Moments from Horvat's Colorful Life
Captured in Photographs

Photographer Frank Horvat is known as one of the artists who breathed new life into fashion photography and defined the golden age of fashion in the 1950s. This exhibition, his first major solo show in Japan, will feature representative works that have had a profound influence on later generations, as well as his early journalistic pieces and personal projects, all viewed through the lens of "woman."

In the early 1940s, when Horvat began his career as a photographer inspired by photojournalism, his approach was rooted in a humanistic perspective. Traveling the world, from Pakistan and India to the UK, he contributed to magazines such as "Paris Match" and "Picture Post." In 1955, he was selected for the legendary exhibition "The Family of Man" at the Museum of Modern Art in New York.

In 1954, based in Paris, Horvat was captivated by the fashion capital and the women who wore its creations. Focusing on fashion-related work, he explored novel expressions that incorporated a reportage sensibility, such as spontaneous or unconventional model placements and the inclusion of incidental figures. His work, obsessed with capturing women, soon shifted its focus from clothing alone to portrayals of women with unguarded, subtle sensuality, eventually making him one of the world's most influential fashion photographers. His achievements are also evident in the recently published photobook "Frank Horvat: Please don't smile" (Hatje Cantz, 2015).

Horvat also pursued personal photographic projects, publishing books on themes of people, cities, landscapes, and sculptures. In 2013, he released "house with fifteen keys" (Terre Bleue), a retrospective photobook covering his diverse activities. Exhibitions of the same name were held in Seravezza (Italy) and Nice (France) in 2014, followed by Berlin (Germany) in 2015.

Frank Horvat will celebrate his 90th birthday in 2018. This exhibition showcases not only his iconic fashion photographs but also a collection of images capturing memorable moments from his life, a life rich in color both past and present.

The exhibition will travel to Kyoto as part of the KYOTOGRAPHIE Kyoto International Photography Festival in April 2018.

Frank Horvat

Born in Opatija (then Italian, now Croatian) on April 28, 1928, he now lives and works in France. Best known for his fashion photography from the 1950s to the late 1980s, his work also encompasses photojournalism, portraits, landscapes, nature, and sculpture. Horvat has traveled extensively, speaks four languages fluently, and is also a writer. In the late 1980s, he published an important book compiling interviews with fellow photographers (including Edouard Boubat, Robert Doisneau, Sarah Moon, Don McCullin, Helmut Newton, and Marc Riboud). In the early 1990s, he was among the first to experiment with digital photography. In 2011, he released "Horvatland," his first iPad application, online. He has five children and ten grandchildren.

Exhibition Details
Dates: January 17 (Wed) - February 18 (Sun), 2018 (Free admission, no closing days)
Hours: 12:00 PM - 8:00 PM
Venue: Chanel Nexus Hall (Chanel Ginza Building 4F, 3-5-3 Ginza, Chuo-ku)