Jürgen Teller – Raw is the New Black

Jürgen Teller, German photographer who for many years has navigated the terrain between personal and commercial photography. He uncovers a raw, overexposed style mainly in color and also includes himself often in his photographs. He was first recognized world wide in 1996 for his cover on Süddeutsche Zeitung Magazine featured au naturel photo of Kristen McMenamy with the « Versace » drawn in a heart on her bare chest. A ritual was evolved in 1997, when Marc Jacobs and Jürgen Teller collaborated and have been working together ever since. He has also had other long term affairs with Helmut Lang,Yves Saint Laurent, Vivienne Westwood and recently Céline. He is indulged with musician Björk, and very often works with her as well. His work has been displayed in, The Face, Vogue (U.S,France, England, Italy), Another Magazine, Index, W Magazine, Self Service, Details, Purple, i-D, and 032c. Jürgen also receives a lot of recognition for the books he has published and short films he has directed, such as « Can I own myself » in 1998, and also partnered with Tryone Lebon to create « Reely and Truly » which examines the world of photography and its many diverse aspects.

Jürgen Teller & Tryone Lebon Short Film

The Little Blighter : Björk & Son

Iceland Blue Lagoon, 1993

« Only God knows » O.J Simpson 2000

RISE N SHINE

Kate Moss, 1998

Pettitoe, Suffolk 2011

Victoria Beckham

Marc Jacobs Spring Summer 2008 L.A

KARL IS MY UNLIKE

Kristen McMenamy

William Eggleston & Charlotte Rampling

Marc Jacobs 

Kate Moss 2000

Gisele Bündchen, 2005

Paradis I, 2009

032c Winter 2011

PHILLIPS : Steven Meisel – Role Play

Through the intimate streets of the 7ème arrondissement of Paris the innovative american photographer Steven Meisel  is exposing his groundbreaking traveling selling collection: Role Play which is also going to be held next in New York and London. This exposition shows his very raw and distinctive work that really screams Steven Meisel’s particulier aesthetic and imagination in fashion photography. He has redefined fashion photography since the 1980’s and we can see that in his work at multiple popular fashion magazines such as, Vanity Fair, Interview, W Magazine, Vogue and his exceptional work at Vogue Italia. He has also been helping create the Vogue Italia cover for the past 25 years. He photographed Naomi Campbell, Chirtsy Turlington and Linda Evan at the prime time of their career’s. Each wall of the art gallery contains a photograph that is a completely different style from the one next to it. From a dead girl pose on the streets of Log Angeles featuring models Anouck Lepere and Raquel Zimmerman to a 1989 portrait of Naomi Campbell and Christy Turlington looking nonchalantly worry free and rebellious, and a heavy emphasis on his work in the 1990’s.

My favorite photograph was the one of Naomi Campbell and Christy Turlington in Los Angeles, December 1989

The rest of the exposition included:

Kristen McMenamy and Daniel Blaylock

Pound Ridge Reservation for Vogue December 1992

Anouck Lepère and Raquel Zimmermann

Los Angeles for Vogue Italia August 2000

Veruschka, Lauren Hutton, and Isabella Rossellini

New York City for Vogue Italia December 1988

989 for Vogue Italia 

Helmut Newton

« What I find interesting is working in a society with certain taboos – and fashion photography is about that kind of society. To have taboos, then to get around them – that is interesting »

This is one of my favorite photographers the imaginative Helmut Newton a German/Australian photographer born in Berlin on October 31, 1920. Helmut Newton bought his first camera at the age of twelve and has been a brilliant and very accomplished photography genius. Newton’s talent was discovered when he illustrated an Australian supplement for Vogue magazine in 1956. Shortly afterwards he won a well deserved 12 month contract with Vogue UK and moved there immediately in 1957. He became such a major hit that he abandoned British Vogue before his contact was even over and moved to Paris, where he worked between French and German magazines. Most of his fabulous work in Paris was published in the most prestigious magazines such as, Vogue and competitor Harper’s Bazaar. His imagination involved a little bit of a vulgar side that included very erotic and fetish like photos. He was also very well-known for his fascinating simple black and white photography of very beautiful women. For him as a young boy he had witnessed a prostitute walking through the halls of the hotel he was staying with his father at the age of about nine. This is one of the reasons he developed this style where the women have all the power, every woman in his photographs is basically looks in control of the man or whatever/whoever else is in the photograph. When he created portrait photographs he always managed to entertain, seduce and amuse the model and I believe that is one of the many reasons he produced such great photographs.  Not only did he take astonishing fashion photos but he also photographed girls in Playboy. In 1990, he was awarded the French reward « Grand prix National de la photographie » and just two years later was again granted the « Officier des arts, lettres et sciences in Monaco. So, as we can all see, Helmut Newton was well recognized for his amazing thorough, well imaged works of art in the photography world. Newton was on such a role at this point that right after his quick stay in Paris, he was hired at Australian Vogue in Melbourne.  Sadly on January 23, 2004, Helmut Newton’s car had a malfunction and he hit the wall of the Chateau Marmount Hotel. The Helmut Newton foundation was opened shortly following his death.

1976 Pentax Calendar, St. Tropez

Valentino body wear Campaign

Spring 1983

Vogue U.S July 2003

My Favorite: Yves Saint Laurent « Le Smoking » 

Vogue Paris, 1975

1980’s ad campaign

Bergstörm Over Paris 1976

Eri Ishida, Immorale 1993

Thierry Mugler – Style and Structure 1980’s

Disco on top of a Hawaiian volcano Vogue 1974

French Vogue

Paris, 1971

 Salvador’s Sunglasses

Cheryl Tiegs

Vogue December 1974

Jan Birkin and Serge Gainsbourg 1970’s

Gunilla Lindbald

Vogue October 1974

Madonna at Small Ko, Los Angeles 1990

Cindy Crawford, Vogue November 1991

Donatella Versace, Paul Kneck and their daughter Allegra

Best of Fabien Baron

« Pretty Wasted »

Interview magazine 2014

Styled by Karl Templer

Alexander McQueen Spring 2012

Interview Magazine March 2012

« Mount Olympus »

W Magazine 2008

Yfke Sturm wearing Gucci

Candice Swanepoel

Interview magazine Septembre 2013

« Sex » By Steven Meisel

Kate Moss Book

Written by Kate Moss

Edited by Fabien Baron

Sofia Coppola Vogue Paris

French Vogue, April 2012

Oversized typeface

Calvin Klein Fall 2008

Linda Evangelista Harper’s Bazaar 1992

Interview magazine, « Michael Fassbender »

January 2012

Natasha Polly, « Plage Privée »

Vogue Paris, May 2010

Vogue Italia, March 2014

Vogue Italia, Giselle Bundchen and Tony Ward                     Natalia Vodianova

Vogue Italia, June 1990

Fabien Baron

 

Fabien Baron is a French art director and magazine editor born in Hauts-de-Seine, France on July 5,1959. He attended École des Arts Appliqués where he studied design, sculpture, and painting. In 1982 he was announced as the art director of Barney’s in New York. He went on to revolutionizing Vogue Italia under the editor Franca Sozzani. Fabien Baron got hired by another major magazine Harper’s Bazaar in 1992 as creative director working under editor-in-chief Liz Tilberis. He hopped around to all the biggest magazine houses. His major hit was at Harper’s Bazaar where he turned he had the competitors heads spinning. His images were very clean, modern, and he had a very original and particular style. He decided to finally settle down with Calvin Klein and was their creative director for the next 20 years. In 1992, he designed Madonna’s Sex book by Steven Miesel which the press went crazy for. Madonna’s scandalous documentary was released alongside her album Erotica (Fabien Baron was the director of the music video for the title track). This release was so outrageous that it was banned from MTV.

The most spectacular work he did in my opinion was when he moved on to working with Carine Roitfeld at French Vogue in 2003, they made such a significant change there and were truly a dynamic duo that created very influential photographs. Interview opened their doors to him in 2008 where he became the editorial editor at Interview when Peter Grant was in charge of the magazine. His shot, « Silver Kate Moss as the Devil » she wore a metallic studded face mask which was homage to The Factory Warhol’s New York Studio. Vanity Fair mentioned Fabien Baron as being « the most sought–after creative director in the world ». He has defined the look of brands: Calvin Klein, Givenchy, Fendi, and Michael Kors. He has achieved this by bringing modernity either from television, « what the cool kids are listening to », and a sense for digitals and packaging details. Fabien Baron directed many commercial campaigns for: Calvin Klein, Giorgio Armani, Burberry, Givenchy, Yves Saint Laurent, Fendi, and Guerlain.

Baron & Baron, Inc. , next chapter in Fabien Baron’s life. He is co-founder and CCO of this boutique advertising agency specializing in fashion, fragrance, cosmetics luxury brands.

Man Ray

« Personally I always preferred inspiration to information »

      Man Ray (Emmanuel Radintzky) born on August 27, 1890 was an American modernist painter who later started using his artist skills with photography. He started working with a cubist style of painting but slowly grew into abstraction works of art. He spent most of his career in Paris, France where he met artist Marcel Duchamp in 1915, they collaborated often and together created the group the Dada Artists in New York. In 1921 he moved to Paris and fit right in with the Surrealist artists and writers clique. His ideal image was to create a photograph that didn’t look like an actual photograph but a work of art, he called these « camera less » photographs: rayographs. He achieved this by making « mistakes » in his dark room. These photos were made by placing and manipulating objects on pieces of photosensitive paper. Man Ray found some of his early inspiration in 1913 at the Armory Show, which featured the work of Pablo Picasso, Wassily Kadinsky, and Marcel Duchamp.  He was a serious hit during the Dada movement in New York. (Dadaism, was an art movement of the European avant-garde that started in Zurich, Switzerland in the early 20th century).

His most famous work of art of this time was « The Gift » it was normally meant to be a gift for the art gallery owner that was hosting his first solo show in Paris. He added it to the exposition last minute. He took a simple iron and turned it into some what of a story with just a few tacks.

In 1921, he was hanging out with a literary and artist crowd that included Ernest Hemingway and Gertrude Stein. He got most of his fame by taking portraits of his literary and artists associates. One of his all time most famous photographs was in 1924,  » Violin d’Ingres » it was inspired by a neoclassic painting by Jean August Dominique d’Ingres. He photographes his lover at the time Kiki and added two black shapes so that her naked back would look like an instrument.

Violon d’Ingres 1924

    He played often with techniques, Sabatier effect or solarization which adds a tint of silver which makes the image look a little ghostly.

   He ended up finding a new muse in the 1930’s names Lee Miller, who featured in a few of his photographs such as: « Object to be destroyed » and « Observatory Time » 1936. Shortly after he fled European war and moved to California and married dancer and model Juliet Browner in 1946. He died in Paris on Novembre 18, 1976 and was buried in the Cimetière du Montparnasse where his wife was later buried with him in 1991, her epitaph reads « together again ».

Etude de Mains

Negative Kiss 1935

Preparation of the Sculpture « Fil de Fer » 1930

Simone Breton Khan 1927

Baron Adolph de Meyer

Baron Adolph de Meyer was born in Paris, France in 1868. He studied photography in Germany during a time when photography was boosting, by not only technical advances but also photography started to become an actual art form. He was inspired by Alfred Stieglitz, Gertrude Kasebier, and Alvin Langdon Coburn in the 1890’s. He later moved to London in 1895 where he met his wife Olga Caracciolo godchild of Edward VII. In 1903 he became a member of the Linked Ring a british photographic society. His favorite subject to photograph was ballet, he loved it so much that he helped bring Le Ballets Russes to England in 1911. At the beginning of World War I, him and his wife decided to move to the United States. Almost right away when he arrived to New York in 1913, he was hired by Conde Nast at Vogue and Vanity Fair. He created very soft romantic images of society women wearing the latest trends. He made his models seem very nonchalantly beautiful and focused a lot on shiny surfaces. In 1922 he made a very daring move and left Vogue to work for their rival: Haper’s Bazaar in Paris where he was named chief of fashion photographer. Baron Adolph de Meyer revolutionized fashion photography with his distinctive and thoroughly thought out work and view on how the magazine should really look. He made a difference in the world of photography and influence a lot of very talented photographers of his time. His wife, muse, and greatest inspiration Olga died in 1930 and slowly afterwards he stopped his work in photography and moved to Los Angeles were he tried to take on writing. Regardless of how his career ended Baron Adolph de Meyer was a very successful photography who brought upon a lot of new techniques that are still being used today. He was the highest paid  and fist contract fashion photographer in the world and most definitely transformed the meaning of being a true fashion photographer.

Actress: Jeanne Eagels c.1921, wearing cape of gossamer gold tissue over a dress in tulle with an ostrich ruff by Madeleine Chéruit 

Chanel mousseline dress

Harper’s Bazaar April 1925

A Romance of the Desert, 1914

Ruth St.Denis, Ourieda

Chantal with the Chloé dress

Paris, 1929

Vintage vs. Modern day photography

John Lennon by Bob Gruen, 1974 VS. Hana Soukupova by Alexei Hay, Elle Italy April, 2011

Crocodile eating Ballerina by Helmut Newton, 1983 VS. Savage Grace with Liu Wen by Mario Testino, Vogue China, December 2013

Le Ballon Rouge by Albert Lamorisse, 1956  VS. Miss Dior Cherie by Tim Walker, 2009

Elsa Peretti by Helmut Newton, 1975 VS. Tina Fey by Mario Testino, Vogue March 2010

Audrey Hepburn by Cecil Beaton, 1964 VS. Karlie Kloss by Steven Miesel, Vogue Italia December 2011

Lisa Fonssagrives by Horst P. Horst, Vogue June 1, 1940 VS. Barbie Cover Michael Baumgarten Vogue Italia July 2009 supplement

Esquire magazine, June 1969 VS. Karl Lagerfeld by Karl Lagerfeld Esquire UK, June 2008

Dovima with Elephants By Richard Avedon, 1955 VS. Norman Jean Ray, Harper’s Baazar UK March, 2006

Lunch on the Grass by Edouard Manet 1863 VS. Still from « The Secret Garden 2 Versailles » by Inez van Lamsweerde & Vinoodh Matadin For Christian Dior Fall 2013

My Favorite re-make is the iconic photo of Breakfast at Tiffany’s 

Still from « Breakfast at Tiffany’s » by Blake Edwards, 1961 VS. Maryna Linchuk by Kenneth Willardt for Glamour Russia September, 2011

The Eiffel Tower by Erwin Blumenfeld, Paris Vogue 1939 VS. Marion Cotillard for Christian Dior’s Lady Dior Spring 2009 Campaign by Peter Lindbergh

Irving Penn’s visions brought to life

Harlequin Dress Lisa Fonssagrives-Penn 1950

Barnett Newman, 1966

Pablo Picasso, 1957

Al Pacino, 1955

Girl Behind Glass, 1949

Lauren Hutton, 1967

Cindy Crawford, September 1994

Still Life with Watermelon New York, 1947

Marcel Duchamp, 1948 Famous corner photographs

Vogue May 1, 1947  ———->  later copied by   Stefan Abry in 2007

Original Irving Penn photo copied by Interview magazine: Sean & Seng

Original Irving Penn photo copied by Steven Miesel

Irving Penn

« I can get obsessed with anything if I look at it long enough. Thats the curse of being a photographer. »

  Irving Penn is an American photographer, born in New Jersey on June 9, 1917 and deceased on October 7, 2009 in New York. He built his career on fashion and beauty photographer and was also very well known for his Nature Morte (Stil Life) photographes. His muse was a very well known model of this century, Lisa Fonssagrives. They later married in 1950, and had a baby Tom Penn a few years later. He studied drawing, painting, graphics and industrial art at the University of the Arts in Philadelphia under Alexis Brodovitch who was the art director at Harper’s Bazaar from 1934-1958. Mr.Penn worked for Vogue from 1947-2007 (till he was 90 years old), he was under contract with Conde Nast for 60 years, which is a real achievement in a photographers career. Irving was one of the first photographers to use simplicity as a form of photography technique, he posed objects in front of a grey or white backdrop. His still life compositions were very well organized and thought through, which created an abstract interplay of line and volume. His photographs are simply perfect but that is because he analyzes every detail of the image to produce the exact vision that he wants. Mr.Penn was a modernist photographer of his time, and started a trend that nobody dared to do which was bold and impressive.

« Using simple equipment and daylight alone is for me a pleasure and a replenishment »