First Large-Scale Exhibition Illuminates Michael Comte's Oeuvre at Museum of Design

The First Art Newspaper on the Net    Established in 1996 Friday, March 29, 2024


First Large-Scale Exhibition Illuminates Michael Comte's Oeuvre at Museum of Design
Despite its range, Comte's work is consistently committed to an overarching aesthetic. EFE/Walter Bieri



ZURICH.- Michel Comte is among the most sought-after contemporary photographers. Working together with actors and models, musicians and artists of world renown, Comte − who was born in Zurich in 1954 − has created major icons of portrait and fashion photography. After being discovered by fashion designer Karl Lagerfeld, Comte’s career enjoyed a meteoric rise. For more than 30 years now, this autodidact has accepted commissions from labels like Ungaro, Dolce & Gabbana, and Nespresso. This first large-scale exhibition illuminates Comte’s oeuvre as a whole, its themes ranging from the glamorous world of superstars and advertising to reportage from the world’s most impoverished regions. Despite its range, Comte’s work is consistently committed to an overarching aesthetic. In addition to featuring his photographs themselves, this retrospective sheds light on the production process of an image world that increasingly dominates our everyday lives.

Michel Comte was born in Zurich in 1954. He trained as an art restorer and then taught himself photography. In 1979, he received his first advertising commission from Karl Lagerfeld for the fashion label Chloé and moved to Paris.

In 1981 he moved to New York and later to Los Angeles for his work on American Vogue. He describes his restless life with the words: 'I have always lived on the edge'. As soon as he notices that his life is lacking risk, he moves on and focuses on something new. Perhaps it is in his genes. After all, he is the grandson of aviator Alfred Comte.

Within the space of a few years, Comte went from being an unknown photographer to being the most wanted man in the business and had established himself as one of the world's busiest fashion and magazine photographers. He has worked for Vanity Fair and Vogue, and shot portraits of celebrities from the world of art, music, and entertainment including Julian Schnabel, Jeremy Irons, Demi Moore, Mike Tyson, Carla Bruni, and Michael Schumacher, creating icons of portrait photography in the process.

But in addition to portrait and fashion photography, Comte is increasingly branching out into journalistic and documentary photography. He has worked for the Red Cross and for his own Water Foundation and has travelled through war zones in Afghanistan, Iraq, Bosnia, or the Sudan. He is currently working on a film about the atrocities committed during the rule of the Khmer Rouge. The NRW-Forum retrospective will also include these kinds of photographs, thereby showcasing both facets of Michael Comte's talent.










Today's News

August 30, 2009

First Large-Scale Exhibition Illuminates Michael Comte's Oeuvre at Museum of Design

All the World's a Stage: Dallas Museum of Art Celebrates Performance in the Visual Arts

Leslie Sacks Fine Art Presents Sam Francis Prints: The Last of Their Kind

DeCordova Announces $1 Million Hamilton James Sculpture Park Acquisition Fund

Cabinet War Rooms Veterans Return to Mark 70th Anniversary of the Opening of the Rooms

Finalists Selected for 2009 Betty Bowen Award-Winner to be Announced at an Award Ceremony

Essl Museum Offers Impressive Insights into the Contemporary Indian Art Scene

Masterworks by Canadian Sculptor and Artist Tim Forbes to be Presented During Art Toronto

Get Upclose and Personal with Portraits at Phoenix Art Museum Photography Exhibition

How and Why Artists do What they do is the Focus of an Upcoming Exhibition

Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago to Present Califone: All My Friends are Funeral Singers

San Jose Institute of Contemporary Art to Hold Annual Fall Art Exhibition and Auction

Vancouver Art Gallery to Present Survey of Work by Renowned Photographer Scott McFarland

"Absolution of the Wind" on Exhibition at the Rubin-Frankel Gallery

Fotomuseum Winterthur to Present Exhibition of Power and Violence, Disease and Death

Morning "Mini Safari": An Artists' Eye View of Teton Wildlife

Pratt Institute Presents Exhibition of Digitally-Altered Photography by Fred Camper

Hanging Fire: Contemporary Art from Pakistan to be Shown at the Asia Society

Metabolic City at Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum




Museums, Exhibits, Artists, Milestones, Digital Art, Architecture, Photography,
Photographers, Special Photos, Special Reports, Featured Stories, Auctions, Art Fairs,
Anecdotes, Art Quiz, Education, Mythology, 3D Images, Last Week, .

 



Founder:
Ignacio Villarreal
(1941 - 2019)
Editor & Publisher: Jose Villarreal
Art Director: Juan José Sepúlveda Ramírez

Royalville Communications, Inc
produces:

ignaciovillarreal.org juncodelavega.com facundocabral-elfinal.org
Founder's Site. Hommage
to a Mexican poet.
Hommage
       

The First Art Newspaper on the Net. The Best Versions Of Ave Maria Song Junco de la Vega Site Ignacio Villarreal Site
Tell a Friend
Dear User, please complete the form below in order to recommend the Artdaily newsletter to someone you know.
Please complete all fields marked *.
Sending Mail
Sending Successful