Papier Glace hosts fashion photography exhibition

The Editors in chief and Artistic Directors of Vogue, Glamour and, more recently, W, have always had a nose for immense talents, playing a decisive role in renewing fashion photography. The very first photographer employed by the group was Baron Adolf de Meyer, to be followed by Edward Steichen, George Hoyningen-Huene, Horst P. Horst, Cecil Beaton, Erwin Blumenfeld and Irving Penn. Then, from the 1950s onwards, Guy Bourdin, William Klein, David Bailey, Helmut Newton, Bruce Weber, Peter Lindbergh, Steven Meisel, Inez van Lamsweerde & Vinoodh Matadin, Miles Aldridge...

The exhibition is an opportunity to rediscover the work of some ninety photographers at the dawn of their careers. Organised by theme, it highlights the ties between these photographers who, from one glossy page to the next, have shaped the identity and history of Vogue.

The dialogue flows in the most natural of fashions between the elegant interiors of Baron de Meyer and Henry Clarke, the narrative staging of Cecil Beaton and Deborah Turbeville, the snaps of Norman Parkinson and William Klein, the visual experiments of Erwin Blumenfeld and Paolo Roversi, the surrealist games of Man Ray, John Rawlings and Guy Bourdin, the glorified bodies of Horst P. Horst and Herb Ritts and the portraits of models by Irving Penn, Peter Lindbergh and Corinne Day.

The photographs are accompanied by some fifteen haute couture items from the collections of the Palais Galliera. There are also two reading rooms with fifty or so magazines in display cases and a number of screens where you can “leaf through” some outstanding features from the publications of the Condé Nast group. And last but not least, contemporary films projected on a large screen outline the possible future   of fashion photography.

After Berlin, Milan and Edinburgh, the journey continues to Zurich, West Palm Beach, Fort Worth and Tokyo.

Papier Glace