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🇪🇸 Spain /Culture & Society

Mario Testino’s living natures, from fashion to art

From La Vanguardia · () Spanish

Translated from Spanish and summarized by DistantNews. Read the original for the full story.

At a glance

In-depth Named sources New plan
  • Patricia Low Contemporary in Venice is presenting one of the largest exhibitions of Peruvian photographer Mario Testino’s work.
  • The show combines iconic portraits of Diana, Princess of Wales, Kate Moss and Naomi Campbell with recent equestrian studies, monumental floral compositions and still lifes.
  • Testino and curator Patricia Low selected works to reflect Venice’s beauty, theatricality and relationship with art history, with Simon de Pury also involved.

Mario Testino, the celebrated photographer of fashion’s magazine golden age, is strengthening his presence in the world’s art galleries. This autumn, Patricia Low Contemporary in Venice will present one of the largest exhibitions of his work.

The show brings together iconic portraits of Diana, Princess of Wales, Kate Moss and Naomi Campbell with Testino’s recent equestrian studies, monumental floral compositions and still lifes. Patricia Low organized the exhibition with the collaboration of Simon de Pury, a major figure in the art market and a personal friend of Testino.

Mario and I chose the works with Venice in mind. We wanted the exhibition to reflect the beauty, theatricality and extravagance of the city, but also its particular relationship with art history.

· Patricia LowShe explained how the exhibition was conceived for the gallery’s Venice presentation.

Venice offers the setting Testino and Low wanted for the exhibition. “Mario and I chose the works with Venice in mind. We wanted the exhibition to reflect the beauty, theatricality and extravagance of the city, but also its particular relationship with art history,” Low said.

Everyone knows his iconic photographs, but his practice has continued to evolve, and I am especially interested in showing series from his more recent work.

· Patricia LowShe described the exhibition’s focus on Testino’s development beyond fashion photography.

The show is also intended to trace how Testino’s practice has developed since his fashion images made him famous. “Everyone knows his iconic photographs, but his practice has continued to evolve, and I am especially interested in showing series from his more recent work,” Low said. She highlighted monumental floral screens and Meissen still lifes as revealing a different side of the artist without losing the sense of beauty that runs through his work.

The Venice exhibition follows a show presented with de Pury in Gstaad in January. That project focused on “A Beautiful World,” for which Testino has photographed in 36 countries, and included Swiss cows, traditional clothing, guild communities and other elements of the country. Testino said he and de Pury first met more than 20 years ago after a memorial tribute to Helmut Newton in Paris. De Pury approached him and predicted that he would become Newton’s successor.

I worked a lot with Helmut Newton and you will be the next.

· Simon de PuryTestino recalled what de Pury told him when they first met in Paris.
About this summary

Originally published by La Vanguardia in Spanish. Translated, summarized, and contextualized automatically by DistantNews, with a note on how the source frames the story. Not individually reviewed before publishing. How this works.

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