Kunsthal Rotterdam

Opening September 10th, the first exhibition in the Netherlands devoted to German photographer Peter Lindbergh, which is initiated, produced and toured by Kunsthal Rotterdam will feature more than 220 photographs. This spectacular overview of Lindbergh’s extensive oeuvre will also present 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. Lindbergh’s pure black-and-white photographs have determined the course of fashion photography since the early 1980s.

“This exhibition is not a chronological survey, but a narrative in which you discover the universe of Peter Lindbergh through his unique eye”

- Guest curator Thierry-Maxime Loriot
 

The exhibition ‘A Different Vision on Fashion Photography’ is an ode to Lindbergh’s multi-faceted oeuvre from 1978 to the present day. Regarded as one of the most influential fashion photographers, the multimedia exhibition is presented in a thematic approach marking his creative development and focusing on his themes, imaginary world and passions through the years, into nine different sections: Supermodels, Couturiers, Zeitgeist, Dance, The Darkroom, The Unknown, Silver Screen, Icons and an exclusive Rotterdam gallery. The ‘Rotterdam Gallery’, photographed for the October Issue of Dutch Vogue especially made for the exhibition, shows the results of Lindbergh’s shoot of Dutch top model Lara Stone and emerging talent Elisa Hupkes in the Port of Rotterdam.

“Precisely now, when the younger generation is inundated by images via Instagram, Facebook and other social media, the Kunsthal considers it important to show his large and small photographic prints framed and hung on the wall”

- Emily Ansenk
 

Peter Lindbergh introduced a new realism into photography. His timeless images redefine the norms of beauty. Lindbergh’s visual idiom is influenced by the language of film and by playing with the type of the strong, self-willed woman, from the femme fatale to the heroine, but also the female dancer and the actress. His oeuvre is characterised by portraits that radiate a certain lack of inhibition and physical grace. 

“A fashion photographer should contribute to defining the image of the contemporary woman or man in their time, to reflect a certain social or human reality” 

- Peter Lindbergh (2014)
 

Lindberghs œuvre in context

Film excerpts and interviews with collaborators, models and actors throw light on Lindbergh’s oeuvre on the basis of their collaboration with the photographer. Lindbergh’s film Models, The Film (1991, 52 minutes) will also be screened, containing interviews with Grace Coddington, Nicole Kidman, Mads Mikkelsen, Cindy Crawford and Nadja Auermann among others. 

“This should be the responsibility of photographers today: to free women, and finally ev­eryone, from the terror of youth and perfection” 

- Peter Lindbergh (Art Forum, May 2016)
 

Major monograph on the Lindbergh lens

The exhibition is accompanied by a major monograph on the German photogra­pher, curated by Thierry-Maxime Loriot, published by TASCHEN and designed by award winning graphic design firm Paprika (Montreal). In a testimony to Lindbergh’s illustrious status in the fashion world, his images are contextualised by an introduction by Kunsthal Director Emily Ansenk and an essay on Lindbergh’s work by Canadian curator Thierry-Maxime Loriot with commentaries from collaborators such as Jean Paul Gaultier, Nicole Kidman, Grace Coddington, Cindy Crawford and Anna Wintour. Their tributes explain what makes Lindbergh’s images so unique and powerful.
[hardcover, 23.9 x 34.0 cm (9,4 x 13,4 in.), 500 pages, ISBN 978-3-8365-5282-0 (English, French, German) € 59,99 ]

Travelling exhibition 

After the World premiere at the Kunsthal Rotterdam, the exhibition Peter Lindbergh. A Different Vision on Fashion Photography will travel to prestigious museums around the world. From April 13 to August 27, 2017 the exhibition entitled ‘From Fashion to Reality’ will be on show in the Kunsthalle der Hypo-Kulturstiftung in Munich. After Germany the exhibition travels to Italy. As of October 6, 2017 to February 4, 2018 the exhibition will be on show in Reggia di Venaria in Turin.

Credits

The exhibition Peter Lindbergh. A Different Vision on Fashion Photography is initiated, produced and toured by the Kunsthal Rotterdam in close collaboration with curator Thierry-Maxime Loriot and Peter Lindbergh. The exhibition benefits from the talent of the world renowned Dutch based architectural team Mecanoo who created the exhibition design (www.mecanoo.nl).