William Helburn
William Helburn (February 19, 1924 - ) is an American fashion and advertising photographer best known for his contributions to advertising’s creative revolution in the 1950s and 1960s, and his editorial work for magazines including Harper’s Bazaar, Life, Town and Country, Esquire and Charm.[1] Helburn was a first-call photographer for advertising agencies including Delehanty, Kurnit & Geller, Douglas D. Simon, Lord, Geller, Federico, Einstein and Doyle Dane Bernbach (DDB), where art director Helmut Krone praised Helburn for battling the “limits and style of the studio and the slowness of Kodachrome” in order to realize “a revolution in visual methods.”[1][2] Between 1951 and 1981, Helburn won more than 46 professional awards for his witty and provocative magazine and television ads.[3][4]
Early life
William Dwight Helburn was born in New York City. His childhood was divided between his mother’s apartment in Manhattan and her mother’s home in Saratoga Springs, New York, where he once photographed aviatrix Amelia Earhart at a local airport. Helburn attended a string of public and private schools in Manhattan and also took classes at The Art Students League of New York.[1][5]
Helburn joined the U.S. Army Air Force in 1942 but failed pilot training because of a medical issue. Given a choice of becoming a mechanic or a photo technician, Helburn joined the 949th Engineer Aviation Topographic Company, where he learned how to load and operate cameras, develop film and make contact prints and aerial maps. While in training, Helburn became friends with Ted Croner, who later became both a noteworthy photographer and briefly, Helburn’s partner in the Croner-Helburn studio. Helburn says he and Croner developed the first pictures from the atomic bomb attack on Hiroshima.[1][5][6]
Becoming a photographer
Following the war, Helburn and Croner went to New York where they tried but failed to launch an aerial mapping business. Both visited photographer Fernand Fonssagrives’s studio and resolved to become fashion photographers after Croner, on a weekend ski trip to Stowe, Vermont, encountered Fonssagrives taking nude pictures of his wife Lisa in the snow.[1][5][6]
Helburn and Croner opened a small studio over a stable on New York’s West Side and began learning the trade by taking test shots of models supplied by a new agency, Society of Models. They quickly learned from other photographers that Harper’s Bazaar Art Director Alexey Brodovitch was holding regular workshop classes, which he called the Design Laboratory, for aspiring photographers and graphic designers. Studying with Brodovitch proved to be critical for both men’s careers, as it was for many other photographers. According to Helburn, their class included Irving Penn, Richard Avedon, Robert Frank, Milton Greene and Diane and Doone Arbus. Helburn received a major boost when the art director assigned him work for Junior Bazaar (a supplement to Harper’s Bazaar) including a nine-page editorial shoot in the March 1949 edition.[1][5][6][7]
Helburn, Doyle Dane Bernbach, and The Creative Revolution in advertising
1949 saw both the start of Helburn’s career, with his first published images in Harper’s Bazaar and Charm, and the launch of Doyle Dane Bernbach (DDB), the agency that would spark advertising’s creative revolution.[8] DDB founder Bill Bernbach’s goal of presenting a client’s message “in a fresh and original way” meshed with Helburn’s “shock value” aesthetic, defined by images that used humor and unique juxtapositions to “make you remember the page.” Helburn became a fixture at DDB, working with art directors including Robert Gage, Helmut Krone, Bill Taubin and Gene Federico. Helburn’s talents were prized by other ad agencies as well, including Altman-Stoller, where art director Joseph Nissen claimed Helburn was peerless in taking just a few hours to create images that expressed “the idea that was in the advertising” in a compelling way.[1][2][3][6][9][10]
Auto racing
Helburn befriended Spanish marquis and race car driver Alfonso de Portago and with his involvement, purchased a Ferrari Testarossa and began racing, for Ferrari or as an independent, in events sanctioned by the National Sports Car Club of America (SCCA), Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) and the Cuban Sport Commission. Helburn raced from 1956 through 1958 and again in 1961. In 1957, his most active year, Helburn raced eight times, finishing second at the SCCA Regional Thompson, fifth in the Cuban Grand Prix and ninth in the Nassau Trophy Race. Over the course of his racing career, Helburn’s driving partners included Portago, fellow fashion photographer Gleb Derujinsky, Belgian driver Olivier Gendebien and Dominican diplomat and playboy, Porfirio Rubirosa. Helburn raced just once in 1961, finishing ninth in the Sebring 12-Hour Florida International Grand Prix.[1][11][12]
Automobile Racing: Career Highlights
Helburn competed in at least 18 sanctioned auto races over the course of an intermittent 4-year career. His best recorded results came in 1957, with a 2nd place finish in the SCAA Regional Thompson and a 5th place finish in the Cuban Grand Prix.[11][12]
Later career
Helburn continued to work as a fashion and advertising photographer through the early 1980s, producing award winning ads for Napier Jewelry (in collaboration with art director Gene Federico) as late as 1983. Helburn also developed a substantial business directing and shooting television commercials, working with many of the same art directors whom he’d collaborated with in his still photography career. Helburn began selling fine art prints of his photography in 2011. He is represented by the Staley-Wise Gallery in New York City, the Peter Fetterman Gallery in Santa Monica, California and the Robert Klein Gallery in Boston, Mass.[1] [6][13][14]
Professional Awards
Helburn won more than 46 professional awards over a 30-year period, including 13 American Institute of Graphic Arts (AIGA) ‘Certificates of Excellence/Fifty Advertisements of the Year’, 13 Art Director’s Club ‘Awards (or) Certificates of Merit’, 4 Advertising Club of New York ‘Andy Awards’ and 3 ‘Clio Awards for Advertising Excellence Worldwide.’ [3] [4]
Exhibitions
NEW YORK WINTER ANTIQUE SHOW
2013
NEW YORK WINTER ANTIQUE SHOW
Peter Fetterman Gallery
2014
AIPAD (Association of International Photography Art Dealers)
Peter Fetterman Gallery
2014
“WILLIAM HELBURN: SEVENTH AND MADISON” Retrospective
Peter Fetterman Gallery
2015
NEW YORK WINTER ANTIQUE SHOW
Peter Fetterman Gallery
2015
AIPAD (Association of International Photography Art Dealers)
Peter Fetterman Gallery
2015
“WILLIAM HELBURN: AD MAN” Retrospective
2016
NEW YORK WINTER ANTIQUE SHOW
Peter Fetterman Gallery
2016
AIPAD (Association of International Photography Art Dealers)
Staley-Wise Gallery & Peter Fetterman Gallery
2016
NEW YORK WINTER ANTIQUE SHOW
Peter Fetterman Gallery
2017
AIPAD (Association of International Photography Art Dealers)
Staley-Wise Gallery
2017
“THE FASHION SHOW”
Peter Fetterman Gallery
2018
“CHANGES”
Staley-Wise Gallery
2018
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 1.8 Helburn, William; Lilly, Robert (2014). William Helburn : Seventh and Madison : mid-century fashion and advertising photography. Lilly, Robert,, Lilly, Lois Allen,. London. ISBN 9780500517659. OCLC 888461828. Search this book on
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Clive., Challis, (2005). Helmut Krone, the Book : graphic design and art direction (concept, form and meaning) after advertising's creative revolution. Cambridge: Cambridge Enchorial. ISBN 978-0954893101. OCLC 62131597. Search this book on
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 "American Institute of Graphic Arts Design Archives". https://designarchives.aiga.org. Retrieved 2018-10-20. External link in
|website=(help) - ↑ 4.0 4.1 Montebello, Joseph (Mar 20, 2015). "Mad Men' Era Fashion Photographer William Helburn Celebrated in a Book". Connecticut Magazine. Retrieved 2018-10-20.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 Gross, Michael (2016). "Bonus Material: William Helburn". http://mgross.com/. Retrieved 2018-10-20. External link in
|website=(help) - ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 6.4 "Staley-Wise Gallery: William Helburn". http://www.staleywise.com. Retrieved 2018-10-20. External link in
|website=(help) - ↑ Gross, Michael,. Focus : the secret, sexy, sometimes sordid world of fashion photographers. New York. ISBN 9781476763477. OCLC 930364239. Search this book on
- ↑ Bayers, Chip (August 8, 2011). "Bill Bernbach: Creative Revolutionary". AdWeek. Retrieved 2018-10-20.
- ↑ Willens, Doris, (2009). Nobody's perfect : Bill Bernbach and the golden age of advertising. [Place of publication not identified]: CreateSpace. ISBN 9781442135260. OCLC 429910460. Search this book on
- ↑ Harrison Levy, Adam (April 3, 2015). "Shock Value". Design Observer. Retrieved 2018-10-20.
- ↑ 11.0 11.1 "Racing Sports Cars: Results of William Helburn". http://www.racingsportscars.com. Retrieved 2018-10-20. External link in
|website=(help) - ↑ 12.0 12.1 "Photos of William Helburn's Cars". http://www.racingsportscars.com. Retrieved 2018-10-20. External link in
|website=(help) - ↑ "Peter Fetterman Exhibitions: William Helburn". http://www.peterfetterman.com. Retrieved 2018-10-20. External link in
|website=(help) - ↑ "Robert Klein Gallery". Retrieved 2018-10-20.
William Helburn
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