DO YOU WANNA FIAC ?

TEASER ANGLAIS FIAC 2012 from Saywho.fr on Vimeo.

Foire Internationale d’Art Contemporain
October 18-21, 2012
Grand Palais + various sites in Paris

VOULEZ-VOUS FIACker ?

TEASER FRANCAIS FIAC 2012 from Saywho.fr on Vimeo.

Until the end of May you can see at the villa the PILORI installation featuring footage of the performance (with the cooperation of Yohji Yamamoto Inc.) and video contributions by Antoine Asseraf & René Habermacher, starring François Sagat, by Jason Last & Jaime Rubiano, Clément Roncier, Sebastien Meunier + Romain Dja Douadji + Tomek Jarolim, and the winner of our internet contest, Simone Fehlinger, who met up with Filep Motwary.

PILORI (“PILLORY”) is a unique collaboration between choreographer Lynsey Peisinger and The Stimuleye for the Hyères Festival. Drawing on a pool of both local and Paris-based performers, Lynsey Peisinger conceived 2-hour performances inside a specially built space in the Villa Noailles’ Sautoir space: a wall with 4 pairs of legs poking out, moving, at rest, ignoring or harassing each other…

For its exhibition phase, the performance footage is augmented and interrupted by the footage of BEYOND THE WALL, different video artists’ renderings of what lies beyond the wall which cuts the performers in half.

 CLONES starring François Sagat, by Antoine Asseraf & René Habermacher.

Sebastien Meunier, Romain Dja Douadji & Tomek Jarolim for BEYOND THE WALL.

Clément Roncier for BEYOND THE WALL/PILORI.

Jason Last & Jaime Rubiano for BEYOND THE WALL/PILORI.

Simone Fehlinger for BEYOND THE WALL / PILORI.

Filep Motwary: What is your video about?
Simone Fehlinger: my videos visualize the stories of walls. Parts of these walls are broken : colors, wallpapers peel off and uncover it’s past… The videos invite to a personal imagination of what this wall’s history is about… Now, these walls have moved to Hyères 2012 and will be part of a new story…

Filep Motwary: Why have you chosen white as your “backwards” canvas?
Surfaces are extremely exciting ! But the interesting part is not the perfectly clean, virgin, new, white layer.
It’s the layer underneath…

What is your opinion about Hyeres.
It’s legendary ! I’m really happy and honoured to be a part of…

What would be your next projects about?
My new big project is my own graphic and video design studio in Paris.

Simone Fehlinger, winner of BEYOND THE WALL contest.

PILORI at Villa Noailles
Until May 26, 2012
Hyères, FRANCE.

Special thanks to Coralie Gaultier & the Yohji Yamamoto Inc team,
Simone Fehlinger for her contribution,
and all the performers who gave their time to participate in this project.

Everything you need to know about the
Hyères International Fashion + Photography Festival 2012.
April 27-30 2012, Villa Noailles, Hyères, FRANCE.

Fashion + photo juries, fashion shows, exhibitions by Yohji Yamamoto, Inez Van Lamsweerde & Vinoodh Matadin, Jason Evans, Chronique Curiosités, Maison Rondini, Matthew Cunnington & John Sanderson, Fabrics Interseason, Lynsey Peisinger & The Stimuleye, Lea Peckre, Celine Meteil, Internationales Fashion + Textile Conferences, The Shoes/TEED/Citizens…

a film by The Stimuleye,
with Lynsey Peisinger and François Sagat.

Submit your 30 seconds maximum video before April 1st for a chance to have it featured in the installation, which launches April 27th at the 2012 Hyères Fashion + Photo Festival,  next exhibits by  Yohji Yamamoto, Jasons Evans, and Inez van Laamswerde + Vinoodh Matadin.

Imagine what lies beyond the wall of the PILLORY installation.

All submitted videos must be
no more than 30 seconds long,
from one angle/point of view,
and submitted before April 1st, 2012.

Fore more info and video guidelines: contest@thestimuleye.com

A marathon performance at MoMa, another retrospective in Moscow, on the cover of POP magazine, hosting a star studded event at Jeffrey Deitch’s MOCA in LA and an exhibition at The Serpentine Gallery slated for 2012, the HBO documentary “The Artist is Present” just screened at Sundance. An ever growing list of projects that is taking her across continents…

Exclusive long form of interview first published in POP magazine FW2012

Marina Abramović with her "Mini Me". Photography by René Habermacher for POP magazine

Marina Abramović is everywhere lately. She has emerged from what was considered an alternative section of contemporary art, Performance Art, to finally occupy an untouchable position in the Pantheon of Pop.
A marathon performance at the MoMa, another retrospective in Moscow scheduled, and an exhibition at The Serpentine Gallery slated for 2012, day and night filming of an HBO documentary and an ever growing list of projects. Marina is known for her works in which she tests and pushes her emotional,mental and physical strength, but her schedule takes its toll: Marina is exhausted.
Broad recognition has come comparably late for Abramović, who was often categorized as some sort of Exotic Serbian Vixen. Nevertheless, she has shaped a significant slice of art history like no other.
Today, less considered for her public sexual identity, and more appreciated for her timelessness and her bravery, one could unarguably call Marina “the diva of contemporary art”, were she not so grounded.

Freja Beha Erichsen with her "Mini Me". A collaboration by Marina Abramović for POP magazine
Photography by René Habermacher

Our conversation takes place just after Marina’s return to New York from Manchester, England where she spent six weeks collaborating with Robert Wilson on a new biography, “The Life and Death of Marina Abramović”. The play was staged with accompanied music written and conducted by Antony (of Antony and the Johnsons) and narrated by a ferocious Willem Dafoe.
The audience witnessed him meticulously rummaging through the details of her life chronologically. Marina has been clear about her lack of appreciation for theatre as a concept and this play marks a sharp departure from her concept of herself as a performance artist.

She participates in what she used to essentially despise: “To be a performance artist, you have to hate theatre. Theatre is fake: there is a black box, you pay for a ticket, and you sit in the dark and see somebody playing somebody else’s life. The knife is not real, the blood is not real, and the emotions are not real. Performance is just the opposite: the knife is real, the blood is real, and the emotions are real. It’s a very different concept. It’s about true reality.”

Death mask of Marina Abramović. Photography by René Habermacher

René Habermacher: With this piece you staged something that you call artificial theatre. It lacks the realness that is central to your work. How was this experience for you?

Marina Abramović: I am his material. I completely gave all the control to Bob (Robert Wilson). That is the only way to really be material for someone else, which is very interesting, because its just absolutely the opposite of what I do. This is first time that i have this really radical approach with Bob – he absolutely refused anything to do with performance. This was an amazing experience for me and very difficult, because his approach to rehearsal is like mine to performance, – but yet it’s just rehearsal! Just be there for hours and hours in order for him to fix the light. I lose my reason, I need the public, I need another kind of dialogue. This was a huge discipline not to kill him!

RH: How did this project with Bob come together?

MA: Oh, I know Bob Wilson since the 70s. He came to ex-Yugoslavia in 1971, when I was a student, and performed. What I like about him is his relationship to architecture, to theatre, to light, to time, to slow motion. All of these elements are very close to my work. We didn’t find any difficulties to connect.

RH: What was the initial spark to collaborate for this?

MA: You know, its because I wanted to include death – to do life AND death.  And there was something about this idea of life and death in the connection with Bob Wilson’s kind of work. I think he is the only one who can actually edit it in the way that he did.

"Mini Me" in the grip of Daisy the boa. Photography by René Habermacher

RH: It is very interesting to have this forward look to your own death and play with his idea. Is there any relation with your orthodox upbringing, the kind of philosophy where the walk of life is transcending into the eternal?

MA: Yes, you are completely right, absolutely! Yes. Because, you know, thats the point. It was definitely the idea – my grandmother used to have her clothes ready for the funeral since 40 years. She lived to the age of 103, and every time the fashion would change, she would change the clothes [for her funeral].

So the presence of death in my daily life was always there, which I think is a very important eastern approach. You never know when the day will come. It is so different from the western culture. When I am here in America, the whole idea of death is removed, you never actually see that. And also there is somehow this idea of “forever young” which is completely unrealistic. The only way to really appreciate life, is to accept death as the final stage. This is the reason, getting 65 this year, I have to include death in my biography.

RH: I find your language as an artist to be very honest in its aim and blunt in its depiction. There were always traces of your upbringing and background. But, lately it seems you refer more often to your heritage as a Balkan child.

MA: That’s totally true. In the beginning of my life, when I started working in Yugoslavia, there were so many obstacles and all I wanted was to leave and get as far as I can go. The older I grow and the more I get distance with now almost 40 years of not living there, the less I want to do that. I have now sort of a big picture where I come from and what its all about. It’s an interesting thing going backwards, looking to the past and revisiting my memory and start understanding connections, which I couldn’t do when I was young. In fact, at the moment I am working with the government to of Montenegro to start a performing arts center which shows the connection of where I am from, and what I have done since.

Freja Beha Erichsen with "Mini Me" of Marina. Photography by René Habermacher

RH: Though your work is very conceptual, there is also a very strong spiritual aspect…

MA: You know I’ve become Buddhist almost 30 years ago. To me spirituality is really the core of my existence. I am not religious, I don’t like religion per se, because religion for me is institutionalized and mostly corrupted. It’s so much more interesting to learn, to actually think about spirituality and what it means. And every good work of art has a spiritual element to it. It is not always the main one, but it is always there, underlining it, and to me its absolutely important to my work.

RH: The art world is very male-dominated, as a woman was that a challenge for you? Is it still?

MA: No. I never felt the differences between men and women; i am not a feminist because of the same reason. I feel that women, by feeling vulnerable and not equal, create this kind of energy and they are perceived that way. For me art doesn’t have any gender… in America, everybody is obsessed with percentage: ‘how many percentage male, female, gay..’  I don’t give a shit about this. It’s good or bad art and who is making it is really not important. I never felt restricted because I always took my position, so I don’t have this kind of feeling. Actually everything that I ever wanted to do takes years, but I did it. i don’t have reason to complain.

RH: So you don’t think it is important to have a sexual identity in your work ?

MA: I don’t care. You know, I am not busy with this. If this comes because its natural and because I am a woman, ok. But I really don’t see this as anything important. It is so funny thinking about this… many other people deal with this much more than I am.

RH: You left your very specific background and moved from Belgrade to Amsterdam in 1974, this must have felt like a very liberating moment…

MA: Yeah, it was a huge jump for me to go to Amsterdam. It was free and everyone was completely liberated, all which I strived for. One interesting thing back in Yugoslavia at that time, socialist time, was that there were clear restrictions on what you can do and you can’t do. You could go for years to prison for something. So you know you take this risk. There I had a lot of reasons to be an artist, I was rebelling against the system. Coming to Amsterdam, i lost reason because nobody cared if I am naked on the street or whatever. So I had to create an entire set of my own restrictions in order to be able to deal with that. It was quite interesting to rearrange my own life.

RH: If you compare today to the 70s that were all about liberation, we live now in a world after the triumph of capitalism where every other ideology has kind of capitulated…

MA: Yeah, that’s absolutely something else. It’s all together different.  […]

And now especially in America, I think that the democracy is so perverse – here, it looks like things are free but actually they’re not. It’s a freedom that is in many ways fake. So it’s a completely other set of restrictions.

RH: Broad recognition of your work has come comparably late. It seems you became part of the pop culture, almost mainstream…

MA: [laughs] Yeah, that’s quite interesting. It took me so long to create this situation where performance became mainstream. That was my aim from the beginning, and it really finally starts happening.

It’s quite interesting how people take the stuff and recycle it. […] God, its just very very different. I’m wondering if I lost control, because I set up these rules for people to re-perform my pieces. But now it became like open, everybody just re-performs without asking permission nor pay royalties. So it’s a completely crazy situation.

AN ARTIST SHOULD NOT MAKE HIMSELF INTO AN IDOL. Marina Abramović and Freja Beha Erichsen.
Photography by Ren'e Habermacher

RH: What is the challenge of the re-performance for you?

MA: You know its really a different story, as performance, first of all its like a child, you have to let it go. There are so many people of my generation who would never give permission to somebody to perform their work because they feel ‘its mine and nobody else’s’. I think that this is a very egoistic point of view because you don’t let your child grow! It think performance is a time based live form of art. If you make a performance once when you are 30 and then you never perform it again, it will just be a dusty image in a book or a bad video and you never have the chance that this work lives. You have to get away from your ego and say ok, even if this is changed, even if this is not the exact same as my work because it is the charisma of the other performer, even if the performer brings his new ideas and things are different, it is still better than it never being re-performed at all. That is my point of view.

RH: Performance is considered an alternative art form because you don’t produce an object that has a price tag on it. So in the “business” of art, your work doesn’t really have a position. Unlike some of your peers, you never made objects or installations for the market.

MA: No, no. It’s really special my position. If you look at my generation of artists and the enormous amount of money they are making and how little I generate – take Damien Hirst, who is like half age of me, not half but much younger, you are talking millions. My maximum price for photographs is much less and the galleries take 50%. So my image and my price are  completely disproportionate. It’s always been like this and now I stop worrying about it. I am not attached to money – for me money is something to get somewhere and make new work.

But I really want to find funding for my foundation. I have to see how I can sell my work in a different way, or create some kind of market that can be able to give this kind of donation to my foundation.

RH: What are the specific directions and the goals of this institute?

MA: There are two things that I will be working to establish for the next 10 years.

One is in Hudson, where i want to do the Marina Abramović Institute for the Preservation of Performance Art.

It’s really for long-durational performance work. I want to make a unique place just for that, that doesn’t yet exist. Its about the idea that only long-durational work can transform the performer and the viewer in a way that no other form of art can do. After 40 years of performance, I have come to this conclusion.

And the other is this huge fridge factory in Cetinje, Montenegro where 8000 people used to produce fridges for eastern europe. It will be like a production tank, where I want the work to be produced.

The government of Montenegro has supported me by asking me o create the concept for it to become a production place for pieces of opera, dance, theatre and film. Not mainstream and not bullshit, but really with content.

I have to go to the office now and then taking a car and going to the countryside…

Ok Baby, kiss – i am running!

June 13-15, The Life and Death of Marina Abramović, Theater Basel, Basel
June  22-24, The Life and Death of Marina Abramović, Carre Theater, Amsterdam
June 28-30, The Life and Death of Marina Abramović, DeSingel, Antwerp

The POP covers of FW2012. Marina and Freja wearing Giorgio Armani. Photography by René Habermacher

Rene Habermacher – Photographer
Isabelle Kontoure – Fashion Editor/Stylist

NY CREW
Hair Stylist: Peter Gray , Makeup Artist: Romy Soleimani, Manicurist: Tracylee , Casting: Angus Munro, Photography Assistance : Cesar Rebollar, Fashion Assistance : Jodie Latham, Stephanie Waknine, Rebecca Sammon & Michaela Dosamantes, Digital Technician: Dilek Isildak, Digital Remastering: The Stimuleye, Set Design: Anne Koch, Production: John Engstrom, Studio: Eagles Nest Daylight Studios NYC

UK CREW
Hair Stylist: Chi Wong, Makeup Artist: Yannis Siskos, Photography Assistance: Jonathan Flanders & Hannan Jones, Digital Remasterin: The Stimuley, Production: Lynsey Peisinger for The Stimuleye, Snake Wrangler: David Steward for Creature Feature

After a galloping transatlantic spiral of frenzy, we lay exhausted for days on various shores around the globe. Meanwhile, not entirely lazy, some of the Stimuleyes danced away in Watermill or invented a bookclub of a new, performative kind, shuffling readings of MANHUNT, STILETTO and Jackie Collins’ masterpiece THE STUD into a new, exciting bootleg. But more about that later.

During this hot days another Stimuleye project rushed through printers rotation: a collaboration with Marina Abramović featuring Freja Beha Erichsen photographed by René Habermacher for POP magazine.

Freja Beha Erichsen and Marina Abramović, both posing with Marinas "mini-me" and wearing GIORGIO ARMANI
Photography by René Habermacher

The Fall Issue will feature 2 covers with Marina and Freja and an inside story with exclusive interview, plus a limited edition hardback showing Marina’s death mask. Some of our fellow readers might recognise another co-star: yes, it’s Daisy the Boa which we met in Manchester, in an attempt to strangle the alter ego of Marina, her “mini-me”.

Coming soon to the newstands, the new POP is investigating this time THE REDEFINITION OF THE LADY. As Ashley Heath, its publisher puts it:

“POP has been exploring the notion of a very particular kind of modern fashionable woman. But it’s shifting all the time in such an interesting way. There’s a very liberated, new-world perspective to it and I think Marina Abramovic taps into that. She’s a figure who will only continue to grow in influence I believe. You hesitate to use the word ‘icon’ these days, but Marina and Freja are both resonant female role models at a time when lowest common denominator so often rules the day”

POP's Special edition Hardcover with Marina Abramović's death mask and "mini-me" wrestling with Daisy.
Photography by René Habermacher

MARINA CREDITS: Styling Isabelle Kountoure , Hair by Chi Wong at Julian Watson Agency using Shu Uemura Art of Hair, Make-up Yannis Siskos at Effex using Giorgio Armani Cosmetics, Photography Assistance Jonathan Flanders & Hannan Jones, Digital Remastering The Stimuleye, Snake Wrangler David Steward for Creature Feature, Production Lynsey Peisinger for The Stimuleye

FREJA CREDITS: Styling Isabelle Kountoure, Hair Peter Gray at The Collective using Shu Uemura Art of Hair, Make up Romy Soleimani at Management Artists, Manicure Tracelee Percival at Vue using Priti NYC, Model Freja Beha Erichsen at IMG New York, Casting Angus Munro at AM Casting, Streeters NY, Photography Assistance Cesar Rebollar, Fashion Assistance Jodie Latham, Stephanie Waknine, Rebecca Sammon & Michaela Dosamantes, Digital Technician Dilek Islidak, Digital Remastering The Stimuleye, Set Design Anne Koch at CLM NY, Production John Engstrom at Scheimpflüg Digital, Shot at Eagles Nest Daylight Studios NYC

POP MAGAZINE

She was discovered by the legendary illustrator Antonio Lopez, whom she considers to be one of the great influences in her life, as well as a very close friend. She inspired and collaborated closely in the design studios, with Christian Lacroix, John Galliano and Jean Paul Gaultier. Suzanne von Aichinger posed for iconic photographers Serge Lutens, Paolo Roversi, Mario Testino, Jean Loup Sieff, Ali Madhavi, David Seidner, and strutted down the catwalks of Yves St Laurent, Thierry Mugler, Claude Montana, Gianni Versace, Christian Dior (Galliano) , Hermes, Martin Margiela, John Galliano, Jean Paul Gaultier.

In Greek mythology, the Sirens with the irresistible charm of their song, lured mariners to their destruction on the rocks surrounding their island..

In modern mythology, Sirens are dressed in Rick Owens, pose for photographer René Habermacher and share their secrets and thoughts on current and past affairs with Stimuleye Filep Motwary…

SUZANNE VON AICHINGER feature, is a collaboration between Un nouVeau iDEAL and THE STIMULEYE
Fashion Editor : Ines Fendri ⎜ Make Up : Akiko Sakamoto ⎜ Hair : Karin Bigler
Production : Lynsey Peisinger for THE STIMULEYE
Special Thanks to Mr Rick Owens and Anne van den Bosche @ Rick Owens Press Office

KALI, Suzanne von Aichinger wears a Rick Owens cape and gloves, all FW2011. Photography by René Habermacher

I always liked her and when we finally became friends, I liked her even more. In the following conversation Suzanne shares her thoughts on fashion, music, talent, the water, mythology and other obscurities. You are about to discover the muse, the model, the artist, the stylist..

I caught her leg on her daybreak between styling for a Vogue photo shoot and organizing a major project.

FILEP MOTWARY: Hi beautiful? So it was very difficult to catch you in the past two months. What have you been up to?

SUZANNE von AICHINGER: I know Filep. I’ve been a little like Houdini…escaping. But for a good reason. I had plenty of work and styling projects

Tell me more about it please. It seems you work non-stop.

It’s been good for me lately. I’ve been styling some perfume campaigns, editorials for Russian Vogue, Italian Vanity Fair, doing photos with Dita, and now I’m preparing another perfume campaign, and a major photo shoot with one of the MOST gorgeous women on the planet.

Oh Gosh, indeed its a lot. You mean the actress, Elisa Sednaoui? Ali posted a shot of her on twitter…

Oh what a beauty Elisa is!!! But, I’m referring to another lady…very iconic. I don’t know if I should say who it is. I don’t like to talk about things before they come out…

I understand. How easy it is for you to collaborate with people. What a concept needs to have in order to get you involved in it?

Collaborating with people is my ultimate way of creating. I find the dynamic of working with another or others, stimulating, and proven a successful way of expression for me.

How do you make your choices? Is money an important motive or not always?

There has to be an element that compels me, something that excites my imagination. I also have to feel that I have something relevant to bring to the story. Money is very often not a motive. But, sometimes it is an essential part of creation. We must also live, make a living, etc. You have to know when to give and when to sell!! There is no shame in being paid for a job well done. Andy Warhol considered making money the highest art form. I’m not sure that I adhere to this philosophy, but I don’t love being broke either. I like the freedom that having some cash on hand can procure you.

On the other hand there might be talented people, who would love your contribution but, lets say, cannot afford you. How would you react in such conditions?

I usually say YES to a project, which stimulates me. It’s not about the $$$. It’s about the action. I believe in working with people that I consider talented or kindred spirits. As people of great talent have wanted to work with me, when I had no money to pay them. Just for the sheer joy of seeing an idea become a reality.

I wanted to ask you about the photo shoot you just did with René Habermacher. It’s so iconic, yet in a very special way. How was working with René?

I loved it. We had a beautiful day together, with a great creative team. We wanted to express in this series, something that is based more on personality, than fashion. I feel that there are many stories to be told in my future with René. There is a quality in his vision that is very strong and appealing.

CASSANDRA, Suzanne von Aichinger wears a Rick Owens dress, boots and gloves, all FW2011.
Photography by René Habermacher

Exactly my point. The photographs serve our conversation so right! I’m very happy that Rick Owens was so positive when I contacted him for the garments. He is always so nice to me. Also for the fact that we shot his winter collection which is by far my favorite!

So am I! I LOVE Rick! He is one of my favorites. And, his fashion is timeless. I know that this can sound cliché, but if you have some pieces by Rick from 12 years ago, they are as relevant as pieces that he has made 2 days ago. They don’t go in and out of fashion. They have their own essence and place.

Having in mind that Rick’s clothes are so special, yet the 2000’s are the epitome of diversity. Each designer points out a different outline every season, there is so much choice. How do you see fashion now yourself, as a stylist?

It’s hard for me to answer this. I see many great things happening, no doubt. But, I see a lot of nonsense going on as well. There is not enough power any more in the hands of the creators. Now, big design houses change designers like they change their underwear. Just ridiculous. There is no time for the designer in place to create a brand identity, that he is fired. And very often, they find out that they’ve been fired, by reading about it in the papers.

It’s as if the financial/commercial people at the heads of some houses, envied the position of creator, and wished to usurp it. They believe that they are capable of being the creator. WRONG!!!!

But most of the Houses belong in companies like LVMH or PRADA. I think it’s difficult to be the head designer, no matter where you work if the House belongs to someone else. No? For example Chloe changed designer four times since 2001…

There are, thank goodness, some examples where this situation is working favorably for the house and the designer, like Alber Elbaz at Lanvin, Nicolas Ghesquiere at Balenciaga, Marc Jacobs at Vuitton.

But in many cases, it has been very difficult for the designers. It can be financially rewarding, if you can stay in place for more than a few seasons, but you do sell a part of your soul to the devil. And then you sometimes lose your name, and have stylists imposed upon you to tell you what to do, and how to show your collection, and editors telling you they don’t want to see this or that. It used to be that if anyone tried to tell the big designers what to do, they would be told where to get off. No one dared anyway. They knew better I suppose. 
Now, there are sometimes treated like puppets, and not really given a chance to express themselves. It takes a few years to create a brand identity. I’ve seen some real talent thrown out of houses for no reason. It’s bewildering. There are so many revolving doors, my head spins just thinking of it.

You have my vote on that! How do you see the Gaga phenomenon?

To be honest with you, I don’t see it at all. I choose not to. It’s a lot of hype, that doesn’t really attract my gaze. And, don’t get me wrong; I think that she actually looks pretty cool as a woman. I think that I would like her very much as a person.

I like her too. Finally we have a great performer with a great voice, for a change.

What do you mean? That she has a good voice, or that she has an opinion?

I think she has a great voice, I saw her live with a piano and she rocks. But talking about Gaga, I don’t mean the person, I mean what has been caused to fashion by Gaga wannabes, the interpretation of her…
A great part of fashion as we see it today has become quite vulgar, don’t you think? There is a lack of allure and beauty for the sake of beauty. All is linked with business…

I can’t comment on Gaga. As I said, I know very little about her. If you ask me about The Melvins, I’ll give you a very enlightened answer.

Do you mind if we talk about your past?

(laughs) Let’s talk about my past Filep.

Tell me about you posing for Ali’s illustrations…You told me on the phone the other day that you were at a friend’s place posing for him…

Indeed for the last few days I’ve been posing for some illustrations, done by Ali Mahdavi and it’s been such a wonderful experience. It reminded me of when I worked with Antonio somehow. We had Lars Nilsson collaborate as art director, and Catherine Baba doing the styling.

I didn’t know that Ali is also an illustrator. He is such a sweetheart

Yes, Ali is a brilliant artist, who graduated from the Beaux Arts de Paris with the highest honors, and he was at one point selected to eventually teach anatomy classes…a great honor in view of the fact that it was the school of Delacroix, Géricault, etc.

Well, Ali is such an impressive and kaleidoscopic personality… How did you guys meet in the first place?

He was a friend of Lars Nilsson who at the time was the first assistant of Christian Lacroix. I thought that he was very moving and beautiful. We have become very close, like brother and sister, and are very inspired by each other. He also has a great sense of the absurd, which corresponds to me very much. it makes me feel at home.

It seems that you are one of those women that men become obsessed with. I know, cause this is what happened to me. At a younger age, when I used to see you on TV, especially doing Lacroix, there was something about you that in a way made me feel like we new each other from before….

Although I’m not very keen in believing past lives and so on… There was something about you.

Oh Filep, first of all, yes, I’ve experienced the feeling of meeting someone that you feel you’ve known forever, transcending time and lifetimes, meetings that happen on other planes, dimensions, dream worlds, which I believe to be as real, if not even more real than the world that we recognize as real.

Is this what happened with Antonio Lopez too?

Antonio was and continues to be a great part of my life and the same goes for almost everyone who had the great fortune of knowing him.

What’s the story behind your relationship?

We met through Bob Starr in NY, who spotted me shopping at Balducci’s, across the vegetable aisle!. I was sent to meet Antonio by Bob Starr. I had heard of him, of course. He was IT! A living legend! So I walked into his studio, and the first thing I saw on the wall was the Andy Warhol portrait of Antonio in the entrance. I was asked to wait in a little area behind a screen and when Antonio came around to introduce himself, he looked me up and down asked me if I wanted to pose for him right away! Of course I said YES! And he put me in a Charles James gown. The “Shrimp or Siren” gown. (…)

When Antonio started to draw me, he became possessed like a demon, making grunting and growling sounds, with his face distorting. He was finding the magic getting in touch with other worldly visions…the essence. It was very powerful! I thought that he was going to attack me, he was so intense in his drawing, so beautiful, and with the first line that came out of his pencil onto the paper, the essence of everything was there. He was a visionary and a genius; as well as his partner Juan Ramos, who held a primordial importance in this dynamic.

I had heard of Antonio and I realized that I was stepping into a world of incredible beauty, creation in the purest sense of the word. These boys were the real deal. And they were so kind, sweet, and lovely. It was sooo glamorous!

Nobody posed better than Antonio. He taught all the major models everything. He was infused with spirit. He saw things that were invisible to mere mortals eyes!

PYTHIA, Suzanne von Aichinger framed in a fur hood by Rick Owens FW2011. Photography by René Habermacher

Well, thought your career, you worked with the most peculiar creators from the fashion fields. I mean… Antonio Lopez, then it was Serge Lutens, then Lacroix, Galliano, Gaultier, Ali Mahdavi… All of these men had a thing with strange beauty… like yours allow me to say. You still work with some of them till this day.

But they’re all so strange, so individual and so strong. Their vision, their work. What do you thing they see in you?

Well, I don’t know if it’s strange beauty, although I take this as a compliment. Antonio once said that I was a classic beauty according to the standards of the great masters, and the sculptures of ancient Greece, and Rome

Yes, this is what my friend Rene told me about you too when I told him I wanted to interview you. We both agreed to what I baptized you: A Siren!

But it’s true that I was never considered to be the girl next door, I never saw myself that way

I preferred a woman with more mystery, and mythological dimension. I always, since CHILDHOOD, was fascinated with Greek mythology, ancient Egypt and magic

So Siren fits then?

Yes, Siren fits very well and swimming is one of my favourite things. I love the water: I miss it. When I haven’t had a chance to swim for a while, I long to meet a body of water again…

I saw some pictures of you in water. You looked ravishing with no make-up on. So lets go back to your story. After Antonio it was Serge?

I love to connect with artists who have very powerful vision like Serge Lutens, who is another incredible genius, and uncompromising in his vision or with Christian Lacroix, for whom I was one of his muses for the Haute Couture. It was a lovely time. Christian Lacroix, along with Claude Montana at Lanvin, brought the focus back to Haute Couture, which at that time had taken second place. Because of the great creators of the 80’s, such as Claude, Mugler, Alaia, Comme des Garcons, etc He had a very beautiful moment and important impact. Couture became alive again! It was so opulent

He was my second love after Montana. I was devastated when his House closed down. Lacroix always impressed me with his elegant frivolousness.

He had a very beautiful moment and important impact. Couture became alive again!

Yes, I agree on this one. So special and also very a sweet person. Very human. I interviewed him about a year ago. I still go back and read our conversation from time to time or exchanging emails.

His weakness was the ready to wear..

If only his Couture vision had been translated in a better way, to the RTW, it would have made more sense. I feel it is very sad and wrong for his house to close. Indeed a big mistake that there was no support there.

I so agree. It seems strange not to have been supported by the government or anyone who could buy the house. It’s a shame.

Shame!

SPHINX, Suzanne von Aichinger wears a jacket by Rick Owens FW2011. Photography by René Habermacher

And how did you end up with Galliano and Gaultier?

Well, after Lacroix, I was taking acting classes with a geat teacher, who had worked with James Dean, Elia Kazan, was the husband of Carole Baker (Baby Doll) Tenesse Williams, etc..

John was starting his first HC collection at Givenchy, and was looking for a muse. He didn’t care for the women that he was being introduced to. She had to be an actress, know how to move, be this and that. Basically, someone who could feed his imaginary. Lars Nilsson told the person at Givenchy, “Oh, just call Suzanne!” very simple..

So he wanted something more than a simple model.. But you ended up having more responsibilities there in the end…?

Of course! John wanted magic, inspiration. My job was to help them see the thing that they were looking for! By movement, voices, speaking, provoking. I also brought my own style, style elements, my experience, which at some points in my life, I thought to be quite absurd. I love to daydream and play. I love to make up different personages and create situations that amuse my friends and me. We would be very obsessive about things. When I started to work with John, I realized that all of this play-acting and invention had a purpose. He was receiving all of this and feeding off of it. And the exchange was mutual. His enthusiasm fed me, so that I could give even more.

Did you find it hard serving the role of the muse? Difficult?

it was fun and flowed beautifully, very rewarding as well. John was incredibly generous. And, when he trusted you and your vision, he really gave his full trust. So I was a part of his creative team. He was intelligent and had confidence in his team to delegate. Very rare!! The hard part was manoeuvring through some in house politics, and dealing with jealousy of some co-workers.

SIREN, Suzanne von Aichinger in a dress and gloves by Rick Owens FW2011. Photography by René Habermacher

How long was your collaboration? You walked his show for Summer 2011, you had the last exit. correct?

We worked together for 4 or 5 years..? And yes, I did his last show, and closed the show! What a great honour, because it was a show about his muses. It was a very emotional experience for me, because I hadn’t been back to the house of Galliano in 10 years, and to see all the people who work there, whom I hadn’t seen in such a long time. All those friendly faces… and Steven Robinson no longer there..

We were all genuinely moved, and happy to see one another again. It was really beautiful. I lived the best years of Galliano. Saw his great ascension. It was an incredible time with many stories to tell. Truly, I feel blessed to have worked so closely with such a brilliant magical man.

Gaultier was before Galliano or after?

Jean-Paul came after John. I was working with Maria Luisa for a brief moment- another very educational experience- when I got a phone call from Lionel Vermeil, who said that Jean Paul would like to work with me on his Couture collection, and if I was interested. Of course I was! So I started to do a few fittings for him, and manipulated the “toiles” and shifted them around to what felt right.

I had a point of view and strong opinion, and wasn’t afraid or intimidated to say what I felt. Jean Paul needed this. This was the reason why Lionel wanted me there in the first place. So Jean Paul asked me to do consulting mainly for Gaultier Paris, his haute couture collection. It was great!

I think all creators who are important need this

Yes, I think so too! You must have a woman involved in the creation. We are after all the ones who will be wearing the clothes.

Do you mind if I ask you about your music? Well I dont know much about it but I saw some videos on YouTube and its pretty intense. They way you perform with the rest of your team – Its three different music groups right?

Music has always, as far back as I can remember, been the NUMBER 1 important outlet and inspiration in my life.

I was obsessed with Snow White when I was a child. The music and story are very deep, profound, dark and romantic.

I always had quite an unusual, and relatively extreme, if not to say advanced taste in music. When I was 10 years old, I was listening to Pink Floyd, Santana, Dylan, Joan Baez, Thelonius Monk, Eartha Kitt, military marching music, and of course the music of Walt Disney.

Then one day, my sister told me about Alice Cooper. At this point my life changed. Everything made sense. Here was a man, so beautiful and his name was Alice. He wore corsets, makeup and high heels, had snakes, and was electrocuted, or hung at a gallows, or decapitated at the end of his shows.

This spoke to me in a way that I had never felt before, I related to this very deeply. I was Alice Cooper. My parents thought it to be a little unusual for a little girl. I wanted my room to be painted black, and thought it to be very Romanesque to sleep in a coffin, like Sarah Bernard.

I LOVE THIS!

I was then also listening to King Crimson, early Genesis (with Peter Gabriel only!), Johnny Winter, The Stooges, Brian Eno, early Roxy Music (the first 5 albums only!), which was quite sophisticated for a child really. I wanted to be a DJ, maybe even a rock star, but I liked the idea of being a male rock star.

But how did you get involved in it finally?

I was making music mixes and compilations. Some of them for Rick Owens actually! And then started to record some of my vocals, doing strange improves, etc…

I met Timo Ellis, who is a multi instrumentalist, prodigy, heard some of these recordings and he loved them, so we did some sessions together, with John Paul Keenon (Japa) an extraordinarily great drummer. I couldn’t believe that these guys would be interested in working on this project!

So we recorded Gluttonius “Roman Style” and I also recorded some things with their band The Netherlands.

When you perform you are in a complete disguise. Why do you hide your beautiful face? Also, like Lopez you become very intense, which is totally opposite from what I got when I first met you. Really impressive I must say..

Yes, I became The Face Of Wool”. I liked to perform this way because hiding my face brought out another dimension and power to the persona. It transcends sex, male or female, a being which is mythological, who can shift the elements, move mountains, etc…

Some people found it sometimes disturbing or scary, but in fact The Face of Wool is a positive, powerful, and very humorous person.

PANDORA, Suzanne von Aichinger all in Rick Owens FW2011. Photography by René Habermacher

Where can someone officially listen to your music?

Anytime. It’s on MySpace. I haven’t performed with the Netherlands for a while because I’m in Paris, and they are in NY. But, truly, they are one of the most prodigious bands on the planet. That is why I wanted to do a piece with you on this band. Very important! One day, people will be talking about this, and they will be hailed as geniuses. I know it. And I am NEVER wrong when I have that feeling.

I also performed with Billy Hough last summer in Provincetown. I had fans even (laughs) so great! He had Michael Cunningham reading poetry, and John Cameron Mitchell (from Hedwig and the Angry Inch) singing, ect

I performed “THE END” by The Doors, and it brought the house down, very haunting, like a witch almost, possessed. Wow it was amazing. Billy and Paul Hough and Sue Goldberg. They rule.

Suzanne I want to see one of these performances.

Well there is no video online of this that I know of. But there is footage, because there is a documentary being made on Billy Hough, who is another very important figure of underground stream of consciousness poet, musician. VERY IMPORTANT!!

And lastly there is THE SUZANNES, which is about film, music and pagan, experimental noise performance…

Named after you I suppose?

Well the name happened by chance. I was with Johnny Blueyes and Seth Kirby and Ana Matronic. We wanted to make a short film and so we went to my friend’s house near Stonehenge, and the vague story -line that we had drawn out, took on a whole other form, and became “The Suzannes”.

What was the last thing that stimulated you?

The collaboration with Haider Ackermann, whom I greatly admire, for Vogue.

by Lynsey Peisinger, Photography René Habermacher

Son Henry Blumenfeld in front of his fathers DOE EYE with Jean Patchett for Vogue US 1950

LYNSEY PEISINGER: Where were you born?

HENRY BLUMENFELD: I was born in 1925 in Zandfoort near Amsterdam. My father had been an ambulance driver during the first World War. During the war, he had met my mother who was Dutch, Lena Citroen, who was a cousin of Pal Citroen, a German/Dutch artist. He grew up in Berlin with my father and they went to school together and they were very close friends. Through Pal, he met my mother and they corresponded during the war. My mother came to visit him in Germany when he was a soldier there. He tried to leave Germany, but he couldn’t. So, just after the war he came to Holland and then, a little bit later, married my mother in the early 20s. I guess, 1921. And because he was German and she was Dutch, she became German — that was the Dutch law at the time. I was born in Holland, but because I had a German father, I also became German.

LP: What was your father doing at that time?

HB: He was surviving. Leaving Germany at the end of the war, he tried to survive with the help of my mother and set up some kind of art dealing business with a friend, but that didn’t work very well. He was doing a lot of collage and kept in touch with other German Dadaists. After two years, he started to work as a clerk in a department store. Later, around the time I was born, he opened his own shop called the Fox Leather Company, selling ladies handbags and suitcases on the Kalvestraat. That went fairly well, but soon Hitler came to power and the business went badly and eventually bankrupt. That’s when he decided to become a photographer in 1934.

ERWIN BLUMENFELD Exhibition at the villa Noailles Squash Court. Right: Erwin Blumenfeld OPHELIA 1947

RENE HABERMACHER: So your father’s first art oriented interest was collage and he was in the Dadaist movement?

HB: He was already interested in photography. He got his first camera when he was about 6 or 7. But his main interest was perhaps the theatre. That was something he was strongly attached to: the German language. His Dutch always remained a little bit feeble to say the least. He worked quite a lot, but with theatre in German language, he couldn’t make much of a living… With his collages he couldn’t make a living with that either but always kept in touch with the Germans — Grosz and Richard Huelsenbeck and other people of the Dadaist movement. Recently there was an exhibition in Berlin on this periods work of my father and a book has been published.

LP: Did he continue to do collage later on when he started doing photography?

HB: No. When he was doing collage, he was also painting — he was a Sunday painter: He did quite a bit of painting on Saturdays and Sundays. But he dropped doing his collage and the painting and started doing photography in Amsterdam. The business went rather poorly, he had health problems and more or less escaped to Paris around the 1st of January 1936. The first year it was very difficult for him to make a living. He got support from the family of his wife, of my mother. On his side he didn’t have much family left. His father had died before the first world war and his mother deceased shortly afterwards. He lost his brother in the war as a soldier in the German army and his sister died of Tuberculosis shortly after.

My father was friends with Walter Feilchenfeldt’s wife Marianne. He was a quite well known art dealer in Zurich. Mariane Feilchenfeldt helped him to rent his studio in Paris at 9 rue Delambre.

RH: So in Paris he got introduced to photography on a professional level?

HB: Already in Holland he was doing it on a professional level. He took many portraits and pictures there, but they didn’t sell much. He got in touch with some French people who came to Holland and they eventually supported him when he went to Paris — like Andre Girard the painter. Then, after about a year later, he started to sell photos to small photo magazines in the US and England, such as Lilliput. In 1937, he met british photographer Cecil Beaton who introduced him to Vogue. My father started to work for Paris Vogue in 1938.

When he was in Paris, he worked only in black and white. Color was not yet really developed for photography. It was very difficult for individuals to use color in their own studios, so he only did black and white while he was in Paris. I should mention that for his Paris period, his publications in Verve were very important. He had some of his striking black and white photos published in the first issues of that magazine. In the dark room, he experimented a lot, but only in black and white.

Then came the war and during the war, we were foreigners in france — we were not really refugees, but were without status, so it was quite difficult. In the beginning of the war, we were more or less exiled, we lived in a hotel in Vessely nine months, a sort of medieval town in Burgundy, France with a really nice cathedral. Then the Germans came and my father and sister were put in a camp. My mother and my brother and I, with the help of some Citroen cousins, managed to escape to the south of France. Our father was then in a rather horrible camp in France. We stayed in the Country until 1941, trying to get out. Then we managed to get a visa for the US — my father had been to the US already, in June of 1939. That was were, I think he took his first color photographs. He came back to France in July 1939 and he was stuck in France for two years. Then when we got to go to the US, he started working first with Harper’s Bazaar for two or three years, switched to Vogue and started doing color photography. At the time, he took his color pictures in the studio, using different color lights and so on — he was very experimental. But for the development and the printing, it was completely out of his hands. It was always done by Kodak. At the time, he couldn’t do anything in color on his own in the laboratory.

Most of these photos here were printed by Kodak. When I say printed, they weren’t really printed, they were large color transparencies. Like big negatives — 12 by 15 inches. I think that all of these photos here were taken in this large format and they were transparencies. The pictures were only printed for Vogue — working from the transparencies. Sometimes my father would give some direction on how they should be printed, but he was not generally involved in the printing itself. Only later, around 1956, they started to develop a new process called C-Prints. He bought the C-Print machine and he could start doing his own color. But C-Prints were very unstable as far as the color went — if they were exposed to light, in a few days they would essentially vanish. So all of his work in C-Print is essentially gone. Even the color transparencies that we have of his work have either faded or changed color a lot. Especially the reds, had faded. So, our doughtier Nadia has worked a lot with Olivier Berg at a laboratory in Lozère to try to restore the original colors. She is using the original publications because those prints have kept their color much better than the transparencies. So what you see in this exhibit is the result of the work that Olivier Berg and Nadia have done.

RH: Would you say that your father was somebody who was very progressive and pushing for new things in general?

HB: I don’t know about new things…. He was for the experimental, which is a little bit different. I don’t know if he was really striving for new things, but he tried to do do things differently and experimented. He was very much inspired by especially old painters like Goya and Renoir and much impressed by Picasso. I don’t know if he ever got to meet Picasso in Paris at the time. But he met quite a few artists as Dali and others.

Erwin Blumenfeld advertising for PALL MALL circa 1957.

RH: But he liked the experimental, so maybe that was something that remained with him from the Dadaist movement?

HB: Yes, that was important to him.

LP: I heard Michel Mallard talking earlier about how remarkable it is that there was no photoshop or digital editing at that time… this image, this one with the lips and the eye, DOE EYE, where the nose is missing and there is color separation, was this done in the retouching process?

HB: This was done in the process of retouching. It was an original black and white picture. It was colored afterwards by my father and by Vogue. They worked on it together. That was a special case because the others that you see were done in color and then reworked. This one did not originally have these colors.

RH: When your father was working, did you often witness his process and how he worked in his studio?

HB: No. When he was in Paris, working in black and white, I was somewhat present. But afterwards, in the States, I was not really present anymore. So I didn’t really witness him working in color.

RH: Was his approach as a photographer more controlled or more spontaneous?

HB: I think both. He was quite controlled — all of these pictures here were taken in a studio. But he also traveled quite a bit in America and in Europe and he took many 35 millimeter color slides. Incidentally, the color of those slides kept much better than the color on the transparencies. But, in the studio, he was very controlled and would take many pictures to get something specific in a sitting.

Left: Erwin Blumenfeld LE DECOLLETE 1952, RIGHT: Henry Blumenfeld in Conversation

LP: In Paris, were you present when he would shoot people in the studio?

HB: Sometimes, but not very often. I was more present when he was working in the dark room.

RH: I recently saw notes from Richard Avedon where he had a black and white print and he marked on it all of the places where he wanted the development to be darker or lighter using manipulation techniques in the dark room. Was your father working with these techniques too?

HB: Yes in the dark room, for black and white, he manipulated a lot. It would have been interesting to see what he would have done with color photography if he had been born fifty years later. At the time, the technology wasn’t there for him to do anything after a picture was taken in color.

RH: Where would your father have his intellectual and creative relationships — in other photography or painting etc?

HB: I would think painting. Very much painting, classical painting. Many of his photos were inspired by different painters. He was also inspired by modern life and by life in NY at the time, in the 40s and 50s. He liked jazz music very much, in the New Orleans style.

And he was quite interested in looking at television when it first came out. We got our first television set around 1950 or so. It was black and white at the time. I don’t think he ever saw color television. Maybe he saw it, but he never had one. He liked movies — but more for the content than for the photography. He liked Nanook of the North, about a Danish explorer. He was interested in movies — liked Erich Von Stroheim and he liked Sunset Boulevard and Billy WIlder.

RH: Was that love for cinema also what led to him making films?

HB: The filming was more in line with advertising. I think he was trying to see if he could use the filming for advertising, rather than to tell a story like in movies. Now you see everything mixed, advertising and movies. But at the time, it was an experiment.

RH: Do you think that your father really divided the things that he did for himself and the things that he was commissioned to do? The time after the war was quite commercial driven in America — was it easy for him to also do what he wanted to do?

HB: For one thing, the black and white and the color were two different things. In black and white, he could do what he wanted. In color, probably none of them were published in the exact way that they had been taken. They were made and developed specifically for Vogue. He did appreciate the possibility to work in color, but the whole fashion business and the way it worked was not very attractive for him. But still, when he had started out in Germany, he had started out working for a textile company and so, even then, he was interested in materials and fashion. Still, he didn’t really appreciate the fashion magazine business, but he knew that he could make his living there. So there were two sides to it for him — on one side, it was a place for him to make a living, on the other side, it gave him the opportunity to work in color, which he might not have had otherwise. He did have certain resentments, which is true for everyone in any job.

Erwin Blumenfeld DECOLLETEE and BLUE both 1952, and POWDER BOX 1944

RH: There are artists who suffer between the economical need to do something commercial and the desire to make the work that they are passionate about. They can feel torn…

HB: I don’t think that was his case. First of all, he did well financially in the 40s and 50s and he appreciated that. And then, because of that he was able to continue his work in black and white. You might have seen his book “My One Hundred Best Photos”. We have people comment on the fact that there is almost no fashion in that book–he did a little fashion photography in black and white for Vogue before the war, but later he didn’t do any fashion work in black and white. But, it gave him a lot of satisfaction to be able to do that book of his black and white work.

Still…he wasn’t always satisfied with everything. Becoming old for him was very difficult. It made him suffer a lot…some people accept it, but he accepted it quite badly.

LP: You said that he was experimental as a photographer. As a person and as a father, did he also have that type of attitude? And did he transmit that type of approach to his children?

HB: Well….I think he had his ups and downs. He was a very active father in many ways. He was involved with his children and either pleased or displeased with what they were doing. I don’t know….the children turned out very differently. I became an elementary particle physicist. My brother became a writer. He is not exactly politically minded… he is interested in art, sociology in many ways and in the way people behave. He was very rich in ideas my father, perhaps more so than his children.

LP: Did any of his children take an interest in photography?

HB: Interest yes, but not active in photography. Though, my wife became a photographer. She was born in Paris to an Algerian/Russian father and a British aristocratic mother. She survived the war in France — her father was Jewish, her mother was British, but anyway they would have liked to capture her. After the war she came to New York and worked for one year for the New York Times, one of the first women to work in a non-secretary position at the New York Times. Then she went back to France and when she came back to the States, the New York Times fired her because her vacation to France was more vacation than they were willing to give. Then she met the wife of Alex Liberman, the editor of Vogue, and became model editor at Vogue. Her job was to provide models for the photographers. Then she met my father and after a fews years, she started working for him. She started representing him. She never got any lessons from him in photography but she worked with him as an assistant– sending his photographs to different commercial companies. Then after we got married, she became a photographer herself and worked quite actively as a photographer. First a bit in Princeton where we lived. Then in Geneva for a few years. Then we came to Paris and she started working for Vogue and other magazines. She did mostly portraits of personalities and important political people and scientists etc. And other side projects, like children photography too. To a large extent inspired by my father. Of course, after we got married and had children, my father got another assistant, Marina Schinz. She became a photographer too — mostly garden photography and published a book on that.

LP: It is interesting that she worked with your father, who was doing a lot of fashion photography and then she became a garden photographer…

HB: She admired his work very much and when he died, she bought his studio on Central Park South. And she didn’t have a single photograph of his on the wall.

Both she and Kathleen, my wife, probably wouldn’t have become photographers without him. They were inspired by him, but they probably felt that they couldn’t really rival him, so they chose different styles.

LP: Do you think that he was a good teacher?

HB: He wasn’t really a teacher. But he was a big influence. My wife saw how he worked, but he never tried to give her lessons. Same with Marina Schinz.

When my father died, he let Marina handle his photographic inheritance. From the point of view of his will, it was never very clear…He left the photos with her and she tried to handle it the best possible way. So she divided all of the black and white photographs into four lots–one for each of his children and one for herself. Then she gave essentially all of the color transparencies to Nadia. Now Nadia has been quite active in promoting her grandfather’s work. She is now working on an exhibit for next year in Chalands sur Seine. There is a photography museum there and next year they will do an exhibit of my father’s work.

Left: Erwin Blumenfeld BLUE with model Leslie Redgate 1952.  Right: Erwin Blumenfeld VARIATIONS, unpublished 1947

LP: What is the last thing that stimulated you?

HB: What do you mean by stimulated? Something that affected me? Well, the thing that affected me is that my wife, Kathleen, died three months ago. Clearly that affected me. She had been sick, her brain didn’t work anymore. She was going downhill for ten years and in the last two years, she didn’t talk anymore. I don’t know what went on in her head. And three months ago, on the 9th of February, she died next to me…That is the thing that affected me. Also, what affected me was, she died very peacefully next to me. I didn’t realize that she was dead until I felt her and she was still warm and the kin came and said “votre femme est morte”. The morning afterwards, I got the announcement that a second great grandchild had been born. That also affected me. The day afterwards was the funeral and that was quite a moving event–we had five of the grandchildren and they made speeches and my children made speeches and I made a speech. One of the granddaughters filmed it and I now have it on dvd. So, that too affected me. I could tell you more, but maybe that’s enough for the moment.

Kathleen had been very close to my father and she admired him very much. Over the last ten years, she slowly went out of this world.

Thanks to our daughter Nadia, Kathleen had two double page spreads in Match in the last year. Nadia had given the pictures of Kathleen to Roger Viollet and he organized the spread.

RH: What is your work?

HB: I am an elementary particle physicist, experimental! Which is quite different. But I worked first with Cloud Chambers and then with Bubble Chambers and so I surely took more pictures than my father did. Of particles. Millions of pictures.