Man fashion photography

From the catwalk to the gallery wall, fashion photography is proving to the art market it's "ready-to-wear"

In the world of fashion, today's treasure may be tomorrow's trash. The ever-fleeting trends that hit the runway season after season are enough to make one's head spin. The art world has its share of trends, too--the latest being the rise in collecting fashion photography. But unlike the `here-today, gone-tomorrow' hits from the catwalk, galleries, dealers and publishers believe fashion photography is here to stay. Indeed, just as certain pieces remain timeless in the fashion world, many images taken by a select group of fashion photographers--from legends like Lillian Bassman and Horst P. Horst to contemporaries like Helmut Newton and David LaChapelle--transcend their commercial aspect and have entered the realm of fine art. These images often focus less on fashion--sometimes the fashion isn't even there--and more on art and atmosphere. Whether vintage or contemporary, glamorous or grunge, fashion photography is proving to the art market its "ready-to-wear."

Framed and on White Walls

While created for the distinct purpose of marketing fashion, this genre of photography is nevertheless appearing in the art world, further blurring the line between advertising and art. During the last few years, a growing number of galleries have begun exhibiting both contemporary and vintage fashion photography. The London gallery White [Cube.sup.2], for example, is currently playing host to one of today's most famous and influential fashion photographers, Stephen Meisel, with a selection of Versace images he created for the fall 2000 ad campaign. Gallery owner Jay Jopling compares the photographs to Mannerist portraits. The images show beautiful women, dressed to kill and perfectly poised in their luxurious mansions. Yet these pictures are imbued with a sense of irony--mockery perhaps--as one senses the boredom on the models' faces and the sense that they are constrained by their own status. Many believe Meisel's work is on par with fine contemporary photography, and the pictures here are priced accordingly, between $12,000 and $15,000.

The Staley-Wise Gallery in New York, the largest dealer of both vintage and contemporary fashion photography, recently held a show on Louise Dahl-Wolfe, who was one of the most celebrated photographers of the '30s, '40s and '50s. Working during the heyday of Harper's Bazaar, she pioneered the use of natural lighting in fashion photography and shooting on location and outdoors. Her elegant prints start at $1,000--a considerable bargain when compared to Meisel.

Museums have also jumped on board, lending legitimacy to the genre as a fine art form. The Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, has mounted the exhibit "The Look: Images of Glamour and Style" celebrating two of the most prolific and influential fashion photographers--Horst P. Horst, known for his use of elaborate props and dark settings with placed spotlights, and his mentor George Hoyningen-Huene, known for his Art Deco images marked by cool, uncluttered formal classicism. The exhibit includes more than 225 works by Horst and Huene, along with an additional 30 fashion photographs by artists such as Richard Avedon, Man Ray, William Klein and Irving Penn.

Helmut Newton, known for fashion photographs fused with themes of eroticism and power, is the subject of a major retrospective at the International Center of Photography in New York. Entitled "Helmut Newton: Work" the exhibit shows the full range of Newton's provocative work which graced the pages of Vogue, Vanity Fair and Marie Claire, to name a few, from the 1960s through 2000.

And the Museum at the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York recently held a retrospective entitled "John Rawlings: 30 Years in Vogue" commemorating the career of this noted, but often overlooked, fashion photographer from the late 1930s to late 1960s.

Certainly, these museum exhibits are an indication that fashion photography is gaining credibility as a fine art form in the art world. Another `indication is its rising prominence at major auction houses. At the recent Christie's Photography Auction, for example, Richard Avedon's iconic "Dovina with Elephants" (1955) sold for $22,325, while a recent photograph by David Seidner entitled "Louise Neri" (1999) sold for $4,113. Artnet.com held its first fashion photo auction last year, and an upcoming auction at Swann Galleries in New York, entitled "Important 19th & 20th Century Photographs," includes several fashion photographs.

"From the beginning, we have always offered fashion photographs in our auctions, but as of late, they have gotten a lot more attention. Prices are increasing," explained Daile Kaplan, head of the photographs department at Swann.

Etheleen Staley, co-owner of the Staley-Wise Gallery, also believes fashion photography is a growing trend in the art world. "We opened our gallery 20 years ago selling fashion photography, and we were the first gallery to do that," she said. "In the last eight years, fashion photography has been catching on at other galleries."

The Rise of Fashion Photography

According to Tom Gitterman of the Howard Greenberg Gallery in New York, the idea of fashion photography as a fine art form is not a new one. However, ideas don't always translate into market shares, and fashion photography didn't become a collector's item in the art market until the 1980s, shortly after the market for fine art photography was born.

"The idea of fine art photography--the collectibleness of it--is a rather recent phenomenon" said Gitterman, whose gallery carries the work of Lillian Bassman, Edward Steichen and William Klein, among others. "People sold prints, but there wasn't really a market for it. During the early 1970s, things started kicking into gear regarding photography as a market--as an art form that was commercially viable as well, The '70s were the biggest push. The first photographic auctions were held.

"Fashion photography came a bit later," he continued. "People were being recognized as significant photographers, but not as a commodity in the market. That didn't happen until the 1980s, due, in large part, to the publication of Appearances: Fashion Photography Since 1945 by Martin Harrison. That book made such a major impact."

One of the most significant art directors in the development of fashion photography, according to Gitterman, was Alexey Brodovitch, editor for Harper's Bazaar from the late `40s through the early `60s. A photographer himself, he taught classes at the New School in New York and influenced major fashion photographers like Horst, Avedon and Bassman.

"Brodovitch's input involved the free use of the photographic image. Rather than creating static pages that were in one format one after the other, Brodovitch moved the image around the page, used full bleeds, quarter bleeds--there was a rhythm to the layout and pages. His ideas of design were innovative and captivating and set a huge trend" said Gitterman.

"He was also accepting of gesture and blur in the photographs. The picture didn't have to be about the detailed depiction of the fashion or dress, but more about the mood and feeling of it. He was interested in the emotional expression capable in photography, and encouraged the fashion photographers he worked with to reach that higher level" Gitterman continued.

For example, Lillian Bassman started experimenting and developed a whole style of gesture and high-contrast imagery, for which she became famous."You could barely make out the dress. This was 1945," mused Gitterman.

For most of its existence, fashion photography has focused on society's idea of beauty. For years it was inspired by the lure of Hollywood, its glamour and elegance. The photographs set ideals and promoted an"if I buy this dress, I'll attain this lifestyle" kind of thinking. The purpose of the image was to sell clothes, but also to create fantasy.

In recent years, fashion photography has served more as a reflection of society's attitudes and obsessions. During the 1990s, for example, images of emaciated models and backdrops of gritty streets reflected and promoted the appetite for "heroin chic." Today, cutting-edge fashion photographers create images filled with irony and social commentary--almost indifferent to the clothes they are photographing. Surprisingly, the Versace's and Gucci's of the world don't seem to mind, as sales increase and they are crowned "hip."

Still, not every fashion photograph is a candidate for a gallery wall. "I'm really only interested in fashion photography that transcends the commercial purpose" explained Gitterman."Not every image does so. If it's merely a document of the advertisement or the promotion of the fashion or designer, it won't work, it won't sell. It has to be a personal expression of the photographer's artistic vision."