Photo Credit: The J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles, Gift of Glen and Tanya Luchford © Glen Luchford 2017.121.1
This summer the Getty Museum presents “Icons of Style: A Century of Fashion Photography, 1911-2011,” spanning more than 180 photographs, costumes and drawings at the J. Paul Getty Museum, Getty Center, in the Los Angeles neighborhood of Brentwood.
Curated by Paul Martineau, associate curator of photographs at the J. Paul Getty Museum, the exhibition represents a major survey in fashion photography and features images by industry giants such as Richard Avedon, Peter Lindbergh, Helmut Newton and Herb Ritts, among many others.
Photo Credit: The J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles, Gift of Herb Ritts Foundation © Herb Ritts Foundation 2011.18.28
Putting the intersection of fashion, photography and history on full display, “Icons of Style” does its part to contextualize the ways in which the worlds of fashion and photography have impacted each other over the decades. As visitors travel through the exhibition, they travel forward in time, beginning with images taken during the Great Depression and concluding with more contemporary ones.
Photo Credit: The J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles, Purchased with funds provided by the Photographs Council © Victor Skrebneski 2016.92
Museum-goers can observe how both art forms evolved to reflect the changing times, for example, the simplicity of the World War II era, the glamour of the 1950s, the youthful revolution of the 1960s, the rise of ready-to-wear in the 1970s, the introduction of supermodels in the 1980s, and the reign of Kate Moss and the “heroin-chic” aesthetic in the 1990s.
Highlights of “Icons of Style” include images of elegant gowns by designers such as Balenciaga and Dior, captured by photographers Richard Avedon and Irving Penn during the height of fashion photography’s midcentury Golden Age. Also on display will be African American model Beverly Johnson‘s historic 1974 Vogue cover, the first time an African American model appeared on a top fashion magazine’s cover.
Photo Credit: Courtesy of M+B Gallery and the artist © Jean-Baptiste Mondino, courtesy of M+B Gallery, Los Angeles EX.2018.7.140
Visitors will also notice the exhibition’s nods to the rising popularity of ready-to-wear from such fashion houses like Anne Klein, Halston and Yves Saint Laurent; the embracing of the female form by Italian designers Gianni Versace and Giorgio Armani; and the industry’s growing obsession with supermodels, such as Naomi Campbell, Cindy Crawford, Tatjana Patitz, Stephanie Seymour and Christy Turlington, as well as those for whom these pros paved the way.
“Icons of Style” closes with contemporary images that represent the current state of fashion photography, as well as provide a glimpse into the field’s potential future. Think the increasing popularity of fashion blogs, street-style Instagram accounts and Snapchat style stars.
Photo Credit: © The Sartorialist, Scott Schuman. Courtesy Danziger Gallery EX.2018.7.63
The exhibition features the work of renowned fashion photographers Richard Avedon, Lillian Bassman, Guy Bourdin, Erwin Blumenfeld, Louise Dahl-Wolfe, Hiro, Inez & Vinoodh, Peter Lindbergh, Man Ray, Helmut Newton, Nick Knight, Gordon Parks, Irving Penn, Herb Ritts, Edward Steichen, Tim Walker and others.
“Icons of Style: A Century of Fashion Photography, 1911-2011” is on view through Oct. 21 at the J. Paul Getty Museum, Getty Center. The exhibition is supported by Arlene Schnitzer, Jordan Schnitzer, and the Harold & Arlene Schnitzer CARE Foundation.
The Getty Center is located at 1200 Getty Center Drive, Los Angeles
