Conde Nast archive exhibition set for Edinburgh

THEY are the iconic figures whose work helped turn fashion photography into an art form and made household names out of magazines like Vogue and Vanity Fair.

Now some of the earliest images captured by the likes of Cecil Beaton, Man Ray, Helmut Newton, David Bailey, Corinne Day and Mario Testino are to take centre-stage during a major festival exhibition in Edinburgh this summer.

The city has scored a major coup by landing a display of rarely-seen photographs drawn from the 100-year-old archives of publisher Conde Nast, which is currently on display in fashion capital Milan.

The show, at the City Art Centre, will be the only UK visit for the exhibition, which will trace the history of fashion photography back to the earliest Conde Nast pioneers.

They include Paris-born Adolphe de Meyer, Vogue’s first fashion photographer, who was hired in 1914, and American photographer Edward Steichen, who is largely credited with taking the world’s first ever fashion photographs, in 1911.

The exhibition, which will be part of the Edinburgh Art Festival in Edinburgh this summer, will chart the rise of fashion photography through the careers of the experts behind the lens, and look at how influential their work has been on wider 20th century culture.

Masterminded by the French-American Foundation for the Exhibition of Photography, it will visit Zurich, Paris, Florida and Tokyo after its Edinburgh run from June till September. Other photographers featured include Irving Penn, Erwin Blumenfield and William Klein.

Curator Nathalie Herschdorfer told The Scotsman: “I had worked on another exhibition of the work of Edward Steichen a few years and got the chance to visit Conde Nast’s archives in New York at the time.

“I can remember there were more than 2000 prints of his work just sleeping there in these boxes. They said they would be happy to help if I had any other ideas for an exhibition.

“I spent a whole week there for this on, going through box after box, which were only sorted according to each magazine that was published, not the work of the photographer.

“I didn’t want to just focus on one period, I felt it was important to cover the whole history of fashion photography through the exhibition and Conde Nast gave me carte blanche to use whatever I liked from the archives.”

Ian O’Riordan, senior curator at the City Art Centre, said: “We’ve had a few fashion photography exhibitions in the past, but really looking at the work of individual photographers like Lord Snowdown, Cecil Beaton and Albert Watson, although they were all really successful.

“We made inquiries last year about the exhibition after hearing that it was going to be on in Paris and it’s very exciting that it’s now going to be coming here on its tour around the world.

“Most of the work was taken right at the outset of the careers of these photographers and the majority of what is going on show has not really been seen anywhere before.”

Richard Lewis, the council’s culture leader, said: “It really is a fantastic coup for the City Art Centre to bring this exhibition to Edinburgh - the only opportunity to view the exhibition on these shores.

“Featuring work by some of the biggest names in the history of fashion photography, I’m sure it will be huge draw over the summer months.”

Coming into Fashion - A Century of Photography at Conde Nast is at the City Art Centre in Edinburgh from 15 June-September 8,