Vogue Italy
February 14, 2012
Juergen Teller Opening at the Lehmann Maupin Gallery
By Stephanie McDermott
"It’s good to provoke a reaction you know, and if people want to think of it as pornography they will, but it’s not," said Juergen Teller last night of his famously controversial nude photographs of silver-haired model Kristen McMenamy.
The portraits feature in his latest exhibition, which was unveiled on Friday night at the Lehmann Maupin Gallery to a packed crowd that included Lily Cole, Ryan McGinley and Princess Maria Elisabeth von Thurn und Taxis – all previous subjects of the photographer’s.
Teller - the vision behind over a decade of stunning Marc Jacobs advertising campaigns - also included shots of the gloriously muddy Suffolk countryside where he resides, and a striking series featuring Vivienne Westwood. The designer, smiling defiantly at the camera with her trademark orange locks piled on top of her head, reclines on a sofa in the nude - the pictures appearing as natural as if taken by a lover.
Lily Cole – hiding her hair under a bright red beanie – mingled with Lorenzo Martone and Stefano Tonchi (gallery co-owner David Maupin’s partner) before the crowd headed the East Village way for the after party at Zum Schneider.
"I just want a drink and a cigarette," smiled the steely-eyed Teller as he made his way out of the gallery and into the night.