Diana Vishneva through the lens of Patrick Demarchelier

Patrick Demarchelier met Diana Vishneva when he made shoots for Vogue in 2011. A year later Patrick invited Diana and her partner, Marcelo Gomes, to his studio. One of the greatest ballet dancers of our time inspired the best photographer to create a cult series. This meeting resulted in the appearance of black and white photographs with a minimum of clothing on models to dramatize dancers’ skill in the reproduction of sculpture gestures, their absolute concentration on movement in the frame. It was an impromptu shoot for Patrick, he made it for fun; and experience shows that something great artists make for «fun» often proves to be true masterpieces. (He gave this series of photos as a gift to Diana in appreciation of her talent.) Vishneva was also a muse for another outstanding artist and a cult film director, Rustam Khamdamov, who filmed Diamonds.

Since the appearance of photography, ballet was a favorite theme for many photographers. Adolph de Meyer, Horst Faas, Cecil Beaton, Richard Avedon, Irving Penn, Norman Parkinson, Georgy Petrusov, Alexander Rodchenko, and others made ballet shoots. All of them tried to achieve the impossible — to stop and prolong the life of movement in the frame. They say that eyes are a mirror of the soul, but human movements are no less expressive. Richard Avedon, one of the best portrait artists of our times, photographed ballet dancers, men and women. This produced cult photographs of Maya Plisetskaya, Mikhail Baryshnikov and Rudolf Nureyev.

Another theme of the show covers the relations between fashion, ballet and photography. Prima ballerinas turned into trendsetters, designers were inspired by the work of great choreographers, artists who produced ballet performances designed costumes for fashion shows, great couturieres designed ballets.

Demarchelier demonstrate how Diana Vishneva «lives» in photographs. This woman is at the peak of her fame and creative potential today. Her ballet and drama talents send her on an ever growing quest of new specialization — of a ballet dancer, of an actress, a model, and in 2010 she founded an endowment to promote ballet dance.

Diana Vishneva and Renata Litvinova performed main parts in Rustam Khamdamov’s Diamonds presented for the first time at the Venice Film Festival of 2010. The story behind the film is set in Leningrad during the New Economic Policy of 1920s, when a ballet dancer steals a diamond brooch from a jewelry shop.

Diana Vishneva through the Lens of Patrick Demarchelier presents the works ordered by Vogue and photographs from the New York studio where Diana posed as a model, and Diamonds, a film by Rustam Khamdamov, where the ballet dancer reveals her drama gift.