photo: © 2018 Christian Tagliavini - PLACE DES RÊVES, 2015 (VOYAGES EXTRAORDINAIRES) All rights reserved. www.christiantagliavini.com
Since the beginning of his career, Swiss-Italian photographer Christian Tagliavini, like Dutch photographer Marie Cécile Thijs , has been fascinated by staged photography and Renaissance portraiture. Referencing the painting style of the Old Masters, his carefully staged photographic portraits convey the dignity and calm of 15th- and 16th-century courtly culture. They meticulously recreate the appearances, framing, and chiaroscuro effects of that era.
After his breakthrough with the series 1503 , Tagliavini returned to this art-historical theme with his new series, 1406, which was published for the first time in this book. Tagliavini proved himself a true “photographic craftsman,” designing and making all the costumes and props for this theme by hand with a small team.
His most ambitious undertaking is his extensive series Voyages Extraordinaires. For it, Tagliavini constructed entire scenes inspired by the novels of Jules Verne. All of Tagliavini's series, however, are carefully composed tableaux with a stunning, fantastical effect that partly recalls his early photographic idols Jeff Wall, Erwin Olaf, and Gregory Crewdson.
This Tagliavini monograph contains all his photographic series up to the time of publication, as well as images documenting the working process behind projects that occupied him for months. The result is a comprehensive Tagliavini catalog offering a fascinating insight into the methods of one of the most original and talented photographers of his generation.
Christian Tagliavini was born in 1971 and grew up in Italy and Switzerland. Before becoming a photographer, he worked as a graphic designer for engineering and architecture firms, an experience reflected in his versatile approach to photography.
At the time of the article's original publication, an exhibition of his work was on view at the Fotografiska museum in Stockholm.
Translation: © Fotografie.nl
Christian Tagliavini
Pages: 160
Price: € 41.00
Publisher: teNeues
ISBN: 9783961710850. Language: English. This article refers to the English-language edition.
