Work from the 1970s by three photographers - Guy Bourdin, Helmut Newton and Chris von Wangenheim - is the inspiration behind the revival of that era's style in this September's fashion magazines.
Of the three, only Newton, who has been under contract with Conde Nast Publications for about 40 years, is still alive to enjoy the renaissance.Von Wangenheim died at 39 in a car crash on St. Martin in 1981. Many of the originals of his best work from the 1970s have been discarded by magazines like Italian Harper's Bazaar. But the Staley-Wise gallery in Manhattan has managed to assemble 45 of von Wangenheim's photographs for an exhibition that runs through Oct. 29.
Etheleen Staley and Taki Wise, partners in the gallery, have a right to feel a little smug about their timing. "Open a magazine," Staley said of von Wangenheim's influence.
She added: "A lot of his work is missing. There are a lot of sittings we've researched that we don't have. Those magazines just cleaned house and threw everything out."
Wise said von Wangenheim worked as an assistant to Newton, which is why there are similarities in the styles, elements of voyeurism and heightened sexuality.
Wise said: "Chris had a style of lighting that had raw edge to it. He used a ring light, which was developed for medical surgery." Some young photographers today, like Juergin Teller and Nick Knight, use a ring flash to create a similar effect.
Staley said that since the gallery opened 13 years ago, appreciation of commercial photography has been on the rise, to the point where even von Wangenheim's imitators may someday be worth something. "They're doing their own interpretation," she said. "It's never quite the same." She paused and added: "Well, sometimes it does look the same, to be honest. They get pretty close."