In this Rencontres de la Photographie festival in Arles, Louis Vuitton is opening the summer season with two new photography books in the Fashion Eye collection. After the Côte d’Azur, the American photographer Slim Aarons immortalises the glamour and carefree summers on the Italian coast from the 1960s to the 1980s, while the French photographer Jonathan LLense challenges the illusion that Tahiti is a paradise island by unveiling the essence of an unexpected daily reality.
Fashin Eye – Italian Rivieras par Slim Aarons
The American Slim Aarons had no equal when it came to inspiring the dolce vita, wherever he went. Following the Fashion Eye French Riviera, which was published by Louis Vuitton in 2019, he returned to the Italian coastline to fittingly portray the legendary world of the jet set and movie stars. Delving into the splendour and the joie de vivre from the 1960s to the 1980s, around the swimming pool of the hotel Pellicano or on a majestic yacht in Sardinia. Legendary photographs that exude the summer and carefree spirit of another era.
George Allen Aarons (“Slim”) was born in New York in 1916. In 1940, he began working with the military publications Stars & Stripes and Yank. After the United States, he moved to Rome and covered events and Italian film shoots for the American magazine Life. In 1950, he returned to New York and worked for Holiday, Flair, Vogue…His photographs heavily influenced the fashion of the 1990s and headlines celebrated his work after his death, in 2006: Women (Abrams, 2016), French Riviera (Louis Vuitton, 2019) and Slim Aarons: Style (Abrams, 2021).
Fashin Eye – Tahiti by Jonathan Llense
Everyday life and the mundane are Jonathan LLense’s preferred fields of experimentation. The ephemerality that emanates from his photographs, their verticality, the different takes on fuzziness and precision reflect his own reality, which he delivers pell-mell, following his instinct. How to go beyond the postcards, the stereotypical images? The French photographer spent over a month exploring Tahiti and its neighbouring islands, occasionally steering away from the beaches, the sea and the palm trees, going off the beaten track which was strewn with ordinary artifacts. His uncompromising depiction reveals the contours of a very artificial paradise.
Jonathan LLense was born in Seclin, in the Hauts-de-France, in 1984. He currently lives and works in Paris. In 2013, he graduated from the École Nationale Supérieure de la Photographie d’Arles. Through the book, he has found the ideal means to alleviate the ephemeral and the limits that make his work so distinctive. He already authored several books, including those published by FP&CF (L’Heure du Tigre, 2015 and Uncertain Life & Sure Death, 2021), and has worked with Regain, Numéro Art, Les Inrockuptibles and Profane.
Book Signing
Tuesday 4 July from 6pm to 7pm – Signing of Fashion Eye Texas by Sean Thomas and Fashion Eye Tahiti by Jonathan Llense
Thursday 6 July from 6pm to 7pm – Signing of Fashion Eye Seoul by Sarah van Rij and Fashion Eye Buenos Aires by Sofia & Mauro
Friday 7 July from 6pm to 7pm – Signing of Fashion Eye Las Vegas by Jeff Burton
LE BUSTE & L’OREILLE
3, rue du Président-Wilson 13200 Arles
3 July to 24 September 2023 Tuesday to Saturday, 10am to 10pm 04 90 96 64 34
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Le Buste et l'Oreille
3, rue du Président-Wilson 13200 Arles
July 04, 2023 to July 09, 2023
