"Seven months after I met Peter Lindbergh at Alaïa, his sublime large-format paintings of the Camargue took up residence in Marseille."
One day, Peter Lindbergh was selecting clothes at Azzedine's for a shoot in Beauduc in the Camargue. I took advantage of this time to tell him about my friendship and admiration for Lucien Clergue, creator of the Rencontres Photographiques d'Arles. As we got to know each other, Azzedine said to him, "You'll love Marseille if Maryline shows you around. I'm an ambassador for the city and I'll set the agenda: go to the Vieille Charité - it's a gem - then have lunch at Etienne Cassaro's, with pizzas or pieds paquets. Stroll around Les Goudes, go to the port..." Which led to Peter's enthusiastic reply, "I'm shooting in the Camargue next week, would you show me around Alaïa's Marseille?"
And so it was that, seven months after this incredible encounter, Peter's sublime large-format photographs of the Camargue took their place in each of the alcoves of the Pierre Puget chapel. This series remains my favorite for the power of its images, of mannequins wrapped in Alaïa houppelandes, walking on sand dunes and gracefully battling the mistral wind of Provence, the region that allowed us such a wonderful encounter.
After studying at the Berlin Academy of Art, Peter Lindbergh hitchhiked to Arles in the footsteps of his idol Van Gogh, whom he preferred to the masters of the German school. In love with the indefinable Mediterranean light, he continued his cultural journey to Morocco and then Spain. After two years as assistant to photographer Hans Lux, he set out on his own, offering a new interpretation of women in the post-'80s era.
He had the idea of bringing together young, unknown models (whose beauty bordered on perfection) for a photograph, and dressing them in nothing but white shirts. This image went global and marked the beginning of his international rise, along with that of the future top models he photographed: Linda Evangelista, Naomi Campbell, TatjanaPatitz, Cindy Crawford and Christy Turlington.
As British journalist Suzy Menkes writes: "The refusal of smooth perfection is Peter Lindbergh's hallmark: his images plunge into the unvarnished soul of his subjects, no matter how familiar or famous they may be."
