Tabard

Maurice (1897-1984). French photographer. The son of silkmakers, he debuted in fashion designing fabrics, and then in 1914, following his father, he moved to the United States, where he attended the New York Institute of Photography and became such an established portraitist that he photographed the president of the U.S., Coolidge. In 1927 he returned to Paris, where he began his career as a fashion photographer, publishing in L’Album de FigÄro, Vu, Jardin des Modes, and later in Bifur, Silhouette, Vogue, and Marie Claire where he also directed the studios. He met Brodovich (who was the choreographer in photographer of the Ballets Russes and the art director of the department stores Trois Quartiers) and worked in advertising. His experimental work, influenced by the solarizing and the photograms of Man Ray and the Surrealist movement, was published in Die Form, Modern Photography, Photo Graphie. From 1946 to 1949 he returned to New York where he worked for Vogue and Harper’s Bazaar and, upon his return to Europe, he emphasized his experimental work and devoted himself to exhibits and shows.