Gelatin silver print, framed 40 x 30 cm (15.7 x 11.8 in)
Signed and numbered by the photographer in ink on the reverse, edition no. 3/17
PROVENANCE directly from the photographer
LITERATURE Face of Fashion, Cat. National Portrait Gallery, London 2007, p. 175.

Paolo Roversi’s large-scale Polaroid images and his portraits of Nadja Auermann, Kate Moss and Tilda Swinton have become stylistic benchmarks. For this picture, he photographed supermodel Naomi Campbell in an almost transparent bodysuit embroidered over and over with rhinestones. Apart from portraiture, female nudes are the photographer’s main subject. Roversi has always been a student of female beauty: “It holds a mystery for me. I love its mysterious and seductive appearance. I am driven to work by the desire to show and maintain this magic in my pictures.”
Consequently, his carefully composed photographs reveal an almost spiritual relationship with female beauty. Instead of submitting to a superficial or advertising aesthetic, they exude a sensual lyricism. The fragile moment and the angelic features of those portrayed are highlighted.
This is a rare outdoor image by Paolo Roversi, who prefers to work in the studio. The placement of the model in front of a narrow white panel of fabric, however, leads to an eclipse of time and space nonetheless, which is quite typical for Roversi’s visual language. Together with a certain nostalgia, it emphasises the timeless quality of his (fashion) photographs.