Sarah Moon, Jane Corkin Gallery, Toronto - Inventaire 1985-1999

Sarah Moon: Inventaire 1985-1999
Jane Corkin Gallery, Toronto
April 15 - May 15, 1999  

Marking Sarah Moon's first ever Canadian exhibition, Jane Corkin Gallery presents a retrospective of her work spanning the last 14 years.

Sarah Moon, born in Paris in 1941, is well known for her painterly fashion photographs seen in Marie-Claire, Elle and French, British and American Vogue. Fashion is not the only genre for Sarah Moon. She also turns her camera to landscapes, animals and gardens. Her photographs are mysterious, so intimate and dramatic they entice the viewer to take a closer look. This is evident in her close-up portraits such as that of Yaël Raich.

Her most recent work is large-scale colour, made as pigment saturated prints on watercolour paper. The colour defies photography. Here female forms are reduced to silhouettes and gowns to flickering shadows dissolving into deep pools of turquoise, wine or amber light. It is these ethereal images where it is most apparent that Sarah Moon does not merely photograph clothes, but the memories of clothes.

It is apparent that Sarah Moon is often inspired by children's fantasies and creates images about imagination. Her narratives are inspired by nostalgia evoking memories of childhood emotions.

The darker side of nature often predominates resulting in images that are at times frightening. An especially haunting photograph includes that of a flock of birds framed, lighted and printed in such a way that the creatures are rendered otherworldly. These black and white photographs are a precursor to her film achievements.

In 1991 she achieved critical success in the film industry for her award-winning feature film Mississipi One shown in Toronto at the International Film Festival that same year. Also directed by Sarah Moon are four other films including a documentary on well-known photographer Henri Cartier-Bresson. She continues to work in film and to photograph in both colour and black and white.

Black & white photographs are either:

30 x 40 cm (11 13/16" x 15 3/4")

40 x 50 cm (15 3/4" x 19 11/16")

50 x 60 cm (19 11/16" x 23 5/8")

Colour photographs exist only as 74 x 57 cm (29 1/8" x 22 7/16")

Prices range from $2000 - $7750 US

JANE CORKIN GALLERY
179 John Street, Suite 302, Toronto, ON, M5T 1X4
www.janecorkin.com