Kasia Pysiak in Vivienne Westwood, Londra, 1998

For over 60 years, Gian Paolo Barbieri has been one of the most influential international photographers in the world of fashion. A new retrospective showcases his many masterworks, along with previously unpublished photographs ranging from the 1960s to the year 2000. It’s the product of in-depth research of the artist’s archive. A Journey Through Fashion History with Gian Paolo Barbieri is at House of Lucie, Ostuni, Italy, until 31 August 2024. All images: Fondazione Gian Paolo Barbieri in collaboration with 29 Arts In Progress

Isabella Rossellini, Milano, 1998

Barbieri was born on the Via Mazzini in Milan, Italy. It was in his father’s textile warehouse that he acquired the competence that later became helpful in his fashion photography. For decades, his iconic and timeless shots have filled the pages of Vogue Italia, Vogue France, Vogue US, L’Officiel, GQ and Vanity Fair

Laura Alvarez, Venezuela, 1976

In 1976, Barbieri was in Venezuela to shoot an editorial with Laura Alvarez and Vogue Italia editor-in-chief Marina Fausti. Tropical and colourful was the modern escapism motto of the time. This particular photo was taken in the Orinoco River. Barbieri and his team traveled upstream to its source in the virgin depths of the Amazon

Ewan McGregor, Milano, 1995

The exhibition features intimate and spontaneous shots of models and celebrities, including Veruschka, Naomi Campbell, Marpessa, Eva Herzigová, Monica Bellucci, Mina, Isabella Rossellini and Audrey Hepburn. Barbieri conceived of some of the most legendary publicity campaigns for fashion brands such as Versace, Ferrè, Vivienne Westwood, Dolce & Gabbana, Valentino and Armani

Naomi Campbell in Yves Saint Laurent, Parigi, 1988

Barbieri shot Naomi Campbell at the beginning of her modelling career, saying: ‘Who knows if she was already aware that she would soon become a top model’

Eva Herzigová, Roma, 1997

Barbeiri was innovative in terms of set design and styling. His photography was provocative, rich with references to art history and full of cinematic references, echoing his early experience working at Cinecittà film studio in Rome

Janette in André Laug, Vogue Italia, Milano, 1975

From Barbieri’s point of view, fashion without art becomes naked and empty. The women photographed here in the exhibition free themselves from the classic canonical poses of fashion photography, becoming spokeswomen for a new, unconventional type of elegance. They reveal a more nonchalant and sensual side

Laura Alvarez, Venezuela, 1976

Barbieri said: ‘I have always loved art, in all its incarnations. Since I was a child the inspiration of theatre and cinema played an important role. Reading widely, studying classical art, looking to the great masters of the past or simply looking around me at what animated my surroundings, I cultivated my artistic eye’

Audrey Hepburn in Valentino, Roma, 1969

‘I imagined or drew in my head that which I would have liked to be the result of this act, constructing my sets meticulously, always citing, more or less explicitly, art, cinema or architecture’

Gian Paolo Barbieri, Milano 1978

This self-portrait, created with the help of the photography historian Maurizio Rebuzzini and art director Eros Candusso, was published in Taschen: The Polaroid Book. The shot was taken inside a tub, in which Barbieri immersed himself upside down. During the development phase of the polaroid, Barbieri intervened directly with coloured ecolines, creating this unique, non-reproducible effect

Jill Kennington in Missoni, Vogue France, Port Sudan, 1974

Marlene Dietrich, interpreted through the model Jill Kennington; she wore a Missoni outfit and had an umbrella made of white ostrich feathers handmade by a local artisan. To create this photograph, Barbieri’s friend Annan Kashuchi blocked the port traffic, while the image was taken on the roof of a dangerously steep hangar

Kasia Pysiak in Vivianne Westwood, Londra, 1998

Barbieri – the 2018 winner of the Lucie Award for Best International Fashion Photographer (Outstanding Achievement in Fashion) – is a special photographer, from his carefully studied and balanced use of lighting, through his longstanding familiarity with cinema and theatre, to the makeup and suspended stillness of the poses

Mirella Petteni, Vogue Italia, 1968

Cited as one of the 14 best fashion photographers by Stern magazine, Barbieri is an artist who is becoming ever more present in prestigious museum collections, including the National Portrait Gallery in London, the Kunstforum in Vienna, the Multimedia Art Museum in Moscow, the Musée du Quai Branly in Paris and the Nicola Erni Collection in Switzerland

Laura Alvarez, Venezuela, 1976

Barbieri ‘fascinates, surprises and touches the heart and mind of the viewer’, says the House of Lucie, adding: ‘This is the purpose of photography and, more broadly, of art’