Denis drank mind Thurman. Photographer Denis Pil: Russians have a poor understanding of the naked body in art. Fashion photography takes advantage of these opportunities

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This week, the Lumiere Brothers Center for Photography opened an exhibition of Denis Piel, a master who was at the forefront of filming in gloss in the 80s. Title: Freeze Frame. Fashion photography by Denis Piel” refers to associations with cinema, however, not unreasonably. The photographer himself, making a presentation in honor of the launch of the exposition in Moscow, repeatedly emphasizes his focus on the processes of filmmaking. He first proposed the idea of ​​visually transferring the principles of cinema to a fashion magazine spread to the art director of French Vogue in 1979, and he approved of his initiative. The photographer not only looks into the lens and clicks the shutter: he himself chooses the subject for shooting, along the way forming the script.


“I once shot for American Vogue: the choice of location fell on Morocco, because I wanted to capture the contrast between European and African girls. I decided to shoot outdoors so that the story would unfold on its own. People who passed by could also become part of the photo - sometimes it turns out interesting, sometimes it doesn't work at all. I'm interested in cinematic moments, I try to capture them. I don't like poses, static shots, I'm looking for something real and alive. But this reality should contain a question and an impetus for reflection and should not be complete. Once we brought a peacock with us to the shooting of the series in Castle Howard and had an impromptu competition between a bird and a girl model in smart clothes. It was interesting to ask the question: who is more beautiful in reality?


Denis Peel's portfolio includes photographs of many famous supermodels: among those who fell into his lens are Christy Turlington, Rachel Williams, Lara Nashinski, Eva Wallen, Nancy Donahue, Gia Karanji, Kelly Lebrock, Joan Severance, Yoanna Pakula, Uma Thurman, Andie MacDowell, Goldie Hawn, Nastassja Kinski, Charlotte Rampling, Jamie Lee Curtis.

“Andie MacDowell, already a world celebrity today, came to me for shooting as a very young girl. She is modest, and it was quite difficult for her to liberate herself in front of the camera. But she trusted me, accepted my script, she was ready - as an actress - to play with me.



Many people ask themselves the question: should a model be an actress, combine the art of cinema and photography? There were some reflections on this topic at the meeting with Denis Peel:

“I like working with actresses - he understands and feels my way of thinking. It is important to catch the moment, what is happening around you. In order to make it easier for the model, I offer her a whole wardrobe for a day for different cases. She acts on her own, and I'm waiting for the moment. At the same time, I proceed from the script that I come up with for shooting. If I give roles to my models, they respond gratefully. Such stories turn out to be more conscious, girls see the goal, feel what they need to portray.

Denis Peel was a fashion photographer from 79 to 90s. Almost thirty years have passed, and filming processes have changed a lot. What was the difference between the approaches to illustrating gloss now and then?

“When the shooting is successful, it is quite difficult to choose 7-10 shots for the final publication. In the 80s I shot 35mm film. Unlike today, I could not reliably know to what extent what I had in mind turned out to be. It created a completely different feeling from shooting: there was no way to understand if suddenly something was going wrong, you could only instinctively feel it.



Monday is a day off for most Moscow museums, but this does not mean that you do not have the opportunity to touch the beautiful. Especially for the first day of the week, the editorial staff of the online edition of the site maintains the heading "10 Unknowns", where we talk about exhibitions, artists and important dates from the history of art.

Denis Peel. Uma Thurman. Italian Vogue, 1986

Photo gallery

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Denis Peel. Christy Turlington. Vogue USA. 1987

Denis Peel is one of the three photographers who defined the style of the legendary Vogue magazine. Irving Penn, Richard Avedon, Denis Peel - everyone who has the honor to print their pictures on the cover of this bible of gloss has influenced the course of the history of fashion photography. The editor-in-chief of the publishing house Conde Nast, which still publishes Vogue today, Alexander Lieberman, said that Peel "showed the life of a modern woman in a way that no one could have done before." Not without reason, in 1979, Lieberman signed an exclusive contract with Peel to publish his photographs.

Denis Peel. Christy Turlington. Laguna Beach. Vogue USA. 1987

Denis Peel was born in 1944 in France. Already at the age of 22, when he lived with his parents in Australia, Peel founded his first photography studio. After moving to the United States, he began working in newspapers and publishing in the New York Times until he ended up at Conde Nast, where he worked for more than ten years. During these years he shot for Vogue, Vanity Fair, GQ. In 1989, he left publishing to focus on making films. The result of this work was the tape "Love is blind".

Denis Peel. Ariel Burgelin, New Mexico in Trouble. 1984

Almost all the icons of cinema of the 1980s got into Peel's lens: Geena Davis, Nastassja Kinski, Andie MacDowell, Darryl Hannah, Isabella Rossellini, Goldie Hawn, Jamie Lee Curtis, Lillian Gish, Donald Sutherland, artists Man Ray, Willem de Kooning, Jasper Johns and many others. Peel himself always considered Alexander Lieberman one of his main teachers. But, of course, film aesthetics play a huge role in his photographs, especially the influence of the films of Stanley Kubrick and the Italian neo-realists Bertolucci and Antonioni.

Denis Peel. In trouble. New Mexico. 1984

Stylist John Vertin, who worked extensively on the set of Peel, said: "I have always said that Denis Peel can be called the Stanley Kubrick of the fashion world, because when working with him or looking at his photographs, I get the same feeling that when watching movies Kubrick. The cold elegance of the image, the strange tension or even the electrification of the state in the frame. Barely perceptible, subtle, not catchy. The plot of what is happening is not immediately clear. Clarity comes with time and gets goosebumps."

Denis Peel. Joan Severance. different worlds. Castle Howard. Yorkshire. Great Britain. Vogue USA. 1982

Peel's images are both attractive and repulsive. There is no "ideality" and frankness in them, and there is always understatement. A whole story is hidden in one shot, captured in Freeze Frame. Peel admits that he has always been more of a director than a photographer. He is attracted not by the technical, but by the intellectual complexity of the image. Therefore, in the studio, he often gave the models a certain "role", helping to create a character, to play a certain character.

Denis Peel. Joan Severance. different worlds. Peacock-1. Castle Howard. Yorkshire. Great Britain. Vogue USA. 1982

After Love Is Blind, Peel made Facescapes (Ed. note: a word formed from face - face and landscape - landscape). His theme was time, its course, the changes that occur in a person over time, the traces that a person leaves in history. The work turned out to be not so much a documentary story as a philosophical parable.

Denis Peel. Claire Hawk. New York city. Vogue USA. 1985

One of Peel's latest projects is Down to Earth ("Closer to the Earth"), where the photographer explores the human body in its relationship with the earth, nature, and plants. Of course, Peel plays on the verge of eroticism, referring to nudity, but in fact the photographer, rather, refers to the primitive era, to the natural habitat of the first man.

Denis Peel. Joan Severance and Nancy Donahue. Vogue USA. 1982

Pictures from the Down to Earth project are not presented at the Moscow exhibition, but the organizers managed to show the diversity of Peel's work. The photographer himself, who was present at the opening of the exhibition, said that he was very pleased, because the exhibition combines both sensuality and the cinematography of his approach, and expressed the hope that Russians will learn to better understand the naked body in art.

Denis Peel. Tatiana Patits and Letizia Firmin-Dido. Vogue USA

Now Denis Peel lives in France, in a Renaissance chateau of the XII century, where he moved with his family after the terrorist attacks in New York on September 11, 2001. He writes scripts for films, works on new projects, helps young artists, participates in festivals, and is preparing a large book with his photographs for publication. Peel's first monograph was published in 2012 and was called Moments.

Denis Peel. Nina Klep. Vogue USA. 1982

Perhaps you have never even heard of a photographer like Denis Peel, but you are probably familiar with his pictures: they are everywhere - on the covers of magazines, in advertisements for perfumes and cosmetics, various brands of clothing, cameras, on book covers, on posters and movie posters. . His photographs are elegant, mysterious, attractive and always recognizable.

French photographer Denis Pila called " Stanley Kubrick fashion world." In the 1980s, he had a huge impact on "fashion" photography. Denis worked with leading publications in the US and Europe: Vogue, GQ, Vanity Fair, Rolling Stone, and the heroines of his photographs were such stars as Uma Thurman, Andie MacDowell, Goldie Hawn, Nastassja Kinski, Charlotte Rampling, Christy Turlington and many others.

Denis Peel came to Moscow for the opening of his first exhibition in Russia, which can be seen at the Lumiere Brothers Center for Photography. AiF.ru met with a world-famous glossy photographer to find out the details of celebrity photo shoots.

Elena Yakovleva, AiF.ru: You are probably aware of the scandal with the photo exhibition of Jock Sturges, which was held here, at the Lumiere Brothers Photography Center, just a few months ago. Activists found child pornography in it and demanded that the exhibition be closed. Interested to know your opinion about this precedent?

Denis Peel: It's hard for me to answer this question. I know work Jock Sturgess, but do not know this particular exhibition and never heard of this situation.

In general, I adhere to the idea that art is free. And I certainly abhor the idea that some exhibition of photographs can be banned, closed by the state or someone else. If the exhibition is related to insulting someone's feelings, then it is worth thinking about it, but art has its own guidelines, its own experts, and you need to rely on them. You always need to understand what the author came from, what the artist came from, what is the concept, what is the idea of ​​this project.

- At the exhibition that you brought to Moscow (“Freeze frame. Fashion photography by Denis Pila” - ed.), There is a hint of eroticism. But, as far as I know, you also have more revealing works, why are they not among the submitted photos?

— As an opportunity for exhibiting, I offered the gallery my latest project"Down to Earth" ("Closer to the Earth" - ed.), which explores the human body in relation to the earth, nature, plants. This project features female and male nudes, but I had the feeling that this proposal from the gallery did not meet with support. And I think now I understand why.

In Russia there is a certain misunderstanding of the naked body in art. This is very sad for me, because my project does not carry any aggression. And now, when we were preparing an exhibition of photographs of the 80s, we had the option to emphasize either the cinematic approach to shooting or the sensual one. I'm glad I did both, but for my part, I would have selected more photos that emphasize sensuality.

Now I understand that there is some misunderstanding with this topic and why the selection in many ways turned out the way it turned out.

Exhibition “Freeze Frame. Fashion photography by Denis Piel. Photo: Press Service of the Lumiere Brothers Center for Photography

- Why do you think our society reacts so sharply to nudity?

- I don't know, it's probably a question general education, awareness ... I believe that every person should be aware and understand who he is from a psychological, physical, mental point of view. Not only to understand, but also to be able to talk about it, show it, work with it. This is exactly what I'm researching.

In fact, I have always had the idea that Russian people are more emotional. And speaking of the emotional susceptibility of Russians, it is difficult for me to understand how the physical side of emotions turned out to be not as developed as the spiritual side.

- And if the situation with the closing of the exhibition happened to you, if someone called your photographs pornography, what would you say?

- I would send them to a psychiatrist (laughs).

Denis Peel in front of a photograph by Andie MacDowell. Photo: Press Service of the Lumiere Brothers Center for Photography

"Ordinary People"

— You brought to Russia photographs that were taken for fashion magazines back in the 80s. They feature such beauties as Uma Thurman, Andie MacDowell, Goldie Hawn, Nastassja Kinski... How do you manage to maintain working relationships with such beautiful women How do you manage not to fall in love with your models?

- Actually, professional relationship in this area, they mean that you need to be a little in love with your model. This is normal and even correct. Naturally, when I shoot, I try to reveal the model not only physically, but also emotionally. It implies some kind of natural rapprochement between us. What can be the story next, how much closer can be the rapprochement between the photographer and the model, this is a personal story...

Claire Hawke, 1985. Photo: Lumiere Brothers Center for Photography Press Service / Denis Peel

- Would you like to look behind the camera lens and find out how your star models behaved during the photo shoot?

- Everything is quite natural, on the set they are the most ordinary people. I can tell you about Andie MacDowell's photoshoot that I did for Vogue. As you can see, this is quite a candid and sensual shot, while Andy herself is a very, very modest girl (at least she was then) and such behavior is not typical for her at all. I work a lot as a director and I suggested Andy play a similar role. Despite her naturally modest nature, she agreed, and when these pictures were published in Vogue, she was shocked. Her friends said: “Andy, it’s not you, you don’t look like yourself at all, you are completely different!”. At that moment she was embarrassed, but now, looking back, she tells me that she is very proud of those pictures.

And, for example, the shooting of Goldie Houndl for Rolling Stone magazine was completely different. I came to Goldie's house and she showed me things that she could use for our photo shoot. We communicated wonderfully and, in fact, in the course of the conversation, these shots were born. I didn't want her to play someone in front of the camera, I wanted her to be herself, I wanted to capture her personality.

What about Uma Thurman? It is known that you were the first who made the first professional photo session with the future popular actress and model. Then you saw a star in a 16-year-old girl?

— During that shooting there were two more models, it was a group photo session. But I remember very well that I caught myself on the fact that I could not stop filming Uma. She was incredibly attractive... And I think that answers your question.

Uma Thurman, 1986. Photo: Press Service of the Lumiere Brothers Center for Photography / Denis Peel

— Have you ever photographed Russian models?

— In fact, I have never worked with Russian models. Yes, and in Russia for the first time and still little I saw Russian women (laughs).

— I can’t say that I have ever been very interested in the world of fashion as such. I have always been more interested in the person himself, the model herself, who, of course, wears these fashionable clothes.

But I understand that famous designers are always inspired by something. They draw their inspiration from a variety of resources: from different eras, from different national traditions. And I am sure that in Russia there are a lot of sources for inspiration, they just need to be found and implemented, to be brave enough to declare yourself loudly.

The Lumiere Brothers Center for Photography 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 taken for the leading fashion publications in the US and Europe: Vogue, GQ, Vanity Fair. Entrance to the exhibition is free for exhibitors. The exhibition will run from February 8 to May 7.

The exhibition builds around the 1980s - the height of the photographer's career - and highlights his distinctive 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 photography studio. In the 1970s he worked between Paris, London and Milan doing fashion photography and advertising. In 1979 he was noticed by the legendary Chief Editor Condé Nast Alexander Lieberman and Denis Peel moved to New York, receiving - along with the greats Richard Avedon, Irving Penn - an exclusive publishing contract. For 10 years, he happened to make more than 1000 fashion shoots for leading fashion magazines in the USA, Germany, Italy, France, Great Britain. Many of these shots have become undeniably recognizable, iconic for 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 could have done before."

The heroines of his photographs were models who in the 1980s were the real stars of their time. Among them are Christy Turlington, Rachel Williams, Lara Nashinski, Eva Wallen, Nancy Donahue, Gia Karanji, Kelly LeBrock, Joan Severance, Yoanna Pakula. Peel's woman is particularly sensual and emotional, often caught in an intimate, non-frontal moment. This makes her much more "real" and attractive. However, Denis Peel was always more interested in models who 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, Andie MacDowell, Goldie Hole, Nastassja Kinski, Charlotte Rampling, Jamie Lee Curtis and many others. A series of photos with 16-year-old Uma Thurman became the first professional photo shoots young actress.

In his approach to fashion photography, Denis Peel was not so much influenced by the photographic geniuses of Avedon, Penn and Newton as by the filmmakers of his time, especially Stanley Kubrick. Fashion stylist John Vertin notes: “I have always said that Denis Peel can be called the Stanley Kubrick of the fashion world, because when working with him or looking at his photographs, I get the same feeling as when watching Kubrick's films. Cold elegance of the image, strange tension or even electrification in the frame. Barely perceptible, subtle, not catchy. The plot of what is happening is not immediately clear, as, for example, with Newton. Clarity comes with time and gives you goosebumps.”

“Through my photography, I really aim to tell a story. I want to create a certain mise-en-scène... Freeze frame! That's what I always strive for. A freeze frame with emotional intensity, tension-suspense and a question in the viewer's head: what happened before the moment of the frame, what is happening now and what will happen in the next minute, ”says the photographer.

In the late 1980s, Denis Peele was awarded the Leica Medal of Excellence for Commercial Photography and founded the Jupiter Films video agency, leaving Condé Nast to focus on film. Denis Peel's photographs are in the permanent collection of the Victoria and Albert Museum (London), the Museum fine arts in Boston and many private collections around the world. Personal exhibitions the author were held at the Rove Gallery in London (2013), the Textile Museum in the commune of Labastide-Rouerou (2010), the Musée du Point de Vue in Brussels (2010), the theater of the city of Castres in the south of France (2009), the National Museum of Costume and Fashion in Lisbon (2008), Staley-Wise Gallery in New York (1982). Denis Peel will come to the opening of the exhibition in Moscow, hold an author's meeting, where he will talk about his creative path, and arrange a special tour of the exhibition.

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