The first major American museum show of Alexey Brodovitch’s work is coming to the Barnes

If you haven’t heard of artist and photographer Alexey Brodovitch, a new exhibition this spring at the Barnes Foundation is setting out to change that.

Running March 3 through May 19, “Alexey Brodovitch: Astonish Me” is the first major United States museum exhibition to explore the significance of the legendary former art director of the fashion bible, Harper’s Bazaar. The show explores both his own work and his influence on some of contemporary photography’s most celebrated names.

“We hope that the exhibition not only affirms Brodovitch’s legacy, but also perhaps astonishes visitors who recognize that so much of what is common practice in modern photography and design stems from the vision of this self-taught artist,” said Katy Wan, who curated the exhibit.

Wan, a curator for London’s Tate Modern, said she hopes the exhibition leaves its visitors “with a renewed appreciation of photography and print culture as beautiful objects in their right,” as well as the impact of a man who changed the course of 20th-century photography and design.

As the great fashion photographer Irving Penn said, “All designers, all photographers, all art directors, whether they know it or not, are students of Alexey Brodovitch.”

Born to an aristocratic Jewish family in the former Russian Empire, Brodovitch dreamed of becoming an artist. After serving in the Russian Civil War, he was exiled to Paris where he was exposed to many artistic movements. An intense interest in photography and typography developed. His first design success was in 1924 for a Grand Prix poster contest for the Bal Banal, beating out a young Pablo Picasso.

In 1930, Brodovitch came to the United States and moved to Philadelphia to work at the Pennsylvania Museum and School of Industrial Art — now the University of the Arts — where he created the Department of Advertising Design. He also introduced his students to the best in magazines and European design work.

In 1934, Harper’s Bazaar editor-in-chief Carmel Snow became aware of Brodovitch’s work and set the wheels in motion to hire him as art director. Brodovitch pioneered surrealist devices in his magazine layout, creative use of white space, and other unconventional and experimental designs. He continued to pursue his photographic projects, some of which are in the Barnes exhibition.

He collaborated with celebrated photographers such as Man Ray, Henri Cartier-Bresson, Penn, Richard Avedon, Eve Arnold, and Hans Namuth.

Namuth had at first not wanted to photograph Jackson Pollock, Wan said.

“The visit that Brodovitch insisted he make resulted in the spellbinding photographs of Pollock at drip-painting in his East Hampton studio in 1950, which might never have existed were it not for Brodovitch’s foresight,” she said.

The exhortation “Astonish me!” was one that Brodovitch made to his students and photographers.

“Alexey Brodovitch was regarded by his peers as the father of modern art direction,” Wan said. Though he is not a household name, she added, his influence is firmly in evidence in the work of those he mentored and in his own innovations.

“Our hope is that this exhibition affirms his legacy in modern photography and design.”

“Alexey Brodovitch: Astonish Me,” March 3 – May 19, Barnes Foundation, 2025 Benjamin Franklin Parkway, Phila. https://www.barnesfoundation.org/brodovitch-astonish-me