Russian trace in the Western gloss: fashion photos of Sergei Balkin of the 1940s

Our mothers and grandmothers were able to hold glossy magazines with beauties in dresses from famous fashion houses in their hands already in the 1990s. But in the West, already in the 1940s, both fashion photography and fashion photographers flourished. One of them was Serge Balkin – a famous photographer of Russian origin, who worked with Vogue magazine for more than 20 years. He was the author of many famous pictures for fashion magazines, including photos from this collection.

All that is known about Sergei Balkin is that he was born on October 5, 1905, and grew up in St. Petersburg. From there he fled to Europe, from where, probably, in the late 1930s, he left Rotterdam for the States. There, by the early 1940s, Sergey got a job as a photographer at Vogue in New York, where he was taken under his wing by the art director of publications Alexander Lieberman.

Most of Sergey's photographs belong to the period of the 1940s and 1950s. Many of them can be viewed, and their reproductions can be purchased on the Condé Nast website. Sergey was married to a Russian emigrant Nina Lin, about whom very little is known, despite the fact that she was much more successful than her husband and there are even more photos of her left. Moreover, she is the author of many different books-photo albums.

Vogue, October 1944

Actress Carol Landis, Vogue, 1945

Model Bijou Barrington, Glamour, 1945

Vogue, 1945

Vogue, January 1945

Vogue, April 1945

Vogue, 1945

Glam­our, 1946

Model Charlotte Payne, 1946

Model Dorian Lee, Glamour, 1946

Vogue, 1946

Vogue, December 1946

Model Lily Carlson, Vogue, August 1946

Photo by Serge Balkin, 1946

Photo by Serge Balkin, 1946

Glam­our, 1946

Vogue, 1946

Photo by Serge Balkin, 1946

Photo by Serge Balkin, 1946

Glam­our, 1946

Glamour, December 1946

Actress Bambi Lynn, Glamour, 1947

Vogue, March 1947

Model Joan Pedersen, Vogue, July 1947

Model Meg Mundy, 1947

Photo by Serge Balkin, 1947

Vogue, March 1947

Model Sandra Nelson, 1948

Glam­our, 1948

Glam­our, 1948

Glam­our, 1948

Vogue, 1949

Vogue, January 1949

Vogue, 1949

Glam­our, 1949