Talented, tireless and elegant. Mr Liberman certainly matches these 3 words, and his qualities permeate this extraordinary album. Often called the Art Director of the 20th century, Liberman was also prolific in painting and sculpture. It was his creative talent that produced the famous cover of Vogue in 1941 using a photograph by Horst P. Horst, turning the red beach ball held aloft by a model into the ‘O’ of the magazine’s logo. He was also responsible for turning the face of her generation Twiggy into a piece of Pop art, in floral fur and make up, on the July cover in 1967, shot by Richard Avedon. This Russian émigrée educated in Europe, became a truly dominant tastemaker with such a modern taste for that time. Mr Liberman had an eye not only for extraordinary images but also for people – Marlene Dietrich and Coco Chanel were good friends of his. He saw the enormous potential in Diana’s Vreeland editorship, and convinced her to leave Harper’s Bazaar in favour of Vogue (where she continued as editor-in-chief between 1962-1971); and also spotted Anna Wintour – an extraordinary talent with an understanding of the “new reality” in fashion and a keen sense of the rise in celebrity culture, keeping pages of this American title irresistible since 1988.
It’s remarkable how Liberman controlled editorial aspect of each Condé Nast publication during challenging and uncertain periods of the 20th Century and still managed to express his artistic vision. Whereas now, a few decades later and with digital taking over print, his creative processes seems to belong to a bygone age; however I think we can all still learn a lot from his legacy.
“The very bizarre thing is that Alex was not interested in fashion. At All!
He was interested in the image, which is a different thing. He knew the dress in the space, like an object d’art seen in a certain context, but not the fashion.” Beatrice Monti.
“Alex Liberman connected many worlds: Old and New, art and commerce, Europe and postwar America, high society, and the general public. He was driven to create and communicate, which he did tirelessly, and his work was always evolving, proving that (what’s) modern, never stops – pointed Charles Churchward, former designer, art director and design director at Condé Nast and author of this album. Published by Rizzoli.
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