Baron Adolf De Meyer

American, born France, 1868–1946

Birth placeParis, France

Death placeLos Angeles, California, United States

BiographyAmerican, born France, 1868, died January 6, 1946, Hollywood, California

Baron Adolf de Meyer was created a baron by the king of Saxony so that Adolf and his wife Olga could attend the coronation of her godfather Edward VII of England. In pre-World War I London, the de Meyers were "arbiters of all that was chic and stylish." De Meyer was a serious amateur photographer who began to exhibit his work in the 1890s. In 1903 he joined the important pictorial group "The Linked Ring" in London. Alfred Stieglitz published his work in Camera Work magazine in issues 24 and 40, the latter being solely devoted to his work. As supporters of the arts, the de Meyers knew Diaghilev and his Ballet Russe, and in 1912, de Meyer made a famous series of photographs of Nikinsky dancing L'Après-mini d'un Faune, thus preserving something that would otherwise have been lost. Before 1914, de Meyer primarily photographed still lifes and made portraits his aristocratic friends in photographs infused with light.

In 1914, he accepted Conde Nast's offer to photograph for Vogue and Vanity Fair magazines and effectively became the first magazine fashion photographer. He worked for Nast's magazines until 1921 and at Harper's Bazaar from 1922 to 1934. But, once his romantic style fell out of favor, he could no longer find work and died in relative obscurity in Los Angeles in 1946.

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