PRESS RELEASE
DOUGLAS KIRKLAND
Legends
Opening Tuesday January 12th 1999
from 7.00 pm
cocktail from 7.00 pm
from 13th January to 14th February 1999
Tuesday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday 10.30 am – 7.30 pm
Wednesday and Thursday 10.30 am – 9.00 pm
Monday 3.30 pm – 7.30 pm
Galleria Carla Sozzani
corso Como 10 – 20154 Milano, Italia
tel. +39 02.653531 fax +39 02.29004080
DOUGLAS KIRKLAND
Legends
in collaboration with Agenzia Grazia Neri
coordination by Elena Ceratti
This exhibition is a portrait gallery portraying 54 great legends: an unforgettable sequence of sweet photos of Marylin Monroe, followed by mistress of elegance Coco Chanel, attractive Jeanne Moreau, gorgeous Romy Schneider, sensual Brigitte Bardot, and then Jacques Henri Lartigue, Man Ray, Andy Warhol, Jack Nicholson, Robert De Niro… All the photos reveal the delight of seduction, in a “cat and mouse” game between the photographer and the star. Douglas always manages to rid his subject of all inhibitions: “I’m here to make you more beautiful, I don’t want to change you, seduce me… come on, show me what you’ve got”. Another of his talents was for creation of lasting icons, a gift he was able to develop thanks to his incessant contact with beauty, fame and legend. This exhibition includes only a part of the immense mass of work which he began more than thirty years ago and which has continued to maintain the same level of form and content ever since. The disciple of a school of photography with a long tradition demanding not only creativity but precise technical skill, Kirkland produces images revealing the harmony between impeccable technique and unusual expressiveness, a balance that reminds us that what we have before us is a great photographer who is in love with his profession and concentrates on giving us photos of pure beauty, revealing a profound sentiment of love for others.