Thursday, 20 September 2012—The City of Milan’s Department of Culture, Fashion and Design in association with Flair Magazine and Moschino are pleased to inaugurate the first major exhibition of Juergen Teller’s work in Italy at the prestigious Palazzo Reale in the heart of Milan. Organized by the renowned international curator Francesco Bonami, The Girl with the Broken Nose opens to the public on Friday, 21 September and will remain on view through Sunday, 4 November.
Celebrating one of the most influential figures in the world of photography and art, The Girl with the Broken Nose features nine large-format works by Teller, an artist who has transformed photography by breaking the boundaries between art, journalism, advertising and fashion. These photographs, selected from Teller’s most iconic series, measure a monumental six by ten feet and are displayed throughout the majestic reserve apartments of the Palazzo Reale, creating a powerful dynamic between the images and the historic environment in which they are displayed.
The installation will also feature a dedicated room of vitrines containing forty photographs from a new series entitled "Irene im Wald" (Irene in the Forest). Taking as his subject matter the forest close to his childhood home near Nuremberg, Germany, Teller juxtaposes solitary images of the woods with scenes of his mother and relatives seemingly isolated within the landscape of his youth.
In his text for the exhibition pamphlet, Francesco Bonami writes, “When photographing nature, Teller extracts the normality from the landscape. Never banal, he is always a romantic…. Teller’s method of observation is not based on an analytical or documentary style. Grounded in his direct experience, he captures emotion….”
Bonami goes on to say, “Teller’s visual grammar runs on the edge of what we could define as “romantic voracity”. Nature, people and the things that surround him are pushed into a confrontation with each other, creating a perplexing dialogue. Used to dealing with the world of fashion, luxury and celebrity, Teller is able to express a type of freedom that is primordial. His work is at times brutal, but always poetic and sensual, capable of making photography appear magical, like the Paleolithic graffiti of the caves.”
On the occasion of his first solo museum exhibition in Italy, Teller has produced an exclusive cover and fashion feature for Flair Magazine, the media partner for the exhibition. Flair’s newly redesigned magazine, which launches today, features Teller’s photographs of Italy’s leading supermodel Mariacarla Boscono in her eighth month of pregnancy.
The Girl with the Broken Nose was organized with the generous support of Lehmann Maupin Gallery, New York and Hong Kong.
The exhibition also coincides with Fashion Week in Milan, a city recognized for its vibrant and varied cultural milieu.
More about the artist
Born in 1964 in Erlangen, Germany, Juergen Teller studied at the Bayerische Staatslehranstalt für Photographie in Munich from 1984 to 1986. His work in influential publications such as W Magazine, I-D and Purple nurtured his own photographic sensibility, which is marked by his refusal to separate his commercial work from his autobiographical personal work. In 1996, he became famous for a photograph produced for the cover of the Süddeutsche Zeitung in which the model Kristen McMenamy appeared naked with "Versace" painted on her chest. He is also know for his portraits of Winona Ryder, Sofia Coppola, Charlotte Rampling, Yves Saint Laurent, Bjork and Vivienne Westwood. A selection of these iconic images will be on view in the Milan exhibition.
Teller’s work has been the subject of many important solo exhibitions worldwide, including an upcoming show at the Institute of Contemporary Art, London (2013); Tate Modern, London (2008); Fondation Cartier Pour l’art Contemporain, Paris (2007); and Museum of Modern Art, New York (2004). His work has also appeared in the world’s leading fashion and art magazines.
Juergen Teller has lived and worked in London since 1986.