The inspiration for his project about the turn of the millennium,
1999, A Daily Report, came from a conversation with Henri Cartier
Bresson. During the last year of the millennium (or year before last according
to some—not that it matters), my objective was to take, between January
1st and December 1st, at least one significant photograph each day (though
not necessarily an excellent one).
I am badly qualified to say if I achieved it; but I know that in accepting
this constraint I obliged myself to remain continually open to everything
around me and to question the meaning of each gesture and each object.
“The most difficult thing,” wrote Goethe “is what is thought
to be the simplest; to really see the things which are before your eyes”.
—Frank Horvat
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Frank Horvat, 1999, A Daily Report, was first exhibited at the
Fondation Dina Vierny-Musèe Maillol, Paris (October 26-November
26, 2000),
and included 480 photographs. Janos Gat Gallery presents a selection
of these photographs, and a CD rom with the rest of the images of the
original exhibition. In conjunction with this exhibition, Staley-Wise
Gallery, NY, presents Frank Horvat's 1956 Strip Tease series, recently
shown at the Dina Vierny Gallery, Paris.
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Frank Horvat was born in 1928 in Abbazia, Italy (formerly Austro-Hungary,
now Opatija, Croatia). Having traded his stamp collection against a 35
mm camera at the age of fifteen, Horvat was already an accomplished photographer
by 1950, when he met Robert Capa and
Henri Cartier-Bresson (a close friend ever since) during his first trip
to Paris, and decided to become a photo-journalist.
In the early 50's, after traveling to Pakistan and India as a free-lance
photographer, Horvat settled in London, working for Life and the Picture
Post.
In 1955, Horvat moved to Paris, where he still lives, and became a fashion
photographer—using the techniques of photo journalism: real life
situations, available light, and 35mm cameras. For the better part of
the next two decades, traveling between Paris, London and New York, Horvat
worked for Jardin des Modes, Elle, Glamour, Vogue, and Harper's Bazaar.
Since the mid 70's, Horvat has concentrated on personal projects
in color, such as Portraits of Trees, Very Similar, New
York Up and Down.
In the 80's, Horvat was one of the first photographers to experiment with
digital imaging. In the 90's, Horvat worked mainly on projects for books,
such as Sculptures of Degas, Bestiarium, La Mode au Musèe
Galliera,
and Figures Romanes.
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