Helmut Newton Foundation to exhibit “Pigozzi and the Paparazzi”
By Megan • May 12th, 2008 • Category: News for Creatives (archives)“BERLIN, GERMANY - Helmut Newton Foundation presents “Pigozzi and the Paparazzi” with Salomon, Weegee, Galella, Angeli, Secchiaroli, Quinn and Newton, on view June 20th through November 16th, 2008. With the current exhibition the “bad boys” of photography are the subject of an extensive show for the first time in Germany. Paparazzi photography is an aggressive form of photojournalism, particularly today when the famous names in show business are hunted down and pushed into dangerous situations for the sake of getting the most interesting picture possible.
In the 1960’s and 1970’s, the “classic“ era of the paparazzi, the combination of voyeurism and exhibitionism, whereby photographers lie in wait for the stars to make their public appearance, was less strident and loud. Inventiveness, speed and persistence, along with a touch of cheekiness—put to use at the Cannes Film Festival, or on the Via Veneto in Rome—was usually enough to guarantee good results. The current exhibition concentrates on snapshots and portraits of famous people from this era and offers us a glimpse of how the mythic aura of the stars was dismantled by showing them going about their daily lives. We encounter Alain Delon and Prince Charles, Mick Jagger and Woody Allen, Sophia Loren and Grace Kelly, Brigitte Bardot and Gina Lollobrigida at parties, on the street, at the beach and so on. Most of these pictures were taken “from a safe distance” with the photographer going unnoticed. Nevertheless, once in a while a fight would break out between the hunter and the hunted when a photographer got too close or was discovered in his hiding-place.”
Megan is a creative producer at Wise Elephant.
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