Peter Lindbergh will be celebrating his 70th birthday at the Gagosian in Paris with his first solo exhibition in France for over ten years. The nearly 40 photographs over two floors retrace his prolific 40-year career in fashion magazines like Vogue, The New Yorker and Harper’s Bazaar.
“Fashion photographers are the painters of today,” Lindbergh told Melanie Abrams of The New York Times as he was preparing his first exhibition at the gallery. He wanted to present his work in a way that combined his more famous photographs—naturalistic, straightforward images of stars and models—with his more personal nudes and landscapes, both shot in the same high-contrast black and white.
On the ground floor, large format photographs—rare for Lindbergh—are presented by themselves or as diptychs. The combinations are stunning and unlike what we’ve come to expect from Lindbergh: a horse behind a fence (Lo Alvaro, Sevilla, Spain, 2010) next to a headless, simple nude (Uschi Obermaier, Los Angeles, USA, 1994); the branches of a somber, poetic tree (Force of Nature, Dorset, England, 1985) and the metallic, graphic structure of a pylon (Force of Men, Duisburg, Germany, 1984); a double portrait of a sumptuous Linda Evangelista as her face blends into an exhaled cloud of smoke (Linda Evangelista, Paris, France, 1990).
Alone on a wall is one of his most famous photographs: androgynous and juvenile, Kate Moss poses in overalls (Kate Moss, New York, USA, 1994). Later, spare and dazzling, four pairs of legs in high heels stick out from stools in a tribute to Pina Bausch (Paris, France, 1997), whom Lindbergh worshipped. Opposite, a wink to the photographer’s sense of humor, behind the scenes in Hollywood, the backs of panels covered in graffiti against the hilly landscape of Los Angeles (Hollywood, USA, 1995).
Lindbergh’s deeply human vision of his models seeks out their true nature, beyond appearances. “I don’t think that real beauty can exist without truth,” he has said. “This idea discredits the excessive retouching of today.” Lindbergh takes greater interest in meeting and empathizing with a person than in their iconic personality and mere beauty. His models say that he makes them feel like the most beautiful women in the world. Lindbergh glorifies them without erasing their singularities.
Read the full article on the French version of L’Oeil.
EXHIBITION
Peter Lindbergh
Until November 22, 2014
Gagosian Gallery
4 rue de Ponthieu
75008 Paris
France
