A Tribute to Richard Avedon SPECIAL EDITION

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1 W RLD The quarterly magazine for Pirelli s management throughout the world - Special Edition October 2004 Poste Italiane Spa-Spedizione in Abbonamento Postale-70%-DCB Milano. Reg. Trib. Milano n. 494 del Redazione: Via G. Negri 10 Milano A Tribute to Richard Avedon SPECIAL EDITION

Abbonamento Postale-70%-DCB Milano. Reg. Trib. Milano n. 494

2 2 From the 1997 Pirelli Calendar: April From the 1997 Pirelli Calendar: June

3 EDITORIAL Richard Avedon R ichard Avedon died in Texas on 1st October 2004, aged 81. This special edition of Pirelli World is a tribute to his art, photography, and to the work done with Pirelli during many years of collaboration. He began in 1995, making his first calendar ever: which better way to start if not with a Pirelli Cal, one of the most prestigious in the world? Then, in 1996 he produced for Pirelli the corporate advertising campaign To propel the Great Journey, aimed at summarizing end emphasising the strength and growth trend of the Group. Finally, he created the 1997 Cal, entitled Women of the World, inspired by Pirelli s presence on the international marketplace through a collection of shots of women from different countries. Avedon once said: Mine is a sad form of art: it disappears as soon as it is made but it remains. Just as his art, Richard Avedon is sadly no longer with us but he will from now on be remembered as a great and unique artist. Pirelli is honoured to have had the opportunity to work with such a landmark in the history of photography. From the 1997 Pirelli Calendar: June 3

He began in 1995, making his first calendar ever: which better way to start if not with a Pirelli Cal, one of the most prestigious in the world?

4 1995 The First Aved P irelli Seasons, the title of the 1995 Pirelli Cal, was the first work of this kind made by Richard Avedon: he had never done a calendar before and, aged 72, he accepted beginning with the most prestigious of all. The theme of the calendar is the four seasons: it may seem an ordinary subject, but its representation here is an original and creative one. There are no sandy beaches, no hint of pin-up. Avedon wanted to portray women in a way that is classic, timeless, and above all, natural. The result is a collection of photographs which are outside and beyond fashion, breathtaking. Four models were chosen for the 1995 Calendar: Nadja Auermann, with her startling ice-cool looks, for Winter; Farrah Summerford for Spring, due to her youth; Naomi Campbell for Summer, echoing the summer months with her glowing sensuality; Christy Turlington for Fall, due to her enchanting mysterious beauty. It has been said of Avedon that he has exchanged artificial poetry for the poetry of the real: this poetry is abundantly expressed in the 1995 Pirelli Calendar, which will definitely be remembered as a high spot in the Calendar s history. 4

There are no sandy beaches, no hint of pin-up. Avedon wanted to portray women in a way that is classic, timeless, and above all, natural.

5 on Cal: 1995 The concept of visualising the four seasons could have become a romantic pastiche of a sentimental era. My challenge was to express the eternal, the mythic, through contemporary images. Richard Avedon 5

6 1996 An Unusua Pirelli s Corporate Advert R ichard Avedon was not only a great photographer, but also a ingenious art director in the advertising field. He was not a newcomer in the world of corporate communications either, even if most of his career had been spent creating images for fashion magazines such as Vogue and Harper s Bazaar. He actually started in 1971 when he created and directed a TV ad for Chanel featuring Catherine Deneuve. In 1995, when he first photographed the Pirelli Cal, he became familiar with the complex technologies of our Group, our aims, aspirations and efforts for the future. Therefore he accepted with pleasure the task of creating a new advertising image for the Company, one which would interpret its renewed strengths and growth trend. That is how he came up with the campaign entitled To propel the great journey, with the motto from the lonesome road to the information superhighway, reflecting the continuous evolution of Pirelli s products and technology. The print campaign - aimed at the international business community - was released in September 1996 on all major business media, including Germay s Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, Britain s Financial Times and The Economist, America s Wall Street Journal and Business Week. Avedon s original image expressed exactly what Pirelli was and is still today: an avant-garde corporation at the forefront of technology in all its sectors of business. In the last few years commented Marco Tronchetti Provera at the time of the campaign s launch the Company has readdressed its strategy, renewed its products and market positioning, developed new technologies. Only a great creative artist such as Richard Avedon could so successfully interpret Pirelli s new reality. The campaign proved to be very effective and remains one of the most successful to this day. It is not the camera that counts, but the mind that s behind it. It is the imagination that guides true photography Richard Avedon 6

He actually started in 1971 when he created and directed a TV ad for Chanel featuring Catherine Deneuve.

7 l Avedon: tising Campaign of

8 1997 The Second Ave W omen of the World is the title of this second Avedon Calendar, made in 1997 and launched in Venice at Palazzo Grassi. For this edition, the great American photographer was inspired by Pirelli s presence as a multinational in a variety of countries all over the world: Brazil, China, United States, Japan, etc. He thus wanted to pay a tribute to all women, representing their country of origin. Each one is extraordinary in her own way and in all of them Avedon found the inspiration by which to create 12 intimate portraits, that celebrate the uniqueness, variety and beauty of women everywhere. Sometimes, Avedon chose two or three women for one country to emphasise cultural diversity and reveal the many faces of beaty. Once the Calendar had been ready, he commented: My job was to take pictures of the twelve most beautiful women of the planet. I am not only a lucky and spoiled man I am also exhausted! 8

He thus wanted to pay a tribute to all women, representing their country of origin.

9 edon Cal:

10 PRESS The Avedon Cal in the Press T he attention of the media to the Pirelli Calendar has always been very strong, especially in the months preceding the official launch. So immediately afterwards newspapers and magazines from all over the world rush to be the first to publish that year s most beautiful pictures. Below are just some examples of the coverage our Cal receives, and what kind of echo Avedon s pictures received all over the world in Espresso: The top Italian news magazine considered the Cal a cult and proposed a choice of the pictures of the four models selected by Avedon. The cover of the magazine sported a ravishing Christy Turlington entangled in brambles and dry leaves, banishing any notion of autumnal melancholy. Stern: The German magazine published the same picture as the Espresso on the cover and dedicated a long article to the history of the Calendar, with names and photographs that have contributed to its years of fame. VSD: The competitor of Paris Match, VSD had the idea of putting the au nature version of Naomi Campbell s July and plastered Paris with its ads, provoking an immediate reaction from the public and the media. The Sunday Times: British devotion to Pirelli tradition was assured by The Magazine, the supplement of the English Sunday Times, which represented on the cover the splendid Nadja Auermann with her floor-length wig made from natural hair representing the month of February. Supplement to the Pirelli World Magazine n. 40; Published by Pirelli & C. S.p.A. Direzione Comunicazioni Esterne Editor Fabio Magrino Assistant Editor Livia Armellini Editorial Consultant Robert Newman Artwork Y&R Communications, Milan Printed by Arti Grafiche Meroni, Milan 10

Below are just some examples of the coverage our Cal receives, and what kind of echo Avedon s pictures received all over the world in 1995.

11 From the 1995 Pirelli Calendar: October 11

12 12

IED Florence Fashion Stylist, Summer course

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