Post Surrealism and the start of Portrait Photography’s Golden Era
Introduction
Fabiola Pietrasanta in one of the recent set done with her; ph: Francesco Coppola
As in previous articles discussed, if Pictorialism flourished before and until First World War, Surrealism was born during the interlude between first and Second World War, after this last disastrous war we see a movement towards abandoning soft or distorted images even from the likes of Ansel Adams who started producing Pictorialist images, in 1925 transitioned to more defined and detailed kind of imaging arriving to found in the end the Club f64, an approach about Photography that sought definite and detailed images. We will not witness such a wide cultural movement anymore, instead the experiences will go even more singularly with each and every one after his own style and techniques.
Lucien Clergue the last aesthete of the Natural world
Born in Arles, southern France, in 1937 Lucien Clergue's family experienced poverty and destruction from Second World War, the then-common spectacle of death and being orphaned at the age of 15. Through this tragic period, he soon understood the importance of photography series that take importance seen one after another. Attracted by corridas, he took his chances in one of these cruent show in 1953 showing his initial photos to Pablo Picasso and befriended him, so that he could access a range of artists that aided him grow and establish his particular view that ended in a glorious artistic life, founding the Rencontres d’Arles, a photography festival and he achieved the maximum statal recognitions for his role into Art and Art Photography.
Living a tragic early life gave him an artistic drive, where on one hand the equilibrium between Life and Death, and on the other hand those beautifully exposed artistic nudes inserted perfectly into their environment, women’s body as an element of the Natural habitat, as is depicted in his early work Corps mémorable.
Despite time and personal experiences with Lucien Clergue I feel that he, between all the figures we’ll talk about today, is the most contemporary, nearer to our troubled 2025, because in many ways, his position as an artist working outside established commercial channels would prove prophetic for photographers decades later.
Richard Avedon
Art Nude Photography took a new, commercially influential turn with the American Photographer Richard Avedon, a colossal name in the field, responsible to renovating and improving Fashion Photography, thanks to him, fashion imagery featured more action-based, powerful portraits of women who possessed a strong sense of self. While he may not have dedicated a cohesive body of work specifically to the artistic nude, his fashion photography often included revealing, intimate images that endowed the models with a sculptural vitality that elevated them beyond mere clothing mannequins.
His prolific career coincided with and helped launch the Top Model phenomenon, so he shot famous models and actresses like Kate Moss, Naomi Campbell, Linda Evangelista, Cindy Crawford, Charlize Theron. It was the beginning of the Golden Era for Fashion Portrait Photography and Photography in general.
What we lose is a specific artistic drive, after all, in his late years Avedon had the occasion to shoot portraits of low salary workers in Fort Worth for the West collection he has been commissioned by the curator of the Amon Carter Museum, and he later considered this work the most important he ever made.
Herb Ritts
Having been born in California in 1952, this Photographer lived in full the High Fashion Portrait golden era. When he was young his family lived next to actor Steve McQueen’s house. The two knew each other and talked, this gave him an insight into celebrity that would later define his work.
Ritts advanced the Avedon approach by further unifying the commercial with the artistic. His technique — especially his preference for shooting Black and White in the harsh, late-day natural light — shows a profound sense of classical form and geometry. This sophisticated blending of high-fashion, natural elemental settings, and references to classical sculpture makes him arguably one of the first truly Post-Modernist photographers of the medium's 'Golden Era,' synthesizing historical aesthetics with contemporary celebrity culture.
Conclusions
At the end of this excursus, I can gather a sense of transformation and acceptance of the naked figure into Fashion Photography. That’s why, surely in my more recent study of Photography, I had as a mentor in a workshop the photographer Davide K Carboni with his environmental nudes and taste for geometric nudes, and I nearly attended a lesson with Monica Cordiviola, another Fashion photographer who uses nudes in her work. With Ritts ending his life in 2002, Avedon in 2004 and Clergue in 2014, their influence is yet alive and kicking even today.
Fabiola looking forward; ph: Francesco Coppola
But I feel a stronger connection with the experience and work of Lucien Clergue. The great feast for Fashion Photographers, after all, seems to go towards a bitter end, if no one does anything against the use of AI image generation tools. Sooner or later even the High Fashion world will cut costs gladly and end the era of travelling photographers, models and various crew around them in far beautiful locations.
The uninspired button pushers may adapt themselves working as prompt engineers in a future hive office or in cubicle positions, but, for all the others that have that Drive, it is compulsory to return to Art Photography, walking hand in hand with the spirit and inspiration of Clergue more than anybody else, proposing images that are more than simply sharp and defined, with good lines and a pretty lighting.
Meaning, psychology, inner chaos are the things that can yet make the passion for Photography an economic sustainable career, even looking into the future.
This is all for today’s article,
Hope you liked it.
Shine On!