Photo London Celebrates Steven Meisel as Master of Photography

"Steven Meisel cut school to hang out at photography studios, fascinated by people and the way his camera could hold them. One of his earliest photographs was of Twiggy, newly arrived in the city and not yet an icon. In 1993, he would photograph her again; the image now hangs in this year's Photo London Master of Photography exhibition, of which Meisel is this year's honoree, with a show built around his first professional engagement with a city he has long been obsessed with."

"His capacity to find, and then bring into focus, something in a person that exists just beyond ordinary looking is what has made Meisel the most prolific and least visible fashion photographer of his generation. In a single year, he produced 28 Vogue covers, yet he has published just two books and had only a handful of public exhibitions, by choice. He does not speak in the press, and he has no social media presence, all of which heightens the sense of occasion around this exhibition."

"“Steven's agreement to present a group of London portraits is a rare and special thing for the fair,” says Michael Benson, co-founder of Photo London and curator of the Meisel exhibition, who previously worked with Meisel on a show for the Amancio Ortega Foundation in Spain and describes persuading him to exhibit again as something of a coup. The selection and sequencing of images remained firmly in Meisel's hands throughout, “Even down to the night before we opened,” Benson recalls."

"The centrepiece is Anglo-Saxon Attitude, a series Meisel shot for British Vogue with Isabella Blow, who cast it from her circle of London society girls. Among them: Stella Tennant, Honor Fraser, Lady Louise Campbell, Bella Freud - who has since summarised the spirit of the shoot as “you had to deconstruct your manners and be as rude as possible” - and Plum"

Steven Meisel, raised in New York, skipped school to spend time in photography studios and became fascinated by people and how his camera could capture them. He photographed Twiggy early in her arrival to the city and returned to photograph her again in 1993. Meisel is the honoree of this year’s Photo London Master of Photography, with a show built around his first professional engagement with London. He is known for finding and focusing on qualities beyond ordinary appearance, producing many Vogue covers while remaining largely unseen publicly. He avoids press interviews and social media, keeping attention on the exhibition. The show’s images were selected and sequenced by Meisel, even up to the night before opening. A central series, Anglo-Saxon Attitude, was shot for British Vogue with Isabella Blow and featured London society figures.

Read at AnOther