Alberta Tiburzi. A Brilliant Epoch. Italian Fashion of the 1980s
Erarta Museum of Contemporary Art presented an exhibition of photographs by Alberta Tiburzi. Back in the 1960s, this iconic Italian model and fashion photographer kept appearing on the covers of Vogue and Harper’s Bazaar, while her own photo shoots for fashion magazines were praised by the masters of international photography
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Nearly a hundred images demonstrating Tiburzi’s signature take on the 1970s and 80s fashion
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Glossy editorials and eloquent portraits epitomising perfection
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Photographs of Andy Warhol, Giorgio Armani, Michelangelo Antonioni, Bernardo Bertolucci, Roman Polanski, Dustin Hoffman, Jack Nicholson, Monica Bellucci, Catherine Deneuve, Charlotte Rampling, Ornella Muti, and other cult figures of the epoch
The first solo exhibition by Alberta Tiburzi, the iconic Italian model and fashion photographer, was held at the Multimedia Art Museum, Moscow, as part of the 12th Moscow International Biennale Fashion and Style in Photography 2021.
Alberta Tiburzi was born in Rome. When still very young she caught the eye of a modelling agency scout on a street in the Eternal City, and before long was posing for some of the greatest photographers: Richard Avedon, Helmut Newton, Gian Paolo Barbieri, Irving Penn, Hiro Wakabayashi, and others. It was Wakabayashi who gave her a Minolta camera, which she first used to take her own pictures.
Initially Tiburzi viewed photography as a game and a self-challenge, since she knew she had three inherent ‘flaws’: being beautiful, being a woman, and coming from Rome. However, the very first shots, taken almost casually and with a still unsteady hand, were acclaimed by Wakabayashi and other masters, who were so impressed by the audacity of her angles and bold play of light that they convinced her to continue pursuing photography.
In the late 1960s, the famous Vogue editor Diana Vreeland invited Alberta to New York, where she was drawn into the dynamic life of the cultural capital. A frequent guest at Andy Warhol’s Factory, Tiburzi met the most celebrated photographers and, being a keenly observant person, adopted not so much their technique as the spirit of photography.
Soon Tiburzi became one of the most sought-after photographers working for glossy magazines. She was active at the heyday of high fashion in Italy, when Italian couturiers were making waves the world over.
Alberta sought a special ‘chemical’ connection between the outfit, the model, and the setting. Tiburzi’s women are free, modern, energetic, and sensual, living in harmony with their natural environment. Her vision of the female body reveals no trace of the male fetishism in which struggle and submission prevail. In her photographs, Tiburzi liberates the pure beauty and femininity from the entrenched stereotypes that are now seen as vestiges of the past.
By Olga Strada, Exhibition Curator
The exhibition is presented by the Multimedia Art Museum, Moscow
