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- Img. No. 0282
- Victoria Abril
- 1992
- 83 / 113 cm
- Polaroid 50 x 60 cm
- signed by the celebrity
- Natural wooden frame w. glas
- Photographed in Cannes
Victoria Abril
*1959 Madrid, Spain
Victoria Abril sees herself as an international actress who enjoys living and working in Europe. The Madrid-born actress became the muse of the Spanish director Vicente Aranda, with whom she has made many films. Abril received an award in 1987 for her film »Lute - camina o revienta«. Following her training in ballet and classical dance, Abril came by way of a minor role in Obsesión in 1976 to her first leading role in Caperucita y Roja (D.: Luis Revenga) and to becoming a television quiz-show host. Creativity in her work began to become more and more important to her in the eighties, so that she now only takes on roles which really appeal to her. After various offers of films in European countries, Abril`s international breakthrough came with Atame! in 1989
(D.: Almodóvar). In One Woman Between Two, filmed in 1995, she plays alongside Josiane Balasko as a wife who has been cheated on and takes refuge in a lesbian relationship.
She is also a singer; in 2005 she released her debut, a bossanova-jazz album called PutchEros do Brasil. -
- Img. No. 0283
- Alaïa
- 1993
- 83 / 113 cm
- Polaroid 50 x 60 cm
- signed by the celebrity
- Natural wooden frame w. glas
- Photographed in Paris
Alaϊa
*1939 Tunisia
There are few fashion designers who are able to show the female form to such advantage as Azzedine Alaϊa does with his perfectly tailored creations. When asked about his age, the Tunisian-born designer is accustomed to answer as old as the Pharaohs and as young as the world. Even while he was studying sculpture at the Tunis Academy of Art, he began to familiarise himself with tailoring techniques. Alaϊa moved to Paris in 1957 and spent two seasons working for Guy Laroche. For many years his name was known only to insiders, as he began to build up his customer base. Alaϊa`s first col-lection under his own name was presented in 1981 and, in 1985, he was the first person to be awarded two fashion
Oscars for his revolutionary designs. In the mid-1990s, Alaϊa virtually vanished from the fashion scene, but continued to cater for a private clientele and to enjoy commercial success in his ready-to-wear lines,presenting his collections in his own space, in the heart of le Marais, where he brought his creative workshop, boutique and showroom all under one roof.
He then signed a partnership with the Prada group in 2000, the same year as his solo exhibition at the Guggenheim in New York, which initially had been launched and curated at the Groninger Museum in the Netherlands by Mark Wilson and Jim Cook in 1997.
Working with Prada has seen him through a second impressive renaissance, and in July 2007 he successfully bought back his house and brand name from the Prada group, though his footwear and leather goods division continues to be developed and produced by the group.
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- Img. No. 0284
- Pedro Almodovar
- 1992
- 83 / 113 cm
- Polaroid 50 x 60 cm
- signed by the celebrity
- Natural wooden frame w. glas
- Photographed in Cannes
*1951 Calzada de Calatrava, Spain
Having begun his career as an actor, scriptwriter and composer in the seventies, Almodóvar is quite clearly one of those directors who helped draw renewed attention and commercial success to cinematography in Spain in the late nineteen eighties.
His internationally famous films »Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown« (1988) »Atame!« (1989) and »Volver« (2006) are shrill and provocative comedies. Everyday catastrophes, chaotic (homo-)sexual relationships and anarchic settings add up to a voluptuous, off-beat fiction whose real background is the generation and experiences of the Spanish underground scene in the post-Franco era. Just as eccentric as the plots are the actors themselves - often private acquaintances of Almodóvar, they remind us of Federico Fellinis casting methods.
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- Img. No. 0285
- Brian Auger
- 1990
- 83 / 113 cm
- Polaroid 50 x 60 cm
- signed by the celebrity
- Natural wooden frame w. glas
- Photographed in Freiburg
*1939 Bihar, India
Under the influence of fifties jazz music, Brian Auger changed over from the acoustic piano in the sixties to the Hammond B3 organ. Critics judged him the »Worlds Best Organist« on this instrument in 1976.
After early contacts with Horace Silver, Miles Davis and Herbie Hancock, Auger founded the group »Trinity« in 1966. This successful group, centred around the eccentric singer Julie Driscoll, was dissolved in 1970. Since then Auger has been an inspired explorer of the boundaries between jazz and rock with a wide variety of formations and partnerships.
Important albums are, for example, »Second Wind« (1972), »Straight Ahead« (1974), »Happiness Heartaches« (1977), »Planet Earth Calling« (1987) and his live album »Access All Areas« (1993) with Eric Burdon, featuring Augers son Karma on the drums. After several projects, including albums with family members, he reformed the Oblivion Express in the late 1990s, with a line-up that eventually featured both his son and daughter.
The Oblivion Express name was revived with a 2005 recording and subsequent touring. The group featured Brians son Karma Auger on drums, his daughter Savannah Auger on vocals, and Derek Frank on bass.
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- Img. No. 0286
- Elvira Bach
- 1992
- 83 / 113 cm
- Polaroid 50 x 60 cm
- signed by the celebrity
- Natural wooden frame w. glas
- Photographed in Berlin
*1951 Neuenhain/Taunus, Germany
Elvira Bachs spontaneous and aggressive style of painting identifies her as a classic example of the »Young Wild Ones«. She studied under Hann Trier at the Berlin School of Art from 1972-79 where, as a master-class student, she preferred to create her own intimate world with her early still-life works rather than to be integrated into a group.
An exhibition of her »Bathtub Pictures« in 1979 reflected an important period of her development and her need for isolation as a means of coming to terms with herself, as a woman and as an artist. Since then, figures have always played the central role in her work.
In 1982 she was awarded a scholarship as »Artist in Residence« in the Dominican Republic, and since 1978 has exhibited in many individual and group exhibitions.
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- Img. No. 0287
- Chris Barber
- 1990
- 83 / 113 cm
- Polaroid 50 x 60 cm
- signed by the celebrity
- Natural wooden frame w. glas
- Photographed in Freiburg
*1930 Welwyn Garden City, England
Chris Barbers ageless evergreens are of course »Petite Fleur« (by Sidney Bechet) and »Ice Cream«. As trombonist and bandleader, Barber, along with the English trumpet player Ken Colyer, developed a fashionable version of the old New Orleans style which successfully popularised jazz in Europe and which was reflected back in America in so-called Revival or Traditional Jazz.
Barber had originally studied law, beginning as an amateur musician on the violin and soprano saxophone and establishing his first band in 1949. He played on numerous tours and at festivals alongside well-known blues artists such as Muddy Waters, Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee, but also with the rather more experimental jazz-men Don Ellis and Charles Mingus, even proving himself open to the influence of rock music in the seventies.
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- Img. No. 0288
- Senta Berger
- 1992
- 83 / 113 cm
- Polaroid 50 x 60 cm
- signed by the celebrity
- Natural wooden frame w. glas
- Photographed in Berlin
*1941 Vienna, Austria
Major roles in the series »Kir Royal« (1984-86), »Die schnelle Gerdi« (Racing Gerdi) (1988/89) and »Ärzte« (Doctors) (1993), have made Senta Berger one of Germany\'s most popular TV actresses.
She began her training at the Reinhardt Seminar and at the Theater in der Josefstadt. In numerous comedies, westerns and thrillers in Germany, Italy, France and the USA, she usually played the beautiful and desirable heroine.
She and her husband, the actor and director Michael Verhoeven, founded the successful production company Sentana Film GmbH in 1965 (productions include »Die weiße Rose« (The White Rose), which won the Federal German Film Prize in 1983). In addition to literary read-ings and appearances as a talk-show and radio host, Senta Berger is still seen on stage, for example in the role of the mistress in »Jedermann« (Everyman) at the Salzburg festival.
She also started a career as a singer of Chansons. 2005 she was actress in a beautiful and sad film, Einmal so wie ich will, as a woman trapped in an unhappy marriage who finds but turns her back on love when on holiday.
Since February 2003, Senta Berger has been president of the German Film Academy, which seeks to advance the new generation of actors and actresses in Germany and Europe. The Academy will decide the assignment of the German Film Awards in the future.
In the spring of 2006, her autobiography was published in Germany: Ich habe ja gewußt, daß ich fliegen kann (I Knew That I Could Fly). Among her memories of Hollywood are a less-than-subtle attempt by Darryl Zanuck to get her on his castin couch, and being called You German pig on her first day on the set of Major Dundee by a gaffer whose wife had lost her family in Auschwitz. -
- Img. No. 0289
- Juliette Binoche
- 1992
- 83 / 113 cm
- Polaroid 50 x 60 cm
- signed by the celebrity
- Natural wooden frame w. glas
- Photographed in Berlin
*1964 Paris, France
Juliette Binoche is one of the great stars of the French cinema. She has worked since 1984 with Jean-Luc Godard, winning the Romy Schneider Prize back in 1985 for her role in André Téchinés »Rendezvous«.
Through her work on »Mauvais Sang«, a coolly objective gangster ballad, she met her then partner in her private life, Léos Carax. Her character in his melodrama »Les amants du Pont-Neuf«, torn between a settled middle-class existence and romantic love to become a social outcast, brought her the Félix film prize in 1992. She achieved international acclaim in »The Unbearable Lightness of Being«
in 1987, going on to play leading roles in Louis Malles »Damage« of 1992 and in Krzysztof Kiéslowskis trilogy »Three Colours: Blue« of 1993. In 1996 her role as Hana, a Canadian nurse tending to a wounded stranger during World War II, in the blockbuster film »The English Patient«, brought her the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress, in an upset over expected winner Lauren Bacall winner whose seniority the Academy chose to overlook. Onstage, Binoche said I dont have a speech prepared. I thought Lauren would get it. In 2000, she was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actressfor her starring role in the film »Chocolat«, based on the novel by Joanne Harris. In addition to her numerous motion picture roles, Binoche has starred on Broadway. She is the highest-paid film actress in the history of France. Binoche has two children, Raphael (with Andre Halle) and Hanna (with French actor Benoit Magimel).
2007 was one of Binoches busiest years. The Cannes Film Festival saw the premiere of Le Voyage du Ballon Rouge by the Taiwanese director Hou Hsiao-Hsien. The film was well received by international critics and went on to debut around the world in early 2008. Dan in Real Life a romantic comedy opposite Steve Carrell was released in October 2007, becoming a popular commercial success. Back in France Binoche was seen to popular and critical success in Paris by Cédric Klapisch, L´Heure Dété by Olivier Assayas and Désengagement by Amos Gitai. In March 2008 Binoche began work on Copie Conforme for Abbas Kiarostami opposite Sami Frey. In the Autumn of 2008 Binoche is scheduled to appear in a theatrical dance production called Inside I with Akram Khan premiering at The National Theatre in London before moving to New Yor, L.A., Sydney and Paris. Beyond that Binoche has been mentioned in connection with Jean-Luc Godards upcoming film Socialisme, Juliet McKeons Ring Libertyand new collaborations with Abel Ferrara and Patrice Leconte, all scheduled to shoot in 2009. -
- Img. No. 0290
- Jane Birkin
- 1993
- 83 / 113 cm
- Polaroid 50 x 60 cm
- signed by the celebrity
- Natural wooden frame w. glas
- Photographed in Paris
*1946, London, Great Britain
Many people still remember »Je t’aime ... moi non plus«, the lascivious duet sung, or rather moaningly breathed by Jane Birkin and Serge Gainsbourg, and which was banned at the time by various radio stations. The scandal of the late sixties rather tended to overshadow her later successful career as a singer in France. She has made musical collaborations and duets with artists such as Feist, Portishead, Brian Ferry, Placebo, Franz Ferdinand, Paolo Conte, Beck, The Smiths, Sonny Landreth and many others.
Jane Birkin has also worked since then as a film actress, mainly in France and Great Britain. In Michelangelo Antonionis film »Blow Up« (1966), an outstanding film about Londons beat generation, she plays one of the nude models romping around in front of star photographer David Hemmings camera.
Agnès Varda made a documentary film about her in 1987 entitled »Jane B. by Agnès V.«.
Her daughter from her relationship with Gainsbourg, Charlotte Gainsbourg, is also an actress. -
- Img. No. 0374
- Chantal Thomass
- 1992
- 83 / 113 cm
- Polaroid 50 x 60 (20 x 24 in)
- signed by the celebrity
- Natural wooden frame w. glas
Chantal Genty
*1947 Malakoff⁄France
Chantal Thomass has built a reputation for her tantalizing, flirtatious clothes. Much of her work pays a titillating homage to exotic underwear; there is, however, never a blatant display of overt sexuality. Instead there is always a hint of the naughty schoolgirl or a sensuous allusion to the charms of the teenage seductress, like Carole Baker in Baby Doll or Sue Lyon in Lolita. The clothes are often fitted or skimpy, trimmed in frills, ribbons, and flounces, and always produced in the most sophisticated fabrics.
Thomass had no formal training in fashion design, but as a child, dressing up proved enough of a motivation for her to design her own clothes, which were made by her mother. She began her fashion career at 18, designing clothes for girls of her own age. A year later, she married Bruce Thomass, who had studied at the École des Beaux Arts in Paris. Together they formed a small fashion company called Ter et Bantine manufacturing and selling young and unusual clothes. They created dresses from hand-painted scarves, designed by Bruce, and succeeded in selling them to Dorothée Bis. Thomass also designed dresses with flounced pinafores, schoolgirl collars, and balloon sleeves that were sold from their first boutique on Boulevard Saint Germain in 1967. Actress and French cultural symbol Brigitte Bardot became a regular customer, as did designer Jacqueline Jacobson, who ordered over a hundred dresses in one season alone.
The business was sufficiently successful for the pair to found the Chantal Thomass label in 1975, with Chantal as creative director and Bruce as licensing and sales director. As the profile of the company rose, so did the price of the clothes, although they retained their young, enchanting, and highly feminine style. Thomass has often been motivated by the progression of her own life. Her pregnancy in 1981 led her to develop a line of maternity clothes. As her daughter began growing, Thomass developed a childrenswear division that retained many of the distinctive and theatrical elements of her mainline collections. The company moved into licensing in 1985, joining forces with the Japanese group World as a financial partner. Licensed products were available throughout Europe and Japan and included fine leather goods, tights, women’s shoes, eyewear, watches, children’s ready-to-wear, scarves, lingerie, and swimwear. There were soon a dozen Thomass boutiques throughout France.
Thomass retains her eminence by reflecting fashion changes and adapting her look to suit the prevalent mood. A youthful feel to her clothes has kept her in the forefront of leading Paris-based designers. Yet the mid-to late 1990s were a turbulent time for Thomass. In 1995 she was fired from her own label, of which she owned a minority interest, in a dispute with Japanese majority owner World Company. World planned to continue the label, publicizing aggressive expansion plans, and released further designs, which were considered more commercial than Thomass’ typical work. A year later, however, the label went into bankruptcy and liquidated its assets.
Thomass, meanwhile, stopped designing lingerie for a time, leaving the category that had become her main focus. She spent the next four years as a consultant to companies such as Austrian hosiery maker Wolford (where she designed a swimwear line), Victoria’s Secret, Antinéas, and Rosy, often in categories outside lingerie. In late 1998 after a lawsuit against World was resolved, Thomass reacquired the rights to her name and found a backer, the Dim division of Sara Lee, which took a two-thirds ownership of her company and assumed manufacturing duties for the core lingerie lines. Her first products under the relaunch were available in 1999. Her reentry into lingerie design was marked by controversy when a Galeries Lafayette window display featuring live models wearing her lingerie drew protests from feminists and other groups in Paris.
Among the best-known designers in France—a retrospective of her work at Marseille’s Musée de Mode in 2001 included 230 pieces—Thomass also has a strong business in Japan and began her entry into the U.S. market in the late 1990s and early 2000s, with her first Saks Fifth Avenue trunk show taking place in April 2001. Licensed lines, distributed primarily in Europe and Japan, include eyewear, among other categories.
Thomass remains best known for her sexy, comfortable lingerie, often done in black but sometimes pastels or white, or with a layering of different colors and materials. She often shows her line to retail buyers using live dioramas featuring models doing everyday tasks in their lingerie. Women’s Wear Daily (5 February 2001) termed her display at the Salon International de la Lingerie as \\a naughty peep show featuring saucy vignettes of boudoir voyeurism\\. In the future, Thomass planned to expand into apparel again, focusing on lingerie-inspired looks.