Mario Testino @ Hamiltons Gallery, London - "Gone Wild" Exhibition

Mario Testino: Gone Wild 

Hamiltons Gallery, London 

21November 2023 – 3 February 2024 

Hamiltons presents ‘Gone Wild’ featuring exclusive, new work by internationally renowned photographer MARIO TESTINO. Shown at the gallery for the first time, the images feature an array of animals; from lions in Kenya to rare birds in Brazil. 

This new series contributes to Mario Testino’s ongoing project ‘A Beautiful World’ which explores and documents the cultural traditions of people and the natural world from around the globe, Hamiltons presented the first glimpses of Mario Testino’s ‘A Beautiful World’ in 2019. Whilst Testino has historically been recognised as one of the world’s most in-demand commercial and fashion photographers, his life and career’s real magnum opus is at its genesis. 

Dr Jenifer Allen writes “Mario Testino expands the frontiers of wildlife photography. The locations remain remote: from eagles in Mongolia to zebras in Namibia. Yet Testino pushes the borders of this classic genre far beyond simple documentation. His pictures communicate much more than an animal photographed unawares in its natural habitat.

First, Mario Testino brings his sartorial eye to fauna and fowl. Their habitats have been transformed into ideal, curated sets, shifting between nature and imagination. The birds’ feathers recall the singular and extravagant creations of haute couture. Balearica pavonina, Brazil, and Goura cristata, Brazil, 2022 evoke designer millinery. Phasianus colchicus, Brazil, 2022 seem to shimmer in jewel-encrusted coats. 

Yet, unlike fashion photographs, these images pit vibrant colours against inky dark backgrounds: gemstones in velvet caskets. Some birds look as if they had stepped out for the evening, only to be captured by paparazzi. The nocturnal surroundings match the birds’ tiny black pupils, thus amplifying the many hues glowing around them. 

Mario Testino has always taken a painterly approach to photography, which traditionally relied on speed and light. Yet post-production brings photography closer to painting which can be slow and dark while augmenting polychromatic details. The colours in these photographs have been refined much like a painter’s palette. Rembrandt’s sombreness, Caravaggio’s dramatic sets and Manet’s backgrounds all come to mind, despite Testino’s vastly different subjects.

For Mario Testino, a photograph is not a document but a tool for creating a scenario. For exploring creativity and emotion. What you feel is more important than what species you can identify. If there’s a document here, it’s a chronicle of Testino’s imagination: his own personal AI.“

Mario Testino: Gone Wild consists of 17 C-type Fuji Supergloss prints mounted to aluminium.

MARIO TESTINO - BIOGRAPHY

Regarded as one of the world’s most influential fashion and portrait photographers, Mario Testino is responsible for the creation of emblematic images, transmitting emotion and energy in an open and intimate way, to document people all over the world.

Mario Testino's work has been exhibited in museums around the world, including the Helmut Newton Foundation, Berlin (Undressed, 2017) the Shanghai Art Museum (Private View, 2012) and the National Portrait Gallery, London (Portraits, 2002). Mario Testino’s most recent body of work is an artistic exploration of cultural identity, part of a wider project to highlight diverse beauty. As he travels the world, Testino reveals what makes culture in each country unique, challenging us to find a more sustainable balance between change and tradition.

More than 17 books of his photography have been published, including MaRIO DE JANEIRO Testino, Kate Moss by Mario Testino, Alta Moda and Fina Estampa. Alongside his 40-year practice as a photographer, Testino has realised a body of work as a creative director, guest editor, art collector, philanthropist, and museum founder in Lima. In recognition of his charity work, Testino was awarded the Legion of Honour of France in 2017, the Order of the British Empire in 2013, and the Grand Cross Order of Merit in Peru in 2014. In October 2016, Testino opened the first Parques Teresita playpark in association with Natalia Vodianova and the Naked Heart Foundation in Cusco, Perú, and the second in January 2019 in Ayacucho, Peru. A third park was opened in March 2023 in Alto Selva Alegre, in Arequipa. 

‘Gone Wild’ is Mario Testino’s third exhibition with Hamiltons.

HAMILTONS GALLERY

13 Carlos Place, London W1K 2EU

www.hamiltonsgallery.com

Photographer Mario Testino Exhibition at MFA, Boston

Mario Testino: In Your Face and British Royal Portraits
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
Mario Testino: In Your Face, through February 3, 2013 
Mario Testino: British Royal Portraits, through June 16, 2013

Mario Testino’s compelling fashion and celebrity photographs have appeared in international magazines and advertising campaigns for leading fashion houses for the past three decades.  Beginning October 21, the man behind the camera that has captured countless iconic images for Vogue and Vanity Fair is featured in two exhibitions of his work at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (MFA)—Mario Testino: In Your Face and British Royal Portraits. 

Kate Moss, London, 2006 © Mario Testino 

Photo Courtesy of the artist and MFA, Boston

Mario Testino: In Your Face showcases 122 images by the photographer, known for works that evoke elegance, beauty, style, irreverence, and contradiction. The range and quality of Testino’s career is illustrated in photographs of international superstars, such as models Kate Moss, Stephanie Seymour, and Gisele Bündchen; actors Nicole Kidman and Gwyneth Paltrow; musicians Mick Jagger, Madonna, and Lady Gaga; and athletes David Beckham and Tom Brady. Mario Testino: British Royal Portraits focuses on the portraits he has taken of generations of the British royal family. Mario Testino has personally chosen the works for these exhibitions. The photographs on view offer a retrospective of his prolific career, which began shortly after Testino’s arrival in London from his native Peru in 1976. In Your Face draws upon thousands of exquisitely styled images that document his creative journey in pursuit—and in celebration—of beauty.  Mario Testino’s photographs are bold, graphic, and “in your face.” The exhibition illustrates fashion, elegance, sex, and nudity, reflecting the photographer’s unique aesthetic and stylistic range. “I am honored to be invited by the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston to exhibit my work in these two exhibitions, my first in the United States,” said Mario Testino. “These exhibitions are a very personal reflection of the past 30 years in which I have been a photographer.”  

Mario Testino 

Photo Courtesy MFA, Boston

In Your Face provides access to Mario Testino’s world—from models, movie stars, and musicians, to a host of glitterati.  At the entrance to the Gund Gallery, a wall of 16 screens offers behind-the-scenes video of the globetrotting photographer. In addition, visitors to the exhibition can experience Mario Testino in action and recalling career-defining moments on the Museum’s hand-held multimedia guide, which features audio and video selections relating to works in the exhibitions. Among the many famous faces on view are Jennifer Lopez, Keith Richards, Kate Winslet, and Ashton Kutcher. Styled portraits are juxtaposed with candid private party snapshots, nudes with fashion, black-and-white with color, and interiors with exterior settings. These arrangements capture the interplay of mass media, celebrity, and glamour, showcased in an installation that offers the observer a more intimate connection with the works. The photographs, many of them printed on aluminum, rest on shelves running the length of the teal-colored Gund Gallery. Images vary in size, ranging from monumental color prints (8’x6’) to intimately sized (1’x2’) black-and-white snapshots.   

“The MFA’s relationship with Mario Testino began when he came to the Museum in 2010 to participate in the Karsh photography lecture series” said Anne Havinga, Estrellita and Yousuf Karsh Senior Curator of Photographs at the MFA.   “These two exhibitions are the result of a wonderful collaboration between Mario and the Museum, and reveal the artist’s perspective on the popular culture of our time.”  

Mario Testino is highly regarded for the photographs of British royalty he has been commissioned to take throughout his career, and he has chosen his personal favorites for the exhibition British Royal Portraits. “I have been so fortunate to have documented key moments in the lives of the British royal family. I have always been inspired by their sense of tradition and duty—it is always a huge honor for me to photograph them and I am delighted that many of these pictures will be on display, together for the first time, in the Herb Ritts gallery at the MFA,” said Mario Testino. 

TRH The Duke & Duchess of Cambridge, London, 2010 

© Mario Testino 

Photo Courtesy of the artist and MFA, Boston

British Royal Portraits is the first US showing of the 2010 engagement portraits Testino was commissioned to take of Prince William and Kate Middleton, now TRH The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge.  Also on view is the iconic and elegant black-and-white portrait he took of Diana, Princess of Wales, which first appeared in Vanity Fair magazine in 1997 and was her last official sitting before her death that year. The framed images of the royals—many measuring approximately 3’ x 4‘—are shown against royal blue walls. They range from a snapshot of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II to informal black-and-white images of Prince Charles with his sons William and Harry.  Also on view is the first picture Mario Testino took of members of the House of Windsor a few years after arriving in London from Peru. The photographer snapped an impromptu black-and-white shot of The Queen Mother and her grandson, Prince Edward, as they passed by crowds gathered in London’s streets to celebrate the marriage of HRH The Prince of Wales and Lady Diana Spencer in 1981. Since then, Mario Testino has become a preferred photographer of the royal family.    

To complement the exhibition Mario Testino: In Your Face, a variety of publications, limited-edition prints by Mario Testino, designer jewelry, and select fashions are being offered in the MFA Bookstore and Shop. The 223-page publication Mario Testino: In Your Face (Taschen, 2012) features 122 black-and-white and color images taken by Testino from 1993 through 2012 and includes contributions by Anna Wintour, Editor in Chief of Vogue; Jennifer Allen, editor of the contemporary art and culture magazine, frieze d/e; and Malcolm Rogers, Ann and Graham Gund Director of the MFA. Other Testino books on sale include MaRio de Janeiro Testino (Tashen, 2009), and Kate Moss by Mario Testino (Taschen, 2011), as well as limited editions of Visionarie No. 46: Uncensored (Visionaire, 2005), a book edited by Testino highlighting the work of various artists on the theme of sex.  Additionally, the shop is offering four limited-edition prints signed by Testino featuring images of models Kate Moss, Carmen Kass, and Natalia Vodianova, and actress Sienna Miller. 

These exhibitions, his first in the United States, are co-sponsored by Stuart Weitzman and Swarovski.  Additional support for Mario Testino: British Royal Portraits is provided by British Airways.  

Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
Museum's website: www.mfa.org

Susan Bright, Art Photography Now, Aperture

Susan Bright

Art Photography Now

Aperture, 2005

“As all the work in this book testifies, photography is no longer a ‘mortal enemy’ or a ‘humble servant’ to art. It is currently enjoying significant re-evaluation in terms of its profile, acceptance and status.”— Susan Bright

Photography helped shape art in the late twentieth century; in the twenty-first, it has begun to dominate it.Art Photography Now (Aperture, November 2005), is a survey that presents the work of eighty of the most important and best-known art photographers in the world today ––including Tina Barney, Gregory Crewdson, Philip-Lorca diCorcia, Nan Goldin, Andreas Gursky, Martin Parr, Cindy Sherman, Joel Sternfeld, Martin Parr, Mario Testino, to name a few. 

Susan Bright, former curator of the National Portrait Gallery, London, has organized the book into seven sections -- City, Portrait, Document, Object, Landscape, Fashion, and Narrative — each of which explores the diverse subjects, styles, and methods adopted by the artists. Introductions to each section outline the genres and consider why photographers are attracted to certain themes and how issues like memory, time, objectivity, politics, identity, and the everyday are tied to certain approaches. 

Each photographer’s work is then presented in sequence, with commentaries by the author highlighting the art’s most important aspects. Quotations from the artists appear alongside to offer valuable insights into the motivation, inspiration, and intentions behind the work. With an introduction that sets out the historical relationship between art and photography from the early nineteenth century and discusses the art world’s embrace of the medium in recent decades, Art Photography Now is a truly comprehensive guide to the essential aspects of contemporary photography. It is a visual feast and an essential resource for curators, collectors, scholars, practitioners, and anyone who wants a comprehensive, up-to-date exposure to the state of photography today. 

Susan Bright is an independent writer, lecturer, and curator. A former curator of photographs at the National Portrait Gallery and director of the Association of Photographers Gallery, both in London, currently she is an associate lecturer in photographic history and theory at the London College of Communication, acting director of the M.A. contemporary art course at Sotheby’s Institute of Art, London, and a course leader at Tate Modern. She has curated a variety of photography exhibitionsand has written numerous articles and essays for a number of catalogues, journals and magazines, including Photoworks, Source, Contemporary, Tema Celeste, and Showstudio. 

Art Photography Now Edited by Susan Bright 

Aperture November 2005 

9 x 10 ¾ in. (22.8 x 27.3 cm) 

224 pages, 250 four-color images 

Hardcover with jacket 

ISBN 1-931788-91-X $50.00 U.S.