PAUL OUTERBRIDGE

PAUL OUTERBRIDGE

Who was Paul Outerbridge ?

Paul Outerbridge was an American photographer who worked in the domain of fashion, publicity and illustration. He was born the 15th of August 1896 in New York. Paul Outerbridge was a designer and illustrator in New York before turning to photography in the 1920s.During his teenager period he worked as an illustrator and theatrical designer creating stage settings and lighting schemes. He studied anatomy, drawing and esthetics at the University of “the Art Students League” in New York. During his military service he discovered his passion for photography. After an accident caused his discharge from the Royal Canadian Naval Air Service, in 1917, he enlisted in the U.S. Army where he produced his first photographic work. "I had a growing feeling that most of the best art of the world in painting and sculpture had been done, and that this newest form “photography” was more related to the progress and tempo of modern science of the eye.”

He went to another university in Colombia , “Clarence H.White”, specialized in photography. In 1920 he begins to create objects of “everyday life”. In 1922, he studies sculpture with Alexander Archipenko. His first famous photography was “Ide Colar” in 1922, represents a shirt collar put on a chessboard. He married a fashion designer Lois Weir in 1945. Paul Outerbridge spent the last fifteen years of his life in health and creative decline however in spite of a difficult end of career.He helped his wife with her business ; a fashion company called “Louis and Paul’s originals”. He died of lung cancer the 17th of October 1958. He defines himself as an innovative advertising photographer and graphic designer.”A photography should do something to the beholder; either give a more complete appreciation of beauty, or, if nothing else, even a good mental kick in the pants.” In 1959 after his death “The Smithsonian Institution” made a solo exhibit of his work. Today Outerbridge's work can be seen in more than forty art institutions around the world ; however twenty-one boxes of photos never have never been released. He was one of the pioneers of the color photo, strongly influenced by the surrealism…

Influence international …

He moved in Paris in 1925 to work for a magazine, the French Edition of Vogue a very prestigious magazine, he also worked for Vanity Fair. He became friends with the artists and photographers Man Ray, Marcel Duchamp, Berenice Abbott. Paul Outerbridge met Edward Steichen together they built the largest photography studio of the time. Lots of his friends, mostly artist influence his work, his creations… In 1927, he went to Berlin, London… In London, in 1925, the Royal Photographic Society invited him to exhibit in a one-man show. The fact of travelling allows him to enrich his vision of art . In 1929, 12 of Outerbridge's photographs were included in a german movie “Film und Foto”. Around 1930, Outerbridge moved back to New York, he began to experiment color in his photo in particular the carbro-color process.

Outerbridge opened a producing commercial artistic studio in New York he also began writing a monthly editorial on “Color photography” for the U.S. Camera Magazine. It is during this period he was at the culmination of his career…

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