COURTESY GALERIE GMURZYNSKA
Following the news of Chanel creative director Karl Lagerfeld’s death on Tuesday, Galerie Gmurzynska has announced a surprise homage to one of the designer’s lesser-known creative means: his photography.
Gmurzynska has exhibited photos by Lagerfeld since 1996, and on February 21, the gallery will mount what it is billing as a “retrospective” of two decades of his photographic work at its Zurich location. The show will be titled “Homage to Karl Lagerfeld, 30 Years of Photography.”
Mathias Rastorfer, CEO and co-owner of Galerie Gmurzynska, told ARTnews in an email that Lagerfeld had a “Renaissance personality, because he had an in-depth knowledge about everything cultural,” and that he was “one of the best-read persons I ever met, a connoisseur collector and creative genius through and through.”
Lagerfeld shot street photography and took portraits of celebrities, and sometimes hand-colored his photos. Gmurzynska’s show aims to present the full range of his output, and will be coupled with a gallery publication on his photography career.
“Since our first exhibition in 1996, to our last today,” Rastorfer continued, “Karl has continuously and fearlessly explored the avant-garde of photography, creating his own unique processes that will continue their influence on photography and art in general.”