Patrick Demarchelier (and more) at Fotografiska

I visited Fotografiska, the Swedish Museum of Photography, the other day to see their spring exhibitions, especially the main exhibition this season: Lumière- Patrick Demarchelier. Demarchelier is a world famous French fashion and portrait photographer and his work has been seen in the pages of Vogue, Rolling Stone, Vanity Fair, Time, Harper's Bazaar, Elle and other magazines over the past 4 decades. He has also done the photography in many advertisement campaigns for the big design houses and beauty companies over the years, like Dior, Chanel, L'Oreal, Gucci, Revlon and Ralph Lauren.

As per usual at Fotografiska, the exhibition is beautifully presented. The photographs represent the span most of Marchelier's career, but especially the 1990's and the "age of the supermodels". Many people will recognize the faces of Linda, Christy, Kate, Cindy and others with both editorial and portrait (cover) images in the exhibition. But it is not only models who are the subjects. Many famous people have been shot by Demarchelier, like Lauren Bacall, Keith Richards and the late Princess Diana. Mostly black & white, with a few color, gazing at these beautiful images is a great way to spend the afternoon. The exhibition runs until May 14th.

There are several other exhibitions going on simultaneously. Of special note is exhibition of the work of young Chinese photographer Ren Hang, entitled "Human Love". Due to his use of nudity and images of sexual liberation, he has been a controversial artist with the Chinese government often encountering censorship. Sadly, Hang passed away last week at the age of 30, apparently by committing suicide. This, of course, makes this exhibition all the more poignant. "Human Love" runs until April 2nd. Ren Hang:

Ironically enough, there is another smaller exhibition currently set up to pay tribute to Lennart Nilsson, the famed Swedish pioneer photographer who recently passed away at the age of 94. His ground breaking images of a growing fetus inside the womb were first published in Life magazine in 1965 and were included in the spacecraft Voyager which was shot into interstellar space. This exhibition also runs until April 2nd. Lennart Nilsson:

Fotografiska is located on the waterfront of Södermalm, just a 20 minute walk from the Rival Hotel. Walking to the museum can seem daunting as you have to walk past Slussen which is a major construction site these days. But do not worry! There are clearly marked paths to let you circumnavigate the construction. Just follow the signs (see below).  The museum has very generous opening hours, closing at 11pm Sun-Wed and 1am Thurs-Sat. Besides a café and great gift shop, they also have a fantastic restaurant located on the top floor, with views of Stockholm harbour. Make sure you book your table in advance as it is quite popular.

Follow...

...the signs...

...to get to...

...Fotografiska!