Flashback To The 90s At The Peter Lindbergh: From Fashion To Reality exhibition

If you grew up in the 90s, you most likely know of the supermodels. And you’d know of them because of Peter Lindbergh, the photographer who shot, styled and basically launched their careers. But if you didn’t, you could get schooled at the Peter Lindbergh: From Fashion to Reality exhibition at Kunsthalle München – which I had the great fortune to come across. Serendipity!

Peter Lindbergh is regarded as one of the most influential photographers ever, introducing a new dimension of realism in fashion photography and the first to focus on the unique personalities of his models. And because of that, the models would become globally recognized just by their first names: Linda, Christy, Naomi, Cindy, Claudia, and Helena. Lindbergh also went on to shoot my favourite group of models after the glamazon era- the waifs: Kate, Amber, and Shalom.

I absolutely love Peter Lindbergh’s work. I’ve ripped out his iconic black and white images from the pages of Vogue and Harper’s Bazaar and hung them on my wall or put them in my scrapbook. Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you’ve seen the photo…

The one that started it all was the one of a group of models – Linda Evangelista, Christy Turlington, Tatjana Patitz, Karen Alexander, Estelle Lefébure and Rachel Williams – dressed in white shirts. Amazingly, this concept had been rejected by American Vogue the year before, as it did not reflect the vision of the magazine at that time.

George Michael would soon afterward cast the supermodels in his Freedom 90 music video and Gianni Versace would start hiring them for his spring 1991 collection – pushing the supermodel concept even further.

Thierry-Maxime Lorit, the curator the Peter Lindbergh: From Fashion to Reality exhibit was given unrestricted access to Lindbergh’s archives. Among the 220 photographs featured in the exhibit – some never published before – there were personal notes, storyboards, props, polaroids, contact sheets and films.

The exhibit was divided into 8 different sections: “Supermodels”, “Couturiers”, “Zeitgeist”, “Dance”, “The Darkroom”, “The Unknown”, “Silver Screens” and “Icons”.

The “Supermodels” section, of course, featured Lindbergh’s iconic pictures, including photos from the recent reunion of supermodels, as published in Vogue Italia, September 2015.

The “Couturiers” section focused on Lindbergh’s collaborations with renowned fashion designers such as Karl Lagerfeld, Jil Sanders, Azzedine Alaïa, and Jean Paul Gaultier.

Gender issues and political statements were the subject of the “zeitgeist” section. I really loved how he captured and celebrated the natural beauty, elegance and sensuality of older women in the 2017 Pirelli calendar: Robin Wright, Nicole Kidman, Uma Thuman, Charlotte Rampling, Helen Mirren, Jessica Chastain, Kate Winslet, and Julianne Moore – makeup-free, un-retouched and beautifully shot.

Lindbergh also had a passion for dance and used it as a source of inspiration. His “Dance” photos were based on famous dancers, choreographers and dance companies such as George Balanchine, Bolshoi Ballet, and New York City Ballet. Madonna’s tribute to Martha Graham is a great example of his works.

“The Unknown” featured Lindbergh’s fascination with science fiction, featuring Helena Christenson and actress Debbie Lee Carrington.

In the “Silver Screen” section, you could see how he drew his influence from avant-garde cinema from the 1920s-1950s, such as Metropolis, Josef von Sternberg’s The Blue Angel, and Alfred Hitchcock’s The Birds and Psycho.

Not only is Lindbergh known for his fashion photography, but also for his “Icons” portraits. In this section, he captured iconic and celebrity figures like Tina Turner, Pharrell Williams and Mads Mikkelson to name but a few.

It really was happenstance that I came across this exhibit near Marienplatz. If this is the only exhibit that I get to see in Munich, it would be enough. For me, it was that good. Patrick Demarchelier, Bruce Weber, Herb Ritts, Tim Walker, Ellen von Unwerth, all are my favourite fashion + portrait photographers and Peter Lindbergh, who is right up at the top of that list.

For more on Peter Lindbergh’s work, here are some videos that were featured at the exhibition. This is absolutely worth your while. And of course, his iconic Models the Film. #internetrabbithole