condé nast’s creative mastermind

 

With the outbreak of World War II, Liberman fled to the United States together with his future wife, Tatiana Yacovleff Du Plessix. Always well-connected, he soon took the post of art director at Vogue, reshaping the look and layout of every publication he touched. Twenty years later Alexander reached the role of Editorial Director at Condé Nast Publications, where he stayed for another thirty-two years. During that period, he was responsible for the look, style and content of Vogue, Mademoiselle, Glamour, Bride's and House & Garden—five of the most popular women's magazines in the US, with a total readership of more than five million.

 

 

Vogue magazine cover, December 1950. Multiplied images of a dancing woman in a red dress
Vogue magazine cover, November 1944. A female face half-covered with a shadow of a man's face

Vogue magazine cover, November 1944.

Vogue magazine cover, December 1950. © Condé Nast.

Vogue magazine cover, January 1950. The cover features a close-up of Jean Patchett's eye, red lips, and beauty mark. © Condé Nast.

 

Vogue cover, June 1950. Cover photograph by Irving Penn. The Black and White Idea
Vogue magazine cover, July 1946. Cover photograph by Cecil Beaton. Different kinds of glasses

Vogue magazine cover, July 1946. Cover photograph by Cecil Beaton. © Condé Nast.

Vogue cover, June 1950. Cover photograph by Irving Penn. © Condé Nast.

 

Created with Sketch.

my role is to communicate ideas—not illustrate words. —alexander liberman

 

Tatiana du Plessix Liberman and Alexander Liberman with Tatyana’s daughter Francine Du Plessix

Tatiana du Plessix Liberman and Alexander Liberman with Tatyana’s daughter Francine Du Plessix, 1948, New York. Photo by Irving Penn. Courtesy of the Irving Penn Foundation.

 

 

messy but not confusing

While Liberman worked at Condé Nast, another top-notch art director across town—also a Russian émigré—Alexey Brodovitch, was at Harper’s Bazaar. Alexander rebuked his competitor for “making the magazine attractive to women, not interesting to women”. Instead of playing catch-up, Liberman tried to carve out a different aesthetic. Though Liberman’s layouts were at time deliberately messy, they were never confusing.

Vogue magazine page spread. The base image of a white flannel suit splits in half and moves

Vogue magazine page spread, January 1944. The base image of a white flannel suit splits in half and moves in two lines across the spread. Photographs by Gjon Mili. © Condé Nast.

 

Vogue magazine page spread. To have and have now

Vogue magazine page spread, May 1945. Photographs by Clifford Coffin. © Condé Nast.

 

Created with Sketch.

i think many works of art are screams. —alexander liberman

Alexander Liberman wearing a suit, looking sideways

Alexander Liberman, 1945.Photo by John Rawlings / Condé Nast via Getty Images.

 

 

the artist in his studio

Throughout his career, Liberman maintained a whirlwind social life. Beginning in 1948, he spent summers photographing European artists, including Henri Matisse, Marc Chagall, Marcel Duchamp, Constantin Brancusi, and Pablo Picasso. In 1959, the Museum of Modern Art in New York exhibited these photographs. Later, they were gathered in Liberman's first book, The Artist in his Studio. Among other books were Marlene (1992), dedicated to Marlene Dietrich, and Then (1995)—a retrospective album of acquaintances from Paris long ago to Miami in the 1990s.

 

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