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Leonardo Marcos’ Gallery of Beauties

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The Nymphembourg Palace in Munich has an odd room: thirty-six portraits of women from different backgrounds, famous for their beauty, watching you. They were painted between 1827 and 1948 by Josef Karl Stieler. This intriguing request from King Louis I of Bavaria gave this room the name Gallery of Beauties. One hundred and ninety years later, Pierre Passebon is doing it again. He asked photographer Leonardo Marcos for thirty-six portraits of his chic friends, transient women at the gallery. Friend of Catherine and Alain Robbe Grillet, French photographer Leonardo Marcos has always been fascinated by the Nymphembourg Palace, which is where Last Year at Marienbad was filmed.

When Leonardo Marcos takes your portrait, you can’t believe it! Photographer? Illusionist? Painter or poet? Definitely a bit of each, with the talent of a composite artist. He comes across as charming without wanting to be, plants his camera on his tripod and takes you as you are– he already finds you beautiful. He talks to you, you respond. Like a drill bit, he pierces the truth in you and forms a phrase that sticks to your soul. A series of portraits with interviews allows Leonardo to personalize each image with a sentence from the discussion with his model.

In illuminating these two projects separated by close to two centuries, fantasy is revealed. 19th century painter or 21st century photographer, they each transform identity into one ideal: that of the haunting, sublimated woman. “Each woman is beautiful and inspiring. I made my portraits while watching and listening to the women,” says Leonardo Marcos. “Words and images are intimately linked to feminine beauty.”

The exhibition, currently on view at the Galerie du Passage in Paris, is naturally extended with digital projections of poems at Terry de Gunzburg’s. The exhibition’s photographs and interviews will be gathered together in a book published by Éditions de la Différence.

Terry De Gunzburg

Terry De Gunzburg is a high-fashion makeup manufacturer. She lives and works in Paris.

Leonardo Marcos, La galerie des beautés
From May 17 through June 15, 2017
Galerie du Passage
20/26, galerie Véro-Dodat
75001 Paris
France

www.galeriedupassage.com

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