Portraits and Fashion: Quebec Photographers Beyond Borders – until September 29, 2024

Portraits and Fashion: Quebec Photographers Beyond Borders

Turning the lens on Quebec talent

This groundbreaking exhibition is first and foremost a celebration of the talent of Quebec photographers, whose boundless creativity has enthralled the art directors of the world’s leading fashion magazines, advertising agencies and music scenes. The prints of 17 established and emerging photographers who were either born in Quebec or immigrated here, but who all have international reach, are brought together in a brilliantly designed exhibition. They are: Max Abadian, William Arcand, Richard Bernardin, Alex Black, Sacha Cohen, Cristina Gareau, Andréanne Gauthier, Royal Gilbert, Shayne Laverdière, Carl Lessard, Monic Richard, Norman Jean Roy, Étienne Saint-Denis, Nelson Simoneau, Oumayma Ben Tanfous, Xavier Tera and villedepluie. In addition to fashion photos taken for the press, an impressive series of iconic portraits will unfold before the public’s eyes, from Céline Dion, U2 and Charlotte Cardin to Nelson Mandela, Zidane, Elisapie, Adele, Barbie Ferreira, Mika and Les Louanges. This exhibition, presented by Holt Renfrew Ogilvy, is aimed at a wide audience with a passion for photography, fashion and the world of Quebec, Canadian and international celebrities. The project is accompanied by a catalogue featuring 268 photographs by the 17 photographers.

Shayne Laverdière, Julia Roberts, Los Angeles, 2020

“This exhibition is the second instalment of our summer programming devoted to fashion photography and celebrity portraits, alongside Norman Parkinson: Always in Style. It’s an unprecedented opportunity to meet 17 local photographers, who are true ambassadors of Quebec’s creative vitality, reaching out to the four corners of the globe. It also reflects the growing concern for greater diversity in the fashion industry and society in general. Perhaps it will inspire the next generation of photographers to dare to dream beyond borders,” says Anne Eschapasse, President and CEO.

Curated by Thierry-Maxime Loriot, the man behind several memorable exhibitions, including Thierry Mugler: Couturissime, The Fashion World of Jean Paul Gaultier: From the Sidewalk to the Catwalk, and most recently, the retrospective devoted to the creative duo Victor & Rolf, Portraits and Fashion: Quebec Photographers Beyond Borders is his first exhibition to focus on contemporary editorial, commercial and commission photography. Some twenty audiovisual pieces, produced for the occasion –including a multisurface projection by the creative agency Rodeo FX –grant a peek inside the photographers’ artistic approach and feature anecdotes from artists who were shot by the exhibition photographers.

“There are so many ways you could define the work of these 17 artists, who brilliantly blend the different genres of photography. They are sometimes referred to as portraitists, documentarians, image artists or fashion photographers. But they all have one thing in common: Quebec. Whether from Tunisia or Iran, the Laurentians or Montérégie, well-established or yet-to-be-discovered, these artists have all developed their unique creativity and aesthetic vision in Quebec, before exporting and establishing themselves as key players on today’s international scene. For some, Quebec’s fashion and publishing microcosm and its photography schools have been a springboard that has propelled them towards the great capitals–such as New York, London, Paris, Los Angeles and Tokyo –and the pages of the biggest magazines,” says Thierry-Maxime Loriot.

Oumayma Ben Tafous Moonshine family Montreal 2022

Works imbued with humanism

While the first common thread linking the photographers in the exhibition is their strong connection to Quebec, the second is undoubtedly their humanistic approach to their practice, which lies at the heart of their relationship with their models. This sensitivity has allowed them to capture highly emotional moments.

Ariane Moffat tells us about Royal Gilbert’s photo shoot for the cover of Elle in September 2021: “I surrendered myself completely to Horth’s artistic vision, and she ‘showed me her colours’ on the morning of the shoot, suggesting that I wear a body suit for the cover, lying full length, without concealing anything from my round, exposed body. I already trusted her sophistication and good taste. So I was able to enjoy this statement right down to my toes! The result made me proud. I felt sublimated in Royal Gilbert’s always tender and fair eye. All woman (at last, the Italian I wanted to be!), all me (vamp version!), voluptuous and timeless. I always feel privileged to be so magnified in pictures with such a ‘formula 1’ team to reassure me.

”Isabelle Boulay, photographed for her album Les chevaux du plaisir (2023) by Max Abadian, said that “photography is a divinatory art that consists in seeing ‘beyond’. It has the gift of making visible that part of the other that we call mystery. Max has this gift.”

Norman Jean Roy, Joni Mitchell, New York magazine, 2020

Giving free rein to creativity

The exhibition explores the decompartmentalization of artistic and fashion photography that began in the 1990s. Each work testifies to mastery, but above all to a unique style and vision of portraiture. Norman Jean Roy, Richard Bernardin, Xavier Tera and Nelson Simoneau give us elaborate stagings that suggest narrative fragments and spark the imagination. Meanwhile, Alex Black, Cristina Gareau, Oumayma Ben Tanfous, William Arcand, villedepluie, Sacha Cohen and Étienne Saint-Denis are noted for the social dimension of their photography, in search of multi-generational encounters, questioning society’s dynamics with a generous and humanist approach, always with a visual flourish that is both singular and fascinating. Monic Richard and Carl Lessard make abundant use of black and white in their art. According to Thierry-Maxime Loriot, it’s “a way of distancing oneself from fashion, in order to emphasize the image, the subject and the emotions, rather than the garment, which is relegated to the background.”

Monic Richard, Leonard Cohen, Montréal, 2001

Focusing on the celebrities who make Quebec shine

Whether they were born in Iran or Tunisia and have made Quebec their adopted home or are natives of la belle province but have chosen to settle in Japan, France, the United States or elsewhere in Canada, they all have one thing in common: they have perfected their art in Quebec, and thus immortalized numerous Quebec celebrities. Through his selection of photographs, Thierry-Maxime Loriot pays tribute to some of the leading figures in contemporary Quebec, including Dany Laferrière, Xavier Dolan, Anne Dorval, Isabelle Boulay, Leonard Cohen, Hubert Lenoir, Kaytranada and Phyllis Lambert.

“This exhibition and its catalogue are, for future generations, a testimony to a chapter in Quebec’s history, reflecting Quebecers’ pride in embracing and celebrating the diversity and range of their rich heritage and cultural landscape, through the people and symbols that I wish to pay tribute to with this exhibition. Quebec is the emotional tie that unites us all: our creativity really does resonate beyond our borders,” says Thierry-Maxime Loriot.

For opening hours and ticket prices, visit: www.musee-mccord-stewart.ca