Icons of Style: A Century of Fashion Photography, The J. Paul Getty Museum

The archive is delighted that Paul Martineau, Associate Curator at the Getty Museum, selected Terence Donovan’s 1960 ‘Thermodynamic’ men’s fashion image for inclusion in this major survey of twentieth century fashion photography. Icons of Style traces one hundred years of fashion photography, highlighting iconic moments and figures in fashion history. Vintage costumes are displayed alongside the photographs, in addition to fashion illustrations, advertisements, and tear sheets.

Beginning with 1911—the year Edward Steichen created the first “artistic” fashion photographs—and ending with 2011 with digital technology as a dominant paradigm, this exhibition surveys the rich and varied history of modern fashion photography. The show traces its trajectory from niche industry to powerful cultural force, its gradual embrace as an art form, and explores the ways in which photographers whose careers have been closely associated with the industry have shaped evolving notions of style and beauty

Explaining the genesis of the exhibition, Martineau said: ‘While there have been quite a number of past exhibitions and publications on the work of individual fashion photographers or those who worked for a particular magazine, there have been very few projects that have addressed the topic in a comprehensive way. The last book to cover the second half of that history is Appearances: Fashion Photography since 1945, published in 1991, by Martin Harrison.’

‘Thermodynamic’ is from a fashion feature shot at the now demolished Grove Road Power Station in St John’s Wood, London. It was taken in October 1960 and published in the January 1961 issue of innovative men’s lifestyle magazine ‘Man About Town’. Peter Anthony, wreathed in smoke, stands statuesque atop the industrial structure wearing a Harris tweed suit by Jaeger.

The exhibition features the work of such renowned fashion photographers as Richard Avedon, Lillian Bassman, Guy Bourdin, Erwin Blumenfeld, Louise Dahl-Wolfe, Hiro, Inez & Vinoodh, Peter Lindbergh, Man Ray, Helmut Newton, Nick Knight, Gordon Parks, Irving Penn, Herb Ritts, Edward Steichen, and Tim Walker. 160 photographs are displayed alongside a selection of costumes, illustrations, magazine covers, videos, and advertisements.

For more information, please visit the Icons of Style web page.