Alexey Vyacheslavovich Brodovitch (also Brodovich; Belarusian: Аляксей Брадовіч, Russian: Алексе́й Вячесла́вович Бродо́вич; 1898 – April 15, 1971) was a Russian-American photographer, designer and instructor who is most famous for his art direction of fashion magazine Harper's Bazaar from 1934 to 1958.

Alexey was sent to study at the Prince Tenisheff School, a prestigious institution in Saint Petersburg, with the intentions of eventually enrolling in the Imperial Art Academy.

[2][3] At the start of World War I 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.

This group of artists, including Archipenko, Chagall, and Nathan Altman, would meet at the inexpensive Académie Vassilieff, which offered painting and sculpting classes without an instructor.

Brodovitch was exposed to everything from Dadaism from Zurich and Berlin, Suprematism and Constructivism from Moscow, Bauhaus design from Germany, Futurism from Italy, De Stijl from the Netherlands, and the native strains of Cubism, Fauvism, Purism and Surrealism.

By the time his work for the ballet had finished, he had already compiled an extensive portfolio of these side projects and was selling his designs to fashionable shops.

[11] He gained public recognition for his work in the commercial arts by winning first prize in a poster competition for an artists' soiree called Le Bal Banal on March 24, 1924.

He started his own studio, L'Atelier A.B., where he produced posters for various clients, including Union Radio Paris and the Cunard shipping company.

He was also commissioned by the Parisian publishing house La Pléiade to illustrate three books: Nouvelles by Alexander Pushkin, Contes Fantastiques by Fyodor Dostoyevsky, and Monsieur de Bougrelon by Jean Lorrain.

[12] He later instilled this same curiosity in his students, encouraging them to use new techniques like the airbrush, industrial lacquers, flexible steel needles, and surgical knives.

Brodovitch would bring into class French and German magazines to examine the pages with his students, explaining the artist's work or technique.

"[21] When not in the classroom, Brodovitch would take the class on outings around Philadelphia to see factories, laboratories, shopping centers, housing projects, dumps, and the zoo.

Brodovitch shared the Bauhaus belief that you needed to educate the whole individual by directing his or her attention to a variety of modern solutions in their graphic projects.

The course is conducted as an experimental laboratory, inspired by the ever-changing tempo of life, discovery of new techniques, new fields of operation ... in close contact with current problems of leading magazines, department stores, advertising agencies and manufactures.

Among the photographers who attended his classes were Diane Arbus, Eve Arnold, David Attie, Richard Avedon, Harvey Lloyd, Hiro, Lisette Model, Garry Winogrand,[24] Joel Meyerowitz and Tony Ray-Jones.

[31] I saw a fresh, new conception of layout technique that struck me like a revelation: pages that "bled" beautifully cropped photographs, typography and design that were bold and arresting.

Brodovitch eagerly returned to Philadelphia and assigned his students apprenticing at his Van Pelt Street studio to make two dummy issues of the magazine.

"[33] Although preferring more conservative design, Hearst put his trust in Carmel Snow and allowed her to take on Brodovitch as art director where he remained for 24 years.

Taking advantage of Brodovitch's contacts in Europe and his wide knowledge of photography, the magazine introduced the work of many artists and photographers to its American audience.

Before starting at Harper's Bazaar, Brodovitch organized a return trip to France, hoping to convince old friends to work with him at the magazine.

A quick splash or two on the cutting board, a minute's juggling of the photostats, a slather of art gum, and the sixteen pages were complete.

While other fashion magazines thought it important to show the whole garment, Brodovitch would crop images unexpectedly or off-center to bring a new dynamism to the layout.

The motif of isolated body parts, another common Surrealist theme, could be seen on the covers and spreads of Harper's in the form of lips, hands, and eyes.

It was to be illustrated with a series of photo montages by David Attie, who had been a student of Brodovitch's the previous year and was offered the job on the final night of the class.

Alice Morris, the fiction editor of Harper's, recalled that "Brodovitch ... had these wonderful photos taken that had nothing to do with the Breakfast story, but with Holly Golightly's cat.

"[52] However, after the publication was scheduled, longtime Harper's editor Carmel Snow, who had wielded considerable influence, was ousted by the magazine's publisher, the Hearst Corporation, and replaced with her niece.

By this time, Attie's montages and Brodovitch's design work had been completed, and Morris recounted that while Capote initially refused to make any changes, he relented "partly because I showed him the layouts.

Brodovitch's work as a book designer can be seen in Observations, a collection of photographs by Richard Avedon and commentary by Truman Capote, both regular contributors to Harper's Bazaar.

[55] Brodovitch collaborated again with David Attie on a still-renowned special section of Harper's than ran in October 1959, "Writing in America," which was edited by future New York Review of Books editor Robert B. Silvers and used Attie’s evocative images and Brodovitch's innovative layouts to illustrate essays by Budd Schulberg, Kingsley Amis, Archibald MacLeish and others; it has been republished in book form, most recently in 2018.

Harvey Lloyd, artist/photographer, wrote: "I took personal care of Alexey Brodovitch and managed his Design Laboratory Workshops during his last six years in NYC to provide him with income to live on.