In this week’s blog, Costume Society News Editor Dr Babette Radclyffe-Thomas reviews the Palais Galleria’s Paolo Roversi photography exhibition.
Paris’ first ever retrospective exhibition dedicated to fashion photographer Paolo Roversi showcases over 50 years of Roversi’s work at the forefront of international fashion photography. Spread across seven rooms, over 140 works are on display including previously unseen images, Polaroid prints and archives. The exhibition was curated by Sylvie Lécallier, head curator of the photographic collection, working alongside Roversi, who took the lead in the show’s artistic direction. The exhibition was first conceived of in November 2016, and Lécallier’s worked with Roversi’s extensive archive over the years to culminate in an exhibition that is imagined as Roversi’s studio. Lécallier’s collaboration with Roversi is detailed in her exhibition diary, extracts of which are printed in the catalogue accompanying the exhibition.
Paolo Roversi, (born in 1947), was first introduced to the world of Parisian fashion in 1973 by his friend the stylist Popy Moreni. Roversi visited Guy Bourdin’s studio, a photographer he particularly admired, hoping to become his assistant. Bourdin asked him his astrological sign: "Libra" says Roversi. "I’m afraid that’s not going to be possible..." replied Bourdin.
After working as an assistant to the English photographer Laurence Stackman, in 1975 Roversi’s first photo was published in Elle. In the early 1980s he began working on Christian Dior cosmetics advertising campaigns and commenced a long-term collaboration with Comme des Garçons. His 1985 catalogue for Yohji Yamamoto AW85/86 collection was a defining stylistic moment, and he has had a long-term collaboration with Yamamato. During his career he has worked with a wide array of leading international fashion titles including Vogue France and Vogue Italia during which time Polaroid camera production ended (2008).
Renowned for his distinctive aesthetic, Roversi’s images are often sepia-toned, using a Mag-lite flashlight to create a sensitive interplay between light and dark. He is renowned for his studio-based photography with simple bare backgrounds using large-format cameras, and for almost thirty years, Roversi has been inseparable from Polaroid, a pre-digital instant photography technique and camera. He has even coined a new word for this fusion: Paoloroid. He points out that they were both born in 1947 and that they came together in 1980. His work is informed by the Polaroid process, and he experimented with Polaroids at a time when no other photographers were.
Roversi’s relationship with the Polaroid camera has occasionally involved unexpected experiments. "The steps forward and developments in my work have often been the result of accidents," Roversi says. "Whenever they happen, it’s a delight, a gift from heaven." In 1990 Roversi accidentally developed a Polaroid colour negative on a black and white positive and then decided to use this process in his work, and by the late 1990s he experimented with using a Mag-lite flashlight for the Comme des Garcons SS97 collection. Another lucky accident occurred during a shoot with the twin sisters Lida and Alexandra Egorova for Alberta Ferretti (1998). An image that had been damaged during development was kept because the emulsion that had been torn off formed an ominous pink spot exactly where the arms of the two models met.
As lighting is a central element in Roversi’s work, the exhibition design reflects this. Housed in the rooms normally used to display fashion (see our recent exhibition review of the Alaia exhibition in this space), the room has been transformed to resemble a photography studio drawing inspiration from Roversi’s own studio. After analysing the use of light in his images, the curatorial team discovered two types of light. The first is artificial light which he uses with precision to sculpt the image and reveal the subject, and also to give it a dynamic character. The second one is natural light, which is softer and more uniform, capturing the reality of the present and revealing its immediacy. The lighting design for the exhibition reflects this approach and the same principles have been adhered in constructing the layout of the exhibition. The decision to use lightweight structures, for the most part wooden frames stretched with fabric, was prompted both by the artist’s own approach –Roversi often uses very simple elements in his minimalist compositions – and by a desire to reduce the use of wooden panels. The aim was to reduce the quantity of non-recyclable materials and avoid treating or painting over large surfaces.
Paolo Roversi at the Palais Galleria showcases a wide body of Roversi’s work in both large-format and Polaroid, as well as his famous Nudi series. Commencing with a portrait of Inès de La Fressange for Vogue Homme in 1983, this commission subsequently led to the creation of a series of full-length nudes of some of the world’s top supermodels incing Kate Moss and Shalom Harlow. Roversi is renowned for incorporating the element of time in his work. He uses long exposure times with large-format view cameras, observing that: "A long pose gives the soul time to come to the surface. And allows time for the unexpected to come into play."
The exhibition runs until 14 July 2024.
