Mead Carney and André Werther are proud to present ‘Exposure’, a retrospective of iconic works by legendary fashion photographer Hans Feurer.

Hans Feurer is considered one of the leading figures in fashion photography. His genre-defining career spans fifty years; from his famous shots of 1960’s ‘Swinging London’, the 1970’s Nova campaign and the revolutionary 1980’s KENZO campaigns, as well as numerous collaborations with the world’s most respected fashion publications including ELLE, VOGUE and NUMERO.

“Fashion has always fascinated me and I’ve always tried to understand the dream behind the images – and these photographs are kind of dream projections, you know? Of what one could be, of where one’s desires might lead you.”

Instantly recognisable characteristics of Feurer’s iconic photographs are intense natural settings bathed in a contrasting play of light and shadow and a bold juxtaposition between layers of rich fabric and the female form, all rendered in lush, cinematic colours with minimal retouching, leading to a prolific body of work; a world of authentic images, naturally lit and equally expressive, as they are alluring.

Feurer’s time spent travelling across Africa for two years in the late 1960’s was a crucial catalyst of the visual aesthetic that has come to define his work. It was in Africa that Feurer discovered his exceptional sensibility for light and his love for the natural wonders of the continent. Strong influences of his travels are evident in the inherent sense of adventure Feurer’s images convey, as well as the raw, expressive quality of his photographs.

Feurer’s female figure is strong and ferocious, sensual and uninhibited, moving effortlessly, her expressions reflecting intensity and vigour. Crucial to Feurer’s work is to capture a very particular moment where an emotion reveals itself in the movement of the model and the scene truly comes to life. “I don’t do sterile, formal pictures”, Feurer describes his process of capturing that elusive moment. “I like to make pictures that provoke an emotion and affect you in your feelings. For that, both the woman and the clothes need to come alive.”

In the 1980’s, the collaborations between designer Kenzo Takada and Hans Feurer marked a turning point in contemporary fashion photography. The era-defining advertising campaigns for KENZO, featuring super model Iman, subverted traditional campaign imagery through Feurer’s use of a new global aesthetic of culture looking further afield for inspiration. Thirty years later, this powerful creative partnership between Feurer and Kenzo acted as a fundamental inspiration for Kenzo’s A/W 2013 collection and the subsequent book launch at KENZO in London, featuring one hundred and seventy five of Feurer’s most iconic images to illustrate his remarkable career.

“Milan Fashion Week : A Week overflowing with silly fashion victims of the Bronx Padano,

Useless “New Emerging Designers” and thousands of wanna be. Luckily tonight I went to The extraordinary exhibition of the legendary photographer Hans Feurer, a triumph of ALL images in film, spanning from 70s to 90s , no digital, no photoshop !”

“Fashion has always fascinated me and I’ve always tried to understand the dream behind the style of clothes –
and these photographs are kind of dream projections you know?

Of what one could be, of where one’s desires might lead you.”

“Une monographie rassemble enfin les images cultes du maître de l’érotisme solaire.”

 “I do dream projections,” Feurer explained of his work. “Fashion allows a woman to become somebody else by the way she dresses and if you play an act long enough you become it so I try to take images of what I would like to live or to become or to be.”

 “C’est en Afrique que le photographe de mode Hans Feurer a découvert son style : la chasse à une beauté surnaturelle, ouverte à tous les tribalismes.”

“Anyone who has had the word influential used to describe his work as much as Swiss-born fashion photographer
Hans Feurer has certainly deserves a retrospective. In September, Damiani will release Hans Feurer, a career-spanning volume that explores Feurer’s innovative use of natural light and environments in making groundbreaking fashion images that showcase the female form.

Feurer, who photographed the 1974 Pirelli calendar, frequently shot for magazines such as Vogue and Elle in the 70’s and the 80’s, as well as numerous brands-including Kenzo, for whom he created a now-iconic 1983 campaign featuring Iman swathed in a crimson sheath.”

“My photographs aim to stimulate the imagination of the person looking at them.”