Between Art & Fashion. Photographs from the Collection of Carla Sozzani opened on Friday at the Helmut Newton Foundation in Berlin and marks the first time that Carla Sozzani exhibits her personal collection. The exhibition space couldn’t be more appropriate, as the gallerist and the photographer shared a close friendship and Newton’s work was showed at Sozzani’s gallery in Milan several times, the last exhibition happening only a couple of months before his passing in 2004. So, if you can’t make it to the Italian city, you can visit the German capital until the 18th of November and enjoy one of the most impressive private collections there is right now.
“There is always time for everything when you like something” was Carla Sozzani’s response when asked how she has time for all her projects. This statement wrapped up the press conference of the exhibition opening last Friday, and is quite descriptive of Sozzani’s amazing career. Her influence on the fashion and art worlds is immeasurable. Gallery Carla Sozzani at 10 Corso Como, founded in 1990, has hosted hundreds of exhibitions and now has branches in China, Korea and the United States – the next venue will open in South Street Seaport in New York City this September.
Carla Sozzani has collected photographs for many years and claims to have thousands. The exhibition catalogue opens with a photo of Sozzani’s office, which she calls her second home, the walls covered in framed photographs. “Everything that is important to me, I hang it!”, she says. Even though the exhibition unveils over two hundred photographs, it is still only a fraction of Sozzani’s extensive collection – “fifty years of memories”, as she calls it.
The exhibition, as the name Between Art & Fashion suggests, includes a very diverse range of photographs, from fashion and nude to documentary and travel, and everything in between. What they all have in common though is being the works of master photographers – names including Man Ray, Helmut Newton, Francesca Woodman, Richard Avedon, Larry Clark, Sarah Moon, Paolo Roversi and Irving Penn. Overall, the selection of photographs is timeless, elegant and iconic, just like Sozzani herself.
Paolo Roversi, who answered a few questions at the press conference, phrased his opinion of Sozzani beautifully; “Carla is an image of beauty and elegance. When you work with Carla you already have an example of what you are looking for.” Fabrice Hergott, director of the Museé d’Art de la Ville de Paris and a dear friend of the Italian gallerist, is the man behind the selection and editing of the exhibition catalogue. Also, on the occasion of June Newton’s 95th birthday, June’s Room, a large section of the Helmut Newton Foundation, was filled with around thirty portraits by her, under her artist name Alice Springs.
Carla Sozzani has collected photographs for many years and claims to have thousands. The exhibition catalogue opens with a photo of Sozzani’s office, which she calls her second home, the walls covered in framed photographs. “Everything that is important to me, I hang it!”, she says. Even though the exhibition unveils over two hundred photographs, it is still only a fraction of Sozzani’s extensive collection – “fifty years of memories”, as she calls it.
The exhibition, as the name Between Art & Fashion suggests, includes a very diverse range of photographs, from fashion and nude to documentary and travel, and everything in between. What they all have in common though is being the works of master photographers – names including Man Ray, Helmut Newton, Francesca Woodman, Richard Avedon, Larry Clark, Sarah Moon, Paolo Roversi and Irving Penn. Overall, the selection of photographs is timeless, elegant and iconic, just like Sozzani herself.
Paolo Roversi, who answered a few questions at the press conference, phrased his opinion of Sozzani beautifully; “Carla is an image of beauty and elegance. When you work with Carla you already have an example of what you are looking for.” Fabrice Hergott, director of the Museé d’Art de la Ville de Paris and a dear friend of the Italian gallerist, is the man behind the selection and editing of the exhibition catalogue. Also, on the occasion of June Newton’s 95th birthday, June’s Room, a large section of the Helmut Newton Foundation, was filled with around thirty portraits by her, under her artist name Alice Springs.
Between Art & Fashion. Photographs from the Collection of Carla Sozzani will be on view until November 18 at the Helmut Newton Foundation, Jebensstraße 2, Berlin.
Paolo Roversi Meg, Alaïa Dress, 1987 © Paolo Roversi.
Erwin Blumenfeld. Le Décolleté (The Décolleté), Victoria von Hagen, for Vogue, New York, 1952 © The Estate of Erwin Blumenfeld.
Lillian Bassman. A report to Skeptics, Suzy Parker, for Harper ́s Bazaar, New York, 1952 © The Estate of Lillian Bassman / Courtesy Staley-Wise Gallery, New York.
Mario De Biasi. Gli Italiani si voltano (Italians turn around), 1954 © Archivo Mario De Biasi.
Carla Sozzani and Helmut Newton in her Studio, Milano, 1999 © Lorenzo Camocardi, courtesy Fondazione Sozzani.