The Divers - George Hoyningen-Huene (1930)

The Divers - George Hoyningen Huene - George Hoyningen-Huene Estate Archives

Created for French Vogue in 1930, The Divers is regarded as one of the defining photographs in the history of fashion photography.

Born in St. Petersburg in 1900, George Hoyningen-Huene fled Russia with his family after the Revolution and settled in Paris. He later became one of the leading fashion photographers of the interwar period. His work combined the elegance of haute couture with inspiration drawn from classical sculpture, architecture and modernism.

Although The Divers appears to have been photographed by the sea, it was carefully staged on the rooftop of Vogue's Paris studio. Using light, geometry and perspective, Hoyningen-Huene created the illusion of an endless horizon, transforming a fashion commission into one of photography's most enduring images.

Rather than simply documenting fashion, he created photographs that blurred the boundaries between fashion, art and illusion. The Divers remains one of the defining works of his career.