A comprehensive monograph on the legendary graphic designer's life and work.

'If you know yourself, you are doomed'. Such was the attitude with which legendary designer and photographer Alexey Brodovitch, the long-time art director of 'Harper's Bazaar', approached each new project and transformed graphic design in the 20th century. Brodovitch was known foremost for his work on 'Harper's', but his legacy extended far beyond the magazine's pages: as a teacher in Philadelphia and New York for some five decades, he inspired dozens of young photographers and art directors who would go on to become famous names themselves, including Richard Avedon, Irving Penn, Robert Frank and Lisette Model. Born and educated in Tsarist Russia, Brodovitch was gifted, mercurial, and by turn inspiring and infuriating. He accepted nothing less than constant innovation from himself and his students, yet insisted that no one could ever really teach design - that creation had to come from within.