A press release coming from Milan, it takes another meaning in these times of epidemic (54,030 patients, 6,820 deaths in Italy, 2nd country today most affected by contagion after the United States, according to the analysis of Fig -Data updated on March 25). “ Pirelli, in light of the current Covid-19 emergency, has decided to cancel the production and launch of the Pirelli 2021 Calendar. As part of other initiatives already undertaken by the company, the“ The Cal ”project will allow 100,000 euros to be devoted to the fight against coronavirus and to research in this field ”.
This cancellation is not without precedent. “ The production of the Pirelli Calendar was stopped before, in 1967 and then from 1975 to 1983. The unprecedented urgency of Covid-19 forced us to do it again today. We will come back to the project when the time comes, with the people who worked with us today , ”said Pirelli Executive Vice President and General Manager Marco Tronchetti Provera.
Helmut Newton signs the 2014 Calendar. Helmut Newton / Courtesy Pirelli Calendar
Eros and thanatos? The Pirelli Calendar is a photographic institution. As much by the means, the trips, the decorations, the celebrations that this order implies, as by the signature of the chosen artist (Annie Leibovitz produced the Pirelli Calendar 2016). Thanks to their vision, their audacity, their profession, a forced figure often turns into a free figure. All the big names in contemporary photography have therefore embarked on this adventure.
The 40th edition of "The Cal ™" was entrusted to the photoreporter Steve McCurry, who bears witness, through women, to the recent economic and social transformations in Brazil. In two weeks of photos in the streets and favelas of Rio, Steve McCurry accomplished his work as a discoverer, gleaning the stories, the experiences and the salient features of a distant land and its inhabitants. Steve McCurry / Courtesy Pirelli Calendar
First of all, she praised the sculptural beauty of women, like Helmut Newton, “Master of Sex” in 2014, like fashion photographer Steven Meisel and his pin-ups in 2015, like Mario Sorrenti, first Italian photographer in this saga. and its hieratic nudes in the landscapes of Corsica in 2012 ... Before looking at their inner strength. Going back in time with the Pirelli Calendar means seeing this mentality change quite significantly.
Emma Watson to play a Juliet without Romeo in front of the lens of Paolo Roversi, for the Pirelli 2020 Calendar (detail). Paolo Roversi / Courtesy Pirelli Calendar
For its 47th edition of The Cal ™ presented on December 3, 2019 at the Philharmonic Theater of Verona, in Veneto, the Pirelli 2020 Calendar was produced by Paolo Roversi, around the theme “ In search of Juliet ”. Inspired by Shakespeare, Paolo Roversi set off in search of " the Juliet who lies dormant in all women ", with Claire Foy, Mia Goth, Chris Lee, Indya Moore, Rosalía, Stella Roversi, Yara Shahidi, Kristen Stewart and Emma Watson.
On Juliette's trail
For the first time, the Pirelli Calendar combines photography and cinema with an 18-minute short film. Paolo Roversi, 72, performs his own role as director there and gives auditions to the "Juliets", who pass, one by one, in front of his camera. " I was looking for a pure soul, full of innocence combining strength, beauty, tenderness and courage " explained this Italian from Ravenna, in Emilia-Romagna, who lives in Paris.
After China seen by Patrick Demarchelier in 2008, Botswana honored by Peter Beard in 2009 and Brazil electrified by Terry Richardson in 2010, "The Cal 2011" took an unexpected destination under the direction of Karl Lagerfeld, disappeared February 19, 2019 (details). Karl Lagerfeld / Courtesy Pirelli Calendar
Another great name in photography, Albert Watson, who produced the 2019 Pirelli Calendar. " I wanted to go beyond simple portraits, I had in mind to make each film a cinematic" freeze frame ". I would like those who look at the Calendar to understand that my goal was to take pure photography, to explore the women who posed in front of my lens, to create a situation that offers a positive vision of women today ”, explained the Scottish portrait painter from New York whom the Lianzhou Photo Festival featured in December 2017, then that of Kyoto, Kyotographie, in spring 2019.
Its goal? Tell, through a sequence of photograms, the stories of characters interpreted by Gigi Hadid alongside Alexander Wang, Julia Garner, Misty Copeland with Calvin Royal III and Laetitia Casta in the company of Sergei Polunin. Forty pictures in color as in black and white, 16: 9 format, inspired by the immense passion that Albert Watson, 78 years old, has for the cinema.
Serena Williams by Annie Leibovitz in the 2016 calendar (details). Annie Leibovitz / Courtesy Pirelli Calendar
The 2018 Pirelli Calendar was signed Tim Walker and presented in November 2017 at the Manhattan Center in New York. With this 45th edition, carried out in May 2017 in London, the most whimsical of British photographers revisits by his personal style, with his extraordinary decor art, a classic of English literature, The Adventures of Alice in Wonderland .
The incredible designer Aubrey Beardsley »
The story in pictures of Tim Walker, 50, is inspired by Lewis Carroll, but also illustrations commissioned by the writer from John Tenniel during the first edition of the work in 1865. The Victoria & Albert Museum in London has splendidly staged, this winter, his exhibition " Tim Walker: Wonderful Things " by marrying his most delirious literary, artistic and baroque references (including the incredible designer "Aubrey Beardsley ", exposed until May 25 at Tate Britain from London, before the Musée d'Orsay in Paris)
Nicole Kidman by Peter Lindbergh for the 2017 calendar. PETER LINDBERGH / courtesy Pirelli Calendar
The Pirelli Calendar 2017, was produced in clear and obscure by the late Peter Lindbergh, who died at 74 in September 2019, with a sense of portrait that brings him closer to sculpture, the expressionist heritage and his dear Giacometti, as highlighted the exhibition at the Giacometti Institute in Paris, in spring 2019. He is the only photographer to have been invited for the third time to produce the Pirelli Calendar, after the 1996 edition, staged in the El Mirage desert , California, and the 2002 edition, made in the studios of Paramount Pictures, in Los Angeles.
This jovial man succeeded the great Annie Leibovitz who signed the 2016 edition after having already carried out that of 2000. With this strong woman, the portraits are inevitably other strong women, from Yao Chen, first Chinese ambassador to the High Commission from the United Nations for Refugees, to tennis champion Serena Williams, from Iranian artist Shirin Neshat to Yoko Ono, Mrs John Lennon, and Patti Smith, rocker and poet.
Back to the sources of the calendar dear to truckers? During an intensive five-day shooting session in a New York studio, Steven Meisel put women at the center of the 2015 Pirelli Calendar in its most traditional format. 12 months in 12 shots, plus a cover photo. STEVEN MEISEL / Courtesy Pirelli Calendar
