Fashion in the Museum: Upcoming exhibitions for Spring 2014

There can be no doubt that fashion exhibitions are in fashion, and the list of upcoming exhibitions of fashion in the museum is long.  I've highlighted some the exhibits that I am keen to see in spring 2014. 

Charles James Gowns photographed by Cecil Beaton, 1948

Charles James: Beyond Fashion

Costume Institute at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York

May 5 - August 10, 2014

Curators: Harold Koda and Jan Glier Reeder

Premise: “Charles James was a wildly idiosyncratic, emotionally fraught fashion genius who was also committed to teaching. He dreamt that his lifetime of personal creative evolution and the continuous metamorphosis of his designs would be preserved as a study resource for students.  In our renovated galleries, we will fulfill his goal and illuminate his design process as a synthesis of dressmaking, art, math, and science.” (Harold Koda) 

On display: 75 notable garments created by James from 1920 until his death in 1978

Exhibition Catalogue link here

Cover of Dries van Noten - Inspirations

Dries van Noten -- Inspirations

Musée de Les Arts Decoratifs in Paris

March 1 - August 31, 2014

Curator: Pamela Gobelin

Premise: "about everything that sparks the creative process" (Pamela Gobelin) 

On display: 150 garments paired with 200 artworks, photographs, film clips "that have triggered the designer’s imagination throughout his life and career"

Exhibition Catalogue link here

Cover of Coming into Fashion: A Century of Photography

Papier glacé or A Century of Fashion Photography at Conde Nast

Palais Galliera, Musée de la Mode de la Ville de Paris

March 1st to May 25, 2014

Curated by: Foundation for the Exhibition of Photography, Minneapolis. 

Premise: thematically considers the links between photographers that have shaped the images of Vogue magazine

On display: 150 original prints from leading fashion photographers from 1918 to today plus 15 ensembles of haute couture from the Palais Galliera

Exhibition link here

Cover of Elegance in a Time of Crisis: Fashions of the 1930s

Elegance in a Time of Crisis: Fashions of the 1930s 

FIT Museum in New York

February 7 - April 19, 2014

Curator: FIT Deputy Director Patricia Mears and special consultant G. Bruce Boyer

Premise: "how clothing creators of the 1930s, despite the crippling financial crisis and dire political environment, spearheaded new stylistic ideas and wed them to emerging technologies"

On display:  Womenswear and menswear from the 1930s

Online exhibition link here

Exhibition link here

Creative Process Journal: Dipping into the Archive

Cristóbal Balenciaga: Collectionneur de modes 

Although design ideas can come from anywhere, historical archives can be rich sources of inspiration. Christian Dior reinterpreted period silhouettes throughout his career, taking inspiration from the eighteenth century pannier, the full-skirted, soft shouldered and narrow-waisted silhouette of France’s Second Empire period (1852-1870), the back fullness silhouette of the 1870s, the apron-like swag of the dresses of the 1880s, and the 1910 hobble skirt. Contemporary designers have also taken inspiration from history. Azzedine Alaia, Commes des Garçons, Maison Martin Margiela, John Galliano, Jean Paul Gaultier, Christian Lacroix, Nicholas Ghesquiere, Thierry Mugler, Yohji Yamamoto, Olivier Theyskens, and Karl Lagerfeld have all dipped into the past for inspiration as evidenced by the 2011 exhibition presented by Musée Galliera in Versailles: The 18th Century Back in Fashion.

Creative Process Journal: Reflecting On the Nature of Photography

In the absence of a specific exhibition venue, the creative component of this project will take the form of photographs, which in the end might be presented as a book or in a gallery exhibition. This constraint, seemingly limiting, serves a  purpose since it will momentarily stop the clock on the inevitable decay and death of the object. 

From the moment they are born as garments, textiles begin the inevitable creep towards decay and death, ultimately turning to dust. Dust, dirt and skin plus moisture from sweat, spills and stains, serve to hasten that process of decay. Add insects or rodents into the mix and an entire collection can be imperilled. Archival storage and gentle handling with gloves or clean hands can help preserve a garment, but it doesn't entirely halt the process. Some of the most exquisite garments from 1880-1920 were made with weighted silks and the metallic salts within the fabric hasten the decay, with the result that the garment can literally crumble on touch, becoming a health hazard. 
The photos I create will in effect stop time, marking a moment in the garment's biography as time and the processes of decay marching forward. 

In Camera Lucida, Roland Barthes wrote about the emotional aspect of photography linking it to the transformation of “subject into object and even, one might say, into a museum object” (13), as well as to death and loss (92-97). Barthes defined photography as an artistic medium that was intimately linked with death as “a witness of something that is no more” (xi). Barthes also wrote that: "It is because each photograph always contains this imperious sign of my future death that each one, however attached it seems to be to the excited world of the living, challenges each of us, one by one, outside of any generality (but not outside of any transcendence) (97). 

The key to transforming these photos into something more than just a documentation of the collection will be to define a point of connection, a defining element in the threads of memory, in the traces of the wearer in the folds. 

References:

Barthes, Roland. Camera Lucida: Reflections on Photography. Tran. Richard Howard. New York: Hill and Wang, 1980. Print. 

Inspired by Lillian Bassman

It's a Cinch: Carman by Lillian Bassman, New York Harper's Bazaar, 1951

John Galliano once described Lillian Bassman's photographs as "painterly strokes of light". Her use of abstraction, dynamic composition, and manipulation of exposure in her photographs of women are hallmarks of her signature style. Lillian Bassman was a leading fashion photographer for magazines such as Vogue and Harper's Bazaar from the 1940s through the 1960s. In more recent years, she has photographed campaigns for Galliano, Neiman Marcus, New York Times Magazine, among others.



In 2009, the book Lillian Bassman Women was published featuring 150 of her best images. It was a little over a year ago that I discovered Lillian's work and wrote a post about her book. Since I'm not much of a techie, it was her example that encouraged me to finally master Photoshop and take advantage of its incredible power to manipulate images to a painterly effect. If she could master Photoshop at the age of 84, then it didn't seem like I had any excuse not to follow her lead!

I recently discovered the Slate Gallery Guide listing for the first show of Lillian Bassman's work in Canada which opens on Thursday, February 10th at the Izzy Gallery. This show called Women features eleven works of this iconic fashion photographer and runs until Thursday, March 3rd.

Ere we shall meet again
by Ingrid Mida 2010

At my most recent exhibition of work All is Vanity (at Loop Gallery until February 13, 2011),  my photos were compared to to Bassman's, a comparison that I felt honoured by. When I wrote my artist statement for the show, I included photographers Cindy Sherman, Sarah Moon and Deborah Turbeville as having inspired me when I should have put Lillian Bassman's name at the top of the list!

The Mystery of the Fashion Photograph

Dovima in an evening dress by Dior, Photo by Richard Avedon 1955

Unlocking the mystery of a great fashion photograph is something that I'd like to better understand. I think I know it when I see one (like this one by Avedon), but is it a matter of opinion or is there something that great fashion photographs all share?

One of the chapters in the recently released Berg publication "Fashion in Fiction" is called "The Mystery of the Fashion Photograph" and was written by Margaret Maynard, Associate Professor at the University of Queensland. She poses these questions:
1. "What makes certain high-end photos eye-stopping, what gives them their strange thrill, their compelling intrigue, and why is this important?"
2. "What is it about some images that evoke in the viewer a desiring state of mind?"

 Like many scholarly works, I had to read between the lines to try and figure out the answers to these questions as the author does not clearly state her opinion. She references other people's opinions, but it is hard to clearly discern her point of view.  The other problem that I had with this book is that there are references to images but very few photos are included within the book. Describing an image is a lot different than seeing it. I had great difficulty understanding what this author considered to be a compelling fashion photograph based on her description of it. Even if the photo had been in black and white, it would, in an instant, convey what paragraphs of description cannot do. I found that to be a problematic issue in this chapter in particular and throughout the book.

Nevertheless, I think that this author defines a great fashion photograph to include a narrative or an open-ended drama, "specifically set up to lack a bounded point of view." (page 57) Furthermore, "the most interesting fashion images seem to obscure, even hide, their raison d'etre, their commercial links. Sometimes details of commercial or designer retailers are minute, relegated to the back of magazines or even absent. It is possible their absence energizes desire by strength of visual impulse." (page 61).

The author also links the text accompanying the photograph to the viewers engagement with it. "We need to acknowledge current multidimensional approaches to photography and current views of the complexity of verbal/visual tensions and intersections between photos and text that produce understanding. Barthes suggests that fashion images provoke fascination (1981a:17) but also that the presence of language acts to stay perception, thus cementing meaning as fashionable (Carter 2003:150)."

Cover of "Women" a book by Lillian Bassman 2009

It is probably evident from the passages that I've quoted that this book is meant for other fashion scholars. As someone who reads extensively, I appreciate writers who can take dense material and make it accessible to a broad audience. Without photos to accompany the text, I only have a vague sense of what the author might consider to be a compelling fashion photograph.

For me, a great fashion photograph has a strong graphic component, a sense of narrative and perhaps an element of surprise. My favourite fashion photographers are Richard Avendon, Irving Penn, Deborah Turbeville, and Lillian Bassman.

Do tell, what do you think makes for a great fashion photograph? And do you have a favourite fashion photographer?

Karl Lagerfeld Parcours de Travail

Schwarzkopf, Freja Beha by Karl Lagerfeld 2009

Fashion legend Karl Lagerfeld's work as a photographer is now on display at la Maison Europeenne de Photographie de Paris. This exhibition is titled  "Parcours de Travail" meaning "course work" in English. The portraits, fashion, landscape and architecture photos go back as far as 1987 when Lagerfeld picked up a camera and will be on display until October 31, 2010. Is there anything that KL cannot do?

la Maison Europeene de Photogaphie de Paris

5/7 roue de Paris

75004 Paris 4

Threads: Six Masters of Fashion Photography

It seems like it was only recently that fashion photography was acknowledged as an art form. But even so, it is not often featured in gallery shows and it was by chance that I stumbled across a show called Threads: Six Masters of Fashion Photography at the Diemar/Noble Photography Gallery in London. On display and for sale was the work of six fashion photographers including:

Edwin Blumenfeld
Guy Bourdin
William Klein
Helmut Newton
Norman Parkinson
Edward Steichen

This coherent and elegant presentation of iconic black and white images from six masters of light and composition is well worth a visit. Highlights of the exhibition include
Polaroids by Helmut Newton
One of two known prints of Guy Boudrin's photo of a model wearing a hat in front of gutted rabbits in the now infamous ‘Chapeaux – Choc’
A rare group of vintage prints by Norman Parkinson
Rare Surrealist fashion images by Erwin Blumenfeld

There is no charge to see the exhibition and it was a real delight to see such exquisite work up close without having to jostle for elbow room in a crowded museum.  If the gallery owners hadn't been so deep in conversation, I would have asked them why they didn't include a  female fashion photographer like Lillian Bassman in the show. (And if I wasn't so shy, I might even have handed over a business card - sigh!)

Threads: Six Masters of Fashion Photography
Diemar/Noble Photography
May 13 - July 11, 2010
66/67 Wells Street
London, UK    W1T 3PY
44 (0)20 7636 5375
email:  rsvp@diemarnoble.com

Book Review: Lillian Bassman Women

Sometimes life seems to be a series of serendipitous events. I first saw this image on the blog Studio Judith where artist/designer Judith had written about the mystery of a woman wearing veils but did not know who to credit the image to. A day later, while watching Fashion Television, I saw the image flash by on the screen during an interview with the photographer.  After seeing hearing Lillian Bassman's spirited and lively interview, I wanted to buy the book. And yesterday, there was the book staring at me.... just in time to inspire me for a photo shoot I'm doing this afternoon.

Photographer Lillian Bassman recently celebrated her 93rd birthday and also published this book called simply Lillian Bassman Women. Filled with extraordinary black and white fashion imagery that are a cross between abstract painting and photography, Lillian's work is hauntingly beautiful and unique beyond measure.

Even more astonishing is that Lillian only recently came back to fashion photography after a hiatus of twenty-two years. Having first picked up a camera in 1947, Lillian was a sought-after photographer during the 1950s and 1960s and was known to "photograph fashion with a woman's eye for a woman's intimate feelings." But in 1971 and 1972, Lillian destroyed most of her fashion photographs. She had come to believe that fashion photography was formulaic with little room for experimentation and had moved on. During this period, Lillian rented out the ground floor of her carriage house to Helen Frankenthaler who used it as her studio. In 1990, Frankenthaler found some bags bulging with negatives and returned them to Lillian. In 1994, Lillian returned to the darkroom and started making new prints, exploring new interpretations of the images. Since then, she has adopted Photoshop as her darkroom tool of choice saying that "The computer is as good a tool as any for creating experimental effects". Given that she is in her nineties, she serves as an example of how to embrace change.

This oversize book is filled with exquisite images of Lillian's work, capturing an abstracted form of painterly elegance and beauty that is difficult to put into words. If I could, I would love to be her apprentice/intern, because the spirit of what she has done - creating photography with a painterly quality - is exactly what I hope to achieve with the documentation of my mother's dress collection. I will be studying Lillian's photographs with great intensity and trying to recreate her magic on my images using Photoshop!

Title: Lillian Bassman Women
Introduction by: Deborah Soloman
Photographs by: Lillian Bassman
Published by: Abrams, New York 2009
Category: Non-fiction, Photography
Number of Pages: 228
Price: US$50, Canada $64.99 UK 29.99

More Dresses

Gold Brocade Dress and Jacket by Ingrid Mida, copyright 2010

A dress is literally a metaphor for a woman. It is a form of second skin, sheltering the female form from the elements, and provides clues about self-image, class, profession and culture. 

Embarking on the project of cataloguing my mother's dresses has been an emotional journey for me especially as she is quite unwell. Plus I have only vague memories of her wearing these dresses. And for those reasons, I very much  appreciate the encouragement and positive response that I've received from my readers. In the past, I've listened to criticisms that my artwork lacks emotional power but this work comes from a deep place. I suspect that it will consume me for some time and perhaps result in a show at some point and possibly some note cards.

In High Fashion: Edward Steichen at the AGO

Catalogue Cover, Photograph of Actress Mary Heberden 1935 by Edward Steichen

The AGO is the one of the last stops of the exhibition "Edward Steichen: In High Fashion" which presents a collection of his black and white photographs from the Conde Nast archives 1923-1937. As the chief photographer for Vanity Fair and Vogue during these years, Edward Steichen was instrumental in defining fashion photography and celebrity portraiture. Using light and shadow to delineate his subjects in striking backdrops, Steichen drew on his training as a painter to create arresting compositions of his subjects and is considered the "first truly modern fashion photographer".

I was entranced by the 200 Steichen photographs on display. Exquisite in their execution, the collection leaves no doubt as to Steichen's talent and sophisticated range. Although Steichen also made colour photographs, only black and white images are on display, giving the exhibition a clarity and elegance.

Given my own recent confusion as to the next steps in my artistic path, I found it interesting to learn that Steichen had been a painter before taking up photography. In spite of his successful shows at prestigious galleries as a painter, he had "serious misgivings about his talents with the brush" and was aware of "not having kept pace with the modern styles of painting." Walking away from a medium that he was comfortable with into the relatively new world of photography must have been a challenge to say the least.

The exhibition runs until January 3, 2010. Keep your AGO ticket and show it at the ROM to save 20% off general admission for the Vanity Fair Portraits exhibition.

Art Gallery of Ontario

317 Dundas Street West

www.ago.net