Patrick Demarchelier first met Diana Vishneva during the shooting for Vogue in 2011. A year after he invited her and her partner Marcelo Gomez to his studio. One of the brightest contemporary ballet-dancers inspired one of the greatest photographers for creation of an iconic black and white photo series. The models wear minimum clothes which emphasizes the sculptural nature of dancers’ gestures and the absolute concentration of motion in the photo. Patrick was shooting this series impromptu for his own pleasure. At the end he presented it to Diana as a sign of sincere appreciation.
Ballet has been one of the favorite artists’ subjects since the advent of photography. Adolph de Meyer, Horst Faas, Cecil Beaton, Richard Avedon, Irving Penn, Norman Parkinson, George Petrus and Alexander Rodchenko drew their inspiration from it. All of them were trying to do the impossible – both to stop and to extend the life of movement on the film. There is a saying “eyes are the window to the soul”, but sometimes body movement is not less expressive. One of the best portrait artists of his time, Richard Avedon was inspired by ballet dancers. And it is thanks to him that now we have the cult portraits of Maya Plisetskaya, Mikhail Baryshnikov and Rudolf Nureyev.
Another theme of the exhibition is interaction of fashion, ballet and photography. Prima ballerinas turns into fashion queens and trendsetters, designers get inspired by works of great choreographers, theatre artists design dresses for fashion shows, and couturiers create stage decorations.
The works by Demarchelier show Diana Vishneva’s life in photographs. Now this woman is at the peak of her fame and creative abilities. Thanks to her ballet and drama talent she keeps trying new roles: ballerina, actress, model. In 2010, Diana has set a foundation for ballet popularization.
The exhibition “Diana Vishneva through the Lens of Patrick Demarchelier” was organized by the Multimedia Art Museum (Moscow) and dedicated to the 20th anniversary of ballerina’s career. The exhibition features photos by Demarchelier for the Vogue magazine and the ones taken in his New York studio.
