Alexey Brodovitch was born in Ogolichi, Russian Empire (now Belarus) to a wealthy family in 1898. His father was a respected physician, his mother was an amateur painter.
During the Russo-Japanese War, his family moved to Moscow, and Brodovitch was sent to study at a prestigious institution in Saint Petersburg, with the intentions of eventually enrolling in the Imperial Art Academy. He had no formal training in art through his childhood, but often sketched noble profiles in the audience at concerts in the city.
At the young age of 16, Brodovitch abandoned his dream of entering the Imperial Art Academy and ran away from home to join the Russian army at the start of WW1. Not long after, his father had him brought home and hired a private tutor to help Brodovitch finish school. Upon graduating, he ran away again on several occasions.
During the Russian Civil War, Brodovitch was badly wounded and surrounded by the Bolsheviks, forcing him into exile, but by good fortune, his brother turned out to be one of the soldiers guarding the refugees, and their father, who had been imprisoned in Saint Petersburg by the Bolsheviks, managed to flee to Novorossiysk in hopes of finding his family. The three were once again together, and arranged for his mother to join them in Constantinople. Finally reunited, the Brodovitchs made their way to France.
Upon arriving in Paris, he wanted to be a painter, and took a job painting houses among other Russian artists who had settled in Paris at the end of the 19th century. This group of artists included Chagall. His connections with these young Russian artists led to more artistic work as a painter of backdrops for Diaghilev's Ballets Russes.
On nights and weekends he began sketching designs for textiles, china, and jewelry. By the time his work for the ballet had finished, he had already compiled an extensive portfolio of these side projects and was working part-time doing layouts for an important art journal, and an influential design magazine.
While working on layouts, Brodovitch was responsible for fitting together type, photographs, and illustrations on the pages of the magazines. He had the rare opportunity of having influence over the look of the magazine as there was no art director.
He gained public recognition for his work in the commercial arts by winning first prize in a poster competition for an artists' soiree, a drawing by Picasso took second place.
His success with posters led him to art-direct Harper’s Bazaar from 1934 to 1958, and teach at Pennsylvania’s University of the Arts. Brodovitch's department came to be known as a 'prep school' for agencies and magazines around the country:
Mary Fullerton, art director of Mademoiselle
Joseph Gering, Brides
Robert Greenwell, art director of RCA Records
Nelson Gruppo, art director at Stage, Promenade, and This Week
Joe Jones, House Beautiful
Allan Porter, editor in chief Camera magazine
Alfred Lowrey, art director at Good Housekeeping, American Weekly, and Newsweek
David Steck of Life Magazine
Victor Trasoff, art director of CBS
Irving Penn of Vogue Magazine
Tony Lane, art director Rolling Stone
In 1971 the Doctor of Fine Arts Degree was conferred posthumously on Brodovitch by the Philadelphia College of Art.
These two posters for Donnet are all I can find of his advertising art. That's a pity.
http://www.rennertsgallery.com/2018/02/21/coats-of-many-colors/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexey_Brodovitch
https://www.internationalposter.com/
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