Serge Lutens (French, born in 1942) "Les Hautes... Lot 14

Serge Lutens (French, born in 1942) "Les Hautes Tensions", 1976 Five vintage color photographic prints on Kodak paper, two of which are captioned on the back. Height 17,6 Width 11,8 cm. Mr. Lutens asks us to specify that these prints reproduced in series constitute working documents of the time which were realized for the promotion of cosmetic products. They do not correspond to Serge Lutens' vision of his photographic work. "For Spring/Summer 1976, Serge Lutens rediscovers an anti-camera of sharp colors, sometimes screaming, but always very flattering: it is a return to the dynamism of color and form. A very drawn and colored makeup that he proposes to us with the new shades of Christian Dior Les Hautes Tensions". Lionel Paillès,"Les mille et unes vies de Serge Lutens, l'icône du parfum", Le Monde, October 28, 2022 "Sophisticated images The whole world is at his feet, starting with Diana Vreeland, editor-in-chief of American Vogue, the most influential woman in the business, who proclaims that the Serge Lutens revolution is underway. The little guy from Lille has succeeded in his bet. With Baudelaire, he asserts that "make-up does not have to hide itself, to avoid letting itself be guessed; it can, on the contrary, be displayed, if not with affectation, at least with a kind of candor. And then, he took his turn with the camera, as a perfect autodidact. His images are skilfully composed, down to the smallest detail. " Shese pictures are for me photographic tales much more than photosThey are for me photographic tales much more than photos," says Patrice Nagel, who was his assistant for a long time. He remembers a photo studio that looked like a chapel, where Serge Lutens directed his models like a director, in an unreal atmosphere of pagan ritual and with a background of Mozart's Requiem. "Serge would create everything with his own hands: a hairstyle and makeup, but also a bracelet, a necklace, absolutely everything", adds Patrice Nagel. The preparations could last a whole day to build these sophisticated images that looked like paintings, sculptures, 3D images, at a time when everything was real, Photoshop did not exist. "He made such a mark on the style of the time that a series of his photos, entitled "Make-up Art", inspired by Modigliani, Braque, Picasso and Léger, was even exhibited at the Guggenheim Museum in New York in 1973," adds Patrice Nagel. Terry de Gunzburg still remembers the shock she felt when she discovered, in a photo published in Vogue, "a woman who had a drop of crystal on the end of the eyelashes, a kind of tribute to Man Ray. It was dazzling!".