E Y E W I T N E S S
P A R I S
Tower of love
In our monthly photographic column,
Yorick
Blumenfeld
–
son of
Vogue
’
s most prolific pho-
tographer, Erwin Blumenfeld – reveals the story
behind his father’s iconic Eiffel Tower shot
“
my father’s main inspiration
was women. He was very concerned with beauty
and art, and enjoyed taking the female form, particularly a woman’s skin – and
capturing it in a different light. Lisa Fonssagrives-Penn was already a renowned
model before this photo was taken. She had worked with my father a number of
times. She was very charming and that was important to him.
“
I once asked her if she had been nervous during this shoot, as they were
shooting in the open air, overlooking the city, just two or three levels from the
top of the Eiffel Tower. There were no safety precautions back then – to take this
photograph today would be totally out of the question. She said there was a heart-
stopping moment when my father went to change lenses.
“
As he put one down, it rolled towards the edge. My father went to lunge for it.
He wasn’t the kind of person who had any concern for his own safety.
His only thought was for taking the most beautiful and dramatic
image he could.
“
For Germans in the 1930s and 40s, Paris was seen as
the centre of civilisation, as the mecca of culture. My
father adored Paris. It was his favourite city and I think
he conducted his best work there. He particularly
loved the Eiffel Tower – and was emphasising that
comparison of the strong, iron lattice against the
flimsiness of the women’s clothes. He felt it was terribly
important to show the differences in strength and
textiles – skin versus metal.
“
My father was a multifaceted person and actually fashion
photography wasn’t his great love. He photographed a lot of
different subjects – architecture, ballet dancers – but some of his
most terrific work was in nude photography. He once said that he felt he had
sold his soul for commercialism. He was never fully satisfied by the way his work
was received. People tended to see him as a great fashion photographer, but he
wanted to be known as a great photographer, period.
“
I know that, for him, this particular series on the Eiffel Tower was about
the applause. He really believed in his photographs and wanted the world to
understand that each one was a work of art.”
See this photo and a selection of others from the book Coming into Fashion: A
Century of Photography at Condé Nast (Thames & Hudson, £42) at Fondazione
Forma per la Fotografia (formafoto.it), Milan, from 17 January
There
were no safety
precautions
back then –
to take this
photograph
today would be
totally out of
the question
AS TOLD TO
VICKY LANE
0 2 1
R E G U L A R S
