(Translated from Russian)
Photos for memory
“The Beautiful People”—this is what the German photographer Andre Rau called his series, which will be released in the fall of 2003. In the meantime, Rau’s retrospective exhibition under the same title was successfully held in one of the fashionable art galleries in San Francisco.
Most of the visitors gathered around the huge color prints of Naomi Campbell, Jennifer Lopez, Sophia Loren and Kristin Scott-Thomas. Shot lushly and brightly against an intense blue background, these divas were truly divine.
The public was also attracted by the famous photographs of Catherine Deneuve in Morocco, taken for the Yves Saint Laurent advertising campaign. In a separate room hung black and white portraits: Roman
Polanski looked tired and worried, Martin Scorsese thoughtful, Yves Saint Laurent covered his face with his hand, as if hiding from himself, and the powerful half-naked boxer Evander Hollyfield inspired awe and admiration.
André Rau is known for his advertising campaigns for Lancôme and Estée Lauder—with Isabella Rossellini and Elizabeth Harley. It was these familiar images that made Rau the world's most
famous beauty photographer.
I always liked his works (they were published in all major fashion magazines)—Rau, like no one else, feels
the light, and, in his portraits, you almost don't need retouching.
"How do you meet all these stars?"an elegant lady who had just paid a tidy sum of six and a half
thousand dollars for a portrait of Catherine Deneuve asked Rau. It turned out that for many years in a row Rau has been chosen as the official photographer of the Cannes Film Festival. “How do you
decide who is beautiful and who is not?”—the lady did not let up. “Very simple,” answered Rau. "I have eyes."
