adifferentvisiononfashionphotography

‘A DIFFERENT VISION ON FASHIONPHOTOGRAPHY’ – exhibition Kunsthal

Last weekend on a stormy autumn sunday i visited the wonderful exhibition of Peter Lindbergh, one of the most influential fashion photographers of the past forty years. The exhibition ‘A Different Vision on Fashion Photography’ is an ode to Lindbergh’s oeuvre from 1978 to the present day. It features more than 220 photographs. This spectacular overview of Lindbergh’s extensive oeuvre also presents exclusive material varying from previously unseen material from personal notes, storyboards, props, polaroids, contact sheets and films to monumental prints, in a large-scale retrospective of the photographer’s work. Ever since i started studying fashion his pure black-white photographs have been my favorites. So all the reason to visit his first ever exhibition in Holland at the ‘Kunsthal’ Rotterdam.

Peter Lindbergh introduced a new realism into photography. His timeless images redefine the norms of beauty. Influenced by the language of film and by playing with the type of the strong, self-willed women. His portraits radiate a certain lack of inhibition and physical grace. This humanist approach and idealization of women set him apart from the other photographers as he prioritizes the soul and the personality. His vision presents them in their pure state, ‘in all honesty’, avoiding all stereotypes as he favours a face with hardly any make-up, bare in a way that enhances the authenticity and the natural beauty of the women he photographs.

As British journalist Suzy Menkes points out “refusing to bow to glossy perfection is Peter Lindbergh’s trademark – the essence of the images that look into each person’s unvarnished soul, however familiar or famous the sitter.”

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