Herbert List, one of my favorite photographers combining creative elements of studio photography, outdoors and candid images, reminds me of Robert Capa, Henri Bresson and such all in one. The other reason for looking into some of Herbert List‘s creativity as Opium of Art, is his experimentation of a specific photography style called “fotografia metafisica” and the influence of Greek culture on his art.
Herbert List’s metaphysical photography styles especially those taken between 1929 and 1970 were heavily influenced by surrealism. Although this metaphysical style did not gain much popularity, it led to a combination of realism & surrealism creating more dream like pictures like those of David Hamilton (if I can do any sort of comparison).
Copyright of all pictures here is owned by Herbert List, and sourced from ICP, Magnum Photos, Tate UK & Herbert List Estate.
Herbert List gave up his job at Harper’s Bazaar to focus on still lives in his studio of the Fotografia Metafisica style, a style depicting surrealist tropes and the desire to depict dream states. This very “dream state” is the subject of one of my fine arts photography project Double Take.
Herbert List’s artistic creativity was also influenced by his personal lifestyle.
Herbert List’s Greek work is intimate and personal. Amongst various erotic studies of the male physique, List explored the ideas of masculinity, sexuality, classicism and romanticism. His images of young men and classical antiquity in Greece have helped define the visual language of the country.
The Independent Photographer
Herbert List, even when he worked in the fashion photography business earlier in harper’s Bazaar & later in Haute, had both variety & simplicity. His “fotografia metafisica” style lost popularity over time but the candidness & simplicity of this compositions and framing remained.
Like what happened to a lot of humans in that era of World War 2, due to his Jewish background he was forbidden from exhibiting or working in Germany. Many of his secret works were stored illegally in a hotel in Paris but have since been lost.
‘The pictures I took spontaneously – with a bliss-like sensation, as if they had long inhabited my unconscious – were often more powerful than those I had painstakingly composed. I grasped their magic as in passing’
Herbert List