Art is divine

Everything is Portrait

By Micha Christos

PALAIS GALLIERA

Musée de la MODE PARIS

From March 16 to July 14, 2024

PAOLO ROVERSI

Lucie, Paris, 1990 © Paolo Roversi

Kirsten, Romeo Gigli, Paris, 1987 © Paolo Roversi

The first monograph dedicated to the photographer in Paris, the Paolo Roversi exhibition at the Palais Galliera unveils 50 years of photographs and reveals how the artist seized fashion to create a unique work.

Of Italian origin, he moved to Paris in 1973 and worked for prestigious magazines in collaboration with the greatest desi gners.

Paolo Roversi has a signature, a look of subtlety shrouded in a poetic aura which transforms what he photographs into a timeless painting. Whether he immortalizes a face, a dress or an object, he gives an extra soul to his “portraits”.

Lampe, Paris, 2002 © Paolo Roversi

Kirsten, Romeo Gigli, Londres, 1988 © Paolo Roversi

The models pose for him with a disturbing intensity, time stops to capture the moment in a transparent matrix of elegance and natural sophistication. In soft sepia tones, black and white haloed by daylight or flashlight, Paolo Roversi stands at the heart of his subjects while keeping them at a respectful distance, touching their contours with delicacy and force.

A peaceful power emanates from each of his works. T his exhibition brings together 140 works, previously unpublished images, Polaroid prints and press and catalog archives.

Lida et Alexandra, Alberta Ferretti, Paris, 1998 © Paolo Roversi

Luca, Alexander McQueen, Paris, 2021 © Paolo Roversi

The spectator travels from the shadows to the light in a universe as intimate as it is exceptional with a skin-deep imprint in the artist’s imaginary studio, his theater of all possibilities and even more of all impossibles.

An essential photographer in the world of fashion,

Paolo Roversi is nevertheless timeless.