From March 4 to May 28, 2006, the Fondation Cartier pour l’art contemporain is pleased to present the first major solo exhibition in France of influential German photographer Juergen Teller. For his exhibition at the Fondation Cartier, the artist has chosen to present a series of photographs from his Nürnberg series. An investigation of Germany’s recent past as well as a celebration of the importance of family, the Nürnberg series serves as the guiding thread of an exhibition that also includes the important images from the artist’s career, as well as a major new body of work, Ed in Japan. The show also provides a special focus on the artist’s work as it appears in publications—magazines and artists’ books.
Born in 1964 near Nuremberg, Juergen Teller moved to London in 1986 where he rapidly made a name for himself in the world of fashion photography. His innovative editori- als shifted away from the artifice and refinement of conven- tional fashion photography towards a highly personal form of romantic, fantastical realism. Capturing his subjects at seemingly unrehearsed moments, Juergen Teller reveals them in all of their imperfection and vulnerability. Exposing the scars and blemishes of his models, Juergen Teller’s photographs question conventional notions of beauty. Immediate yet highly-tuned, they leave us with a sense that we are looking at fragments of real lives lived.
For his most recent publication entitled Nürnberg, Juergen Teller returned to this familiar city close to his childhood home to photograph the former site of Nazi propaganda rallies, the Zeppelintribüne parade grounds. Photographing the weeds and flowers that struggle through the huge regular blocks of stone of these grounds, Teller records the advancing decay of the monument throughout the four seasons. Parallel to these still life images, Teller includes pictures of his growing family, himself and the surroundings of his family home in the woods of Bubenreuth. An emo- tional panorama drawing on both personal and collective history, the Nürnberg series provides a moving proposition of cyclical renewal and hope.
In Ed in Japan, Juergen Teller’s latest series, which is dedi- cated to his son and was realized during a trip in Japan in December 2005, the artist continues to explore the theme of family. Ed in Japan delicately associates photographs of snowy landscapes reminiscent of traditional Japanese prints, photographies of his son, images of his privacy and portraits of photographer Nobuyoshi Araki. Through this joyful series, the artists provides us with his own highly personal point of view on Japan.
Juergen Teller is a hybrid artist; his work crosses over the conventional boundaries separating fashion and documen- tary, public and private. Presenting a wide range of photo- graphic genres such as portraits, landscapes and fashion photographs, the exhibition of the Fondation Cartier explores the artist’s work in all of its diversity. Whether he is photographing supermodels and celebrities or himself and his family, Juergen Teller finds poetry in the everyday, creat- ing images that are poignant, humorous, rough or tender. This unique approach to photography has enabled him to create a powerful vision of our times.