MARIO TESTINO PORTRAITS

Oct. 16—Nov. 21, 2004

• Oct. 16—Nov. 21, 2004
• Closed Monday(if Monday is a national holiday or a substitute holiday, it is the next day)
• Admission：Adults ￥1,200／College Students ￥1,000／High School and Junior High School Students,Over 65 ￥800

The Mario Testino Portraits Exhibition was originated by The National Portrait Gallery in London. The exhibition opened in February 2002 and broke all previous attendance records. From there the exhibition has been exhibited in Milan, Amsterdam and Edinburgh.

Mario Testino moved to London from Peru in the late 1970’s and has made his name internationally as one of the outstanding fashion photographers of his generation. Portraiture has become an increasingly important aspect of his work, defining the characteristics of style and glamour for an age of magazines, superstars, model and movies.

His portraits have developed a deceptive nonchalance, using art which conceals its art to achieve an apparently effortless beauty. There is meticulous preparation for the decisive moment when the portrait is made with a team of collaborators. This process is akin to that of cinema and theatre where the subjected are perfected and transformed into an intensified version of themselves.

The exhibition places on show 108 portrait photographs of contemporary icons, chiefly works taken over the past ten years for fashion magazines, but also adding, for this Japanese showing, recent works including portraits of Prince William, David and Victoria Beckham, and The Rolling Stones.