Freeze. Fashion photo of Denis Peel

The Lumiere Brothers Photography Center presents the first exhibition in Russia by the world famous fashion photographer Denis Piel. The exposition will bring together about 60 iconic photographs that were shot for leading fashion publications in the USA and Europe: Vogue, GQ, Vanity Fair.

The exhibition will focus on the 1980s, the peak of the photographer’s career, and emphasize his special cinematic approach to fashion photography. Denis Peel was born in France in 1944, spent his childhood and youth with his family in Australia, where in 1966 he founded his first photo studio. In the 1970s he worked between Paris, London and Milan, doing fashion photography and advertising. In 1979, noticed by legendary Condé Nast editor-in-chief Alexander Lieberman, Denis Peel moved to New York, receiving, along with the great Richard Avedon, Irwin Penn, an exclusive contract with Condé Nast. For 10 years, he happened to make more than 1000 fashion shootings for leading fashion magazines of the publishing house in the USA, Germany, Italy, France, Great Britain. Many of these frames have become unconditionally recognizable, iconic photographs of the fashion world of their decade. A. Lieberman noted: “Denis Peel is one of the great photographers of our time… He brought an incredibly fresh look to fashion photography, he showed the life of a modern woman in a way that no one has managed before.”

The heroines of his shots were models that in the 1980s became real stars of their time. Among them: Christy Turlington, Rachel Williams, Lara Nashinsky, Eva Wallen, Nancy Donahue, Gia Carangi, Kelly Lebrock, Joan Severance, Joanna Pakula. The woman Saw is especially sensual and emotional, often caught in an intimate, not "ceremonial" moment. This makes her much more “real” and attractive. However, Denis Peel was always more interested in models that were or could become actresses in the frame, rather than blindly following the instructions of the photographer. The exhibition will also feature photo sessions with Uma Thurman, Andy MacDowell, Goldie Hole, Nastassya Kinsky, Charlotte Rampling, Jamie Lee Curtis and many others. A series of photos from the 16-year-old Uma Thurman is noteworthy in that it became the first professional photo shoot of a young actress.

In his approach to fashion photography, Denis Peel experienced not so much the influence of the photographic geniuses of Avedon, Penn and Newton, but the filmmakers of his time, especially Stanley Kubrick. Fashion stylist John Vertin notes: “I have always said that Denis Peel can be called Stanley Kubrick of the fashion world, then when working with him or looking at his photos I get the same feeling as when watching Kubrick films. Cold elegance of the image, strange tension or even the electrified state in the frame. Subtle, subtle, not catchy. The plot of what is happening is not immediately clear, as, for example, in Newton. Clarity comes with time and makes its goosebumps. ” And the photographer fully confirms his cinematic approach, which gives glossy photography an atypical mystery, thereby expanding the boundaries of the genre. “With the help of my photo, I really want to tell a story. I want to create a certain mise-en-scene… Freeze frame! This is what I always strive for. A freeze frame with emotional tension, suspense-tension and a question in the viewer’s head: what happened before the moment of the frame, what is happening now and what will happen the next minute. ”

In the late 1980s, Denis Peel was awarded the Leica Medal of Excellence for Commercial Photography, then founded the video agency Jupiter Films, leaving Condé Nast and focusing on cinema. Photos of Denis Peel are in permanent collections of the Victoria and Albert Museum (London), the Museum of Fine Arts (Boston) and many private collections around the world. The author’s personal exhibitions were held at the Rove Gallery in London (2013), the Textile Museum in Labastide-Rouer (2010), the Musée du Point de Vue in Brussels (2010), the Castres Theater in southern France (2009), and the National Costume Museum and fashion in Lisbon (2008), Staley Wise Gallery in New York (1982). Denis Peel will come to the opening of the exhibition in Moscow, as well as hold an author’s meeting where he will talk about his career and conduct a special tour of the exhibition.