The Annenberg Space for Photography, located in Los Angeles, has announced their new exhibit, Beauty Culture, a photographic exploration of how feminine beauty is defined, challenged and revered in modern society.
The exhibit features work from photographers such as Albert Watson, Bert Stern, Herb Ritts, Man Ray, Jean-Paul Goude, Guy Bourdin, Horst, Melvin Sokolsky, Matthew Rolston, Philippe Halsman, Lauren Greenfield and Tyen.
Daring, provocative and at times controversial, the exhibition presents diverse viewpoints on beauty as it has evolved through the 20th and 21st centuries. The exhibition compellingly illustrates the power of the still image in shaping cultural ideals and expectations of feminine beauty – and photography’s undeniable influence on conceptions of the Self.
“As much as beauty can astonish and inspire, it can also corrupt and subvert, rendering all else – and even itself – broken and obsolete. The great contemporary photographers do so much more than chronicle and celebrate what is beautiful in our time. They dig beneath it, they confront our compulsion with it, and they turn art’s mirror on ourselves as well. I can’t think of a more important conversation for the Annenberg Space to have,” says Wallis Annenberg, Chairman of the Board, President and CEO of the Annenberg Foundation.
Other noted photographers and visual artists in the exhibit include: Andres Serrano, Carrie Mae Weems, Chuck Close, David LaChapelle, Ellen von Unwerth, Erwin Blumenfeld, Gilles Bensimon, Greg Gorman, Leonard Nimoy, Lillian Bassman, Lynn Johnson, Martin Schoeller, Mary Ellen Mark, Michel Comte, Nino Munoz, Norman Jean Roy, ORLAN, Patrick Demarchelier, Paul Lange, Robert Maxwell, Terry Richardson and William Claxton.
Showcasing images of performers, professional models and pop-culture icons, BEAUTY CULTURE features portrait and editorial images of Alek Wek, Angelina Jolie, Anja Rubik, Beverly Johnson, Bo Derek, Carmen Dell’Orefice, Cheryl Tiegs, Christy Turlington, Cindy Crawford, Crystal Renn, Du Juan, Elizabeth Taylor, Gisele Bundchen, Grace Jones, Helena Christensen, Hilary Swank, Iman, Jean Shrimpton, Kate Moss, Kristen McMenamy, Lakshmi Menon, Linda Evangelista, Madonna, Marilyn Monroe, Megan Fox, Michelle Pfeiffer, Nadja Auermann, Nancy Kwan, Naomi Campbell, Sophia Loren, Stephanie Seymour, Tatjana Patitz and Venus Williams.
In addition to over 170 photographs featured in the print gallery, Beauty Culture will showcase nearly 500 digital images in vivid detail on high-resolution screens in their Digital Gallery.
Beauty Culture opens to the public in Los Angeles on May 21, 2011 and runs through November 27, 2011. Admission is free.
www.annenbergspaceforphotography.org
Photo Credit: (C) 2002 Felicia Webb – Backstage at the Paul Smith Women fashion show, London, 09/13/2002. (PRNewsFoto/The Annenberg Space for Photography)