Cecil Beaton, Edward Weston, Horst Anton Bruehl, Imogen Cunningham, George Hoyningen-Huene and Louise Dahl-Wolfe to work for his publications. He also used the work of many artists like Matisse, Derain, George Grosz, Covarrubius and Picasso, years before other American magazines. Under Agha's direction, Vanity Fair introduced the first double-page spread in 1930, and in 1932 Vogue had the first magazine cover with full-color photography. Agha also took up photography himself during this period. His photography work is relatively scarce. Agha left Conde Nast Publications in 1943, after Nast died in 1942, and became a successful freelance consultant. His contributions to the field of magazine publishing changed the nature of magazine design and redefined the role of designer and art director. He was also a noted chess player. He died in 1978. Shipping and insurance costs will be added to the price and must be paid for by the buyer. Pennsylvania and New York buyers must pay appropriate sales tax. International clients are responsible for their VAT and other custom's oriented charges.
