Amazing Fashion Photography by Martin Munkacsi From Between the 1930s and 1940s

In his day, the Hungarian Martin Munkacsi (1896–1963) was one of the most famous photographers in the world. His dynamic photographs of sports, entertainers, politics, and street life in Germany and Hungary from the late 1920s and 1930s, were taken in a new, freewheeling style that captured the speed and movement of the modern era. Many of those early photographs were published in German photo weeklies, where Munkacsi made his reputation doing reportage, often from exotic locales.

In 1933, Munkacsi turned his energetic style to fashion photography, making images of models running on the beach. Those pictures revolutionized fashion photography with their informality and vitality. Soon after he was offered a contract by Carmel Snow, the editor of Harper’s Bazaar, and he left for New York, where he made his fame and fortune.

Lovely autumn: the last warm rays of sunshine, circa 1929

Greta Garbo on vacation, circa 1932

Lucile Brokaw on a Long Island beach, 1933

The Puddle Jumper - Lady with umbrella, circa 1934

Column of parasol umbrellas on the beach, circa 1929

Girl hiding under umbrella, circa 1935

Swimsuit, circa 1935

Nude in Straw Hat, circa 1944

On the beach, circa 1930

Harper's Bazaar Fashion Plate, circa 1940

Katharine, Marion, and Margaret Hepburn, Harper's Bazaar, August, 1939

The Dance Team of Tibor von Halmay and Vera Mahlke, circa 1931

Fred Astaire on his Toes, 1936

Procession, Ernö Vadas, Budapest, circa 1934

(via International Center of Photography)