Fashion photographers from modern times to the digital age – that is the leitmotif of the exhibition “Female View”, which starts on March 20th in Lübeck’s Kunsthalle St. Annen.
With more than 160 remarkable photographs taken between 1925 and 2020 by renowned female photographers, the exhibition is dedicated to the female perspective. Artists such as Deborah Turbeville, Louise Dahl-Wolfe, Liv Liberg, Amber Pinkerton, Alice Springs and Ellen von Unwerth and 14 other women are represented in the exhibition.
The works are a cross-section of the last 90 years of fashion photography. Even though this artistic field was shaped by numerous women and their work has graced the pages of well-known magazines such as Harper’s Bazaar, Vogue, Elle, Cosmopolitan, Marie Claire and many others, their creative talent has often been less recognized than that of their male colleagues. And this despite the fact that their work often reflects reality more precisely than that which arises from the point of view of their male colleagues. Since in many cases they worked as models themselves before they moved their profession behind the lens, they know both sides of the camera – and thus two different perspectives. “I know the prospects,” says Ellen von Unwerth.
In male fashion photography, the female body often serves as a canvas for clothing – “sometimes in a dubious representation,” as the Kunsthalle St. Annen writes. Although the viewers are mostly women themselves, the public image of women and fashion has been shaped by men for decades.
## Upside down worlds
The exhibition thus also indirectly touches on the problem of the “Male Gaze” phenomenon. “Male Gaze” describes the media portrayal of women as a male idea of how a woman should ideally be. In the film, photography and fashion industries in particular, the term has become a household name – because it points to the abuses in the creative industry in two ways. In addition to the view of male colleagues, which is often reduced to the external, the expression also draws attention to the inequalities at the working level. Because there are far fewer women in management positions in the industry, the female perspective often has no chance of being conveyed to consumers.
“Female View” deals with the change and the media spread of fashion photography within the 20th century – both in historical and in social contexts. The exhibition outlines the perspectives of women photographers, which are too often ignored, and puts the spotlight on fashion, the models and the photographers themselves as the main figures in fashion photography. It is accessible until July 3rd.
