In its infancy photography’s strength lie in its pure objectivity. In the two dimensions of the print paper one could record a direct impression of an object, person, or landscape. A picture was thought of as a literal truth.
Flash forward to the mid 1920’s when America and Europe’s wealthy society evolved into an age of elegance. Steichen and Hoyningen-Huene were recruited to invent an elegant, non-truth, style of photography that would visually capture a world of privilege, leisure and wealth. From this time to the present, the skill, invention and imagination that great photographers have brought to the world of fashion have created a unique synthesis of art and commerce.
“Fashion Is Big” is an exhibition that surveys the radically different approaches that photographers have followed in mystifying, or glorifying, fashion and style. From the rough, grainy, wide-angle photographs of William Klein, to the elegant, cool, three-quarters profile of Horst, photographers have run the gamut in their quest for fresh, creative images. Whether one considers the large format, seductive images of Albert Watson, or the the romantic, painterly Polaroid based photographs of Cathleen Naundorf, photographers of fashion have consistently expanded the possibilities of the tools and techniques of photography.
As photography has been mainstreamed into the larger art market the size of photographs has grown. From out of the glossies, where photographers’ work was small and contained, to the walls of museums, contemporary institutions and collectors, where pictures can be as large as life, photography has both literally and aesthetically become a dominant art form. Because of photographers such as those in this exhibition, our collective dreams, fantasies and desires have become visualized and immortalized.
