Published by Image Mag
01 September 2019
Written by Mosè Franchi
See original published article in Italian
Marco Glaviano Cindy Crawford, 1990
Marco Glaviano is one of those characters who have become legends in the world of photography. A great master who belongs to that mythical, and perhaps unrepeatable, generation of image creators who became true superstars and who built the myth of top models in the 80s and 90s. Glaviano was also the first to have created calendars that celebrated the disturbing beauty of supermodels such as Cindy Crawford, Angie Everhart, Paulina Porizkova, Eva Herzigova....
Marco Glaviano Cindy Crawford (St Barth), 1992
Marco Glaviano Ashley Richardson (St Barth), 1984; Claudia Schiffer (St Barth), 1990; Eva Herzigova (St Barth), 1993; Nena, 1989; Olga Serova (St Barth), 1996; Cecilia Nord (Grand Hotel Milan), 1990; and Paulina Porizkova, 1992.
Marco, when did you start taking pictures? And why?
Marco Glaviano: At five years old. I remember that my uncle, who worked in the cinema, gave me a Ferrania Ibis. It was a conquest. Later I got my hands on a Leica, but I didn't understand how to use shutter speeds and apertures. I was going around shooting and all sorts of things came out.
Moreover, I had a certain charm for girls and this pleased me. At that time I was a "nerd", like those guys who wear shorts, glasses, and are good at school; so the camera helped me. Later, a period began in which I put photography aside, to dedicate myself to many other things: studies in Architecture, graphics, theater, jazz music. I returned to photography when I had to decide which path to take in life. Perhaps wrongly, I opted for the profession of photographer.
Why do you think you made a mistake?
Marco Glaviano: Despite the media hype that surrounds the image, photography remains a minor art: you certainly can’t compare it to architecture, which is more complete. Let’s say that the approach to work was easier, so much so that after three years I was already publishing my first editorials. In any case, I started, at twenty-seven years old. Late if you like, but with all the necessary enthusiasm.
..your education?
Marco Glaviano: I come from a family of artists and there was certainly no air of commerce at home. I remember Guttuso's nudes and the artists who came to visit us. By the way, Gino Severini was my great-uncle. This is to tell you that my habitat was permeated by culture and creativity. I myself was quite multifaceted.
You frequented an enviable environment...
Marco Glaviano: True. There were also my uncle's friends: those paparazzi and Tazio Secchiaroli among them, who covered my photographs with compliments. They represented photography, at least in the Sicily where I lived. By the way, when I decided to become a photographer, my mother stopped me from speaking for eight years: she considered my choice socially unacceptable...
Marco Glaviano Ashley Richardson (St Barth), 1984
Did Architecture help you?
Marco Glaviano: Very much. Looking at my photographs, even the nude ones, you realize that my cuts are not casual: because they live in an architectural setting.
Architecture is also a project ...
Marco Glaviano: In fact, my shots do not include stolen moments. I do not live with a camera around my neck: I only carry it with me when needed, if I have to finalize a project. Even the “object” of a camera is not part of my interests and perhaps this is why I have taken the most important works with normal equipment. I have published in the French Photo like no other professional. Every time this happened, the editorial staff asked me the same questions: “What shutter speed/aperture did you use? What film?”. I answered: “I don’t remember”. Then I replied: “Why? If the readers were to know, would they take the same photograph?”. It always ended in a fight...
Did you have any role models?
Marco Glaviano: Avedon: above all and always. When I met him, it was a great emotion. I loved many of them, however, many of whom used the airbrush to retouch; so I was able to explain to myself why I couldn't get those lights.
Avedon above all, so ....
I also loved Newton very much, but we don't have the same point of view. He used to tell me: "You're the only one who doesn't copy me", but in some of my images there is a bit of his style. However, he didn't love women, I do. He portrayed them in ambiguous situations, but he deserves credit for having generated a There is a preconception among artists towards photographers, especially towards those who have been successful. It would be necessary to make some distinctions: there are those who achieve recognition after a long career and others who approach "photographic art" without the slightest experience. If I think that at the MoMA in New York many photos of the greats were given away, it makes me shudder.
Is harmony the binding factor?
Marco Glaviano: There is that connection that ties all beautiful things together. A few years ago I exhibited some of my images in Perugia, in an exhibition called “Form & Music”. I showed a musician and a model in the same frame. After all, it may seem trivial to you, but music is a constant in photographers’ studios, especially during shootings. Sometimes I would like to be able to talk to the model, without having to shout. However, it is true, there is movement in the photos and it is almost a form of dance. Today, in fact, I get the most important shots with dancers.
What is the most important quality for a photographer?
Marco Glaviano: I can’t tell you, also because I find taking photographs very easy. I struggle to grasp the added value: you see something beautiful and you portray it.
Marco Glaviano Claudia Schiffer (St Barth), 1990
Aren't you oversimplifying?
Marco Glaviano: I repeat: I don't understand. I still find a strong change.
Are women important to you?
Marco Glaviano: As part of nature, that is, detached from any “animal” contact. I am interested in “form”.
What is Glaviano's “woman” like?
Marco Glaviano: A woman who looks like one. My relative withdrawal from the fashion world coincided with the arrival of the “anorexics”. I couldn’t portray them and it was a constant fight. I even broke a contract with Harper’s Bazaar, because I didn’t want to “shoot” Kate Moss. The director was very offended.
Your nudes look so natural and spontaneous...
Marco Glaviano: Because they are and so are the models. You can find the same naturalness even when I photograph fashion, because the dress is beautiful if it draws the woman and her body.
“The Woman as part of nature, that is, detached from any “animal” contact. I am interested in the “form”.
MARCO GLAVIANO
ImageMag Year I #03, Marco Glaviano
July-August 2012
How would you define yourself?
Marco Glaviano: I photograph many things: fashion, jazz, architecture, portraits. I am known for nudes, because the theme is fascinating but between a badly dressed woman and a naked one I prefer the latter. After all, fashion as art is an indefensible position, because it is made to sell. There have been some sensational cases, for example Avedon, or Penn. But they were good and in the span of a fifty-year career you can find two or three photos that are worth keeping.
A man of many talents, Marco Glaviano began his artistic career with a degree in architecture and could have easily been successful not only as an architect but also as a jazz musician or set designer. Instead he chose photography. Since 1967 his photographs have brought prestige to the main fashion magazines around the world. Since 1975 he has lived between Milan and New York from where, with his images, he speaks to the whole world about fashion and beauty.
Photography and art: it's an ever-open topic...
Marco Glaviano: There is a prejudice among artists towards photographers, especially towards those who have been successful. It would be necessary to make some distinctions: there are those who reach recognition after a long career and others who approach “photographic art” without the slightest experience. If I think that at the MoMA in New York many photos of the greats were given away, it makes me shudder.
Marco Glaviano Eva Herzigova (St Barth), 1993
Who are we?
Marco Glaviano: Is culture necessary to be a good photographer? Yes, there must be; even if some very good colleagues, however, seem to demonstrate the opposite. This happens in almost all the “arts”: to paint an oil painting you have to study; even if then photographing is easier. Sometimes I have considered photography as a sort of refuge and here I find a close analogy with music: those who have culture approach the piano; the sax is more accessible.
Now the photo is accepted as art...
Marco Glaviano: Yes, this is happening. It took some time, but I also discovered the reasons. Art, modern art, imploded because it changed hands: from artists to merchants.
Has Sicily influenced you?
Marco Glaviano: The land of origin necessarily conditions us. Sicily has violent colors, saturated to put it photographically. Then, the entire society of the island is excessive, with a particular character. You have photographed the most beautiful women in the world: do you realize that? Of course. I even married a couple of them... and I'm still paying the bills.
Marco Glaviano Nena, 1989
We were talking about top models: do you have any curious anecdotes?
Marco Glaviano: They all looked strange, but also very intelligent. Cindy Crawford is a woman “under control”, she decided everything. Paulina Porizkova would leave halfway through the shoot, saying: “There’s the photo, no point in wasting time”... and she was always right. Carla was also nice. All the top models were ambitious.
You lived in a particular world...
Marco Glaviano: We flew in Concorde, we worked at Studio 54 arriving in a limousine: wonderful things that I would no longer do. Everything was isolated from the world, but this “community” no longer exists today. Perhaps there are also no photographers, because once upon a time we discussed photography as painters did for their art. Today you take four photos and leave. Over the years, fashion photography has experienced a continuous crescendo: from Horst, through David Bailey who invented the white background. This path stopped at the end of the 90s, when commercialism took over. The one who guided fashion was the trade magazine, which could perhaps afford to publish an article on very expensive jeans, worn with rubber boots costing a few dollars. Today, in the era of accountants, this would be impossible.
Let's get to the technique: I seem to sense some long focal lengths...
Marco Glaviano: I have used a bit of all the lenses, from wide angles to telephotos: especially the extremes: the 16 mm or the 300 mm. Different situations require different points of view and I am an extremist.
I own a Canon 16-35 f/2.8 zoom. I think I've always used it at 16mm.
After such a wonderful career, is there a project left behind?
Marco Glaviano:The portraits of Jazz. We are talking about an unfinished work. I wanted to make a book out of it. Today I am resuming that project, but the greats are no longer there. It all began in the 70s, but I always found it very difficult to get the idea accepted by the publishers.
Marco Glaviano Olga Serova (St Barth), 1996
You published the first digital image...
Marco Glaviano: It’s true. I had heard about these new technologies from Paulina Porizkova’s husband and I was fascinated by them. I proposed the shot you are referring to to Vogue America. I had spent entire days in front of the computer and everyone was surprised by the result. With a futuristic vision I immediately realized the potential of the digital image.
Is yours a tendency towards change?
Marco Glaviano: You see, I am not afraid of dying: because in a certain sense I am “broken”. But I am sorry to see what will be, because for tomorrow I sense fantastic things...
And yet digital has been welcomed with wonder, but not by everyone ... The attitude of the photographic community sometimes surprises me. They say that with digital there is no “depth”. In a hundred years of film, production companies have fought grain, even if sometimes we looked for it for creative reasons. Today we have a tool that eliminates it, and what happens? Everyone against it! Incredible.
Marco Glaviano Cecilia Nord (Grand Hotel Milan), 1990
Change scares ...
Marco Glaviano: Maybe. And then there is fear of relying on third parties, but it is also true that many photographers have not lived in a darkroom. I, who have done so, today take care of post-production by myself. I have migrated the processes from development and printing to the Computer, in a positive evolution; I have not delegated them to others. If you leave your photo to others, it is no longer yours.
Cindy, Paulina, the others: are you still in touch?
Marco Glaviano: It remained a great friendship. Paulina came to Italy for my exhibitions. Today she has four children. I have always defended those girls. Their world was not simple: verbal abuse was frequent and they were often treated like objects.
You are the Italian photographer who has worked abroad the most ...
Marco Glaviano: I don't know if I'm Italian. On the contrary, I feel very Anglo-Saxon. In the US they are more technical, less improvised, more organized. There, even the details count: "by chance" is not part of their mentality. I am a Sicilian who grew up professionally in the United States and lives in New York.
If you could make a wish for yourself, what would you tell yourself?
Marco Glaviano: Difficult. I hope to be able to work until the end, as my teachers Avedon and Newton did. Of course I expect to do it at a good level. They did not give up anything, producing extraordinary things until the end. After all, taking pictures is not like going into a mine... you can do it even with some ailments
Marco Glaviano Paulina Porizkova, 1992
Marco Glaviano
The photographer, Marco Glaviano
Marco Glaviano was born in Palermo in 1942.
During his studies in architecture at the University of Palermo he developed a strong interest in photography, while at the same time working as a set designer in the theatre.
During the same period he played the vibraphone in a Jazz group participating in several international festivals, where for the first time he began to photograph his jazz friends.
In 1967 he decided to dedicate himself exclusively to photography and moved briefly to Rome, then to Milan where he opened a studio and founded, with his friend the clarinetist Tony Scott, the “Capolinea”, a historic Milanese jazz club.
His work appears in major European fashion publications and in 1975 he decided to move his residence to New York, where for 35 years he continued to collaborate with the most prestigious fashion magazines, creating over 500 covers, especially for American Vogue and Harper’s Bazaar, and creating fashion and beauty advertising campaigns for L’Oreal, Revlon, Calvin Klein, Valentino, Giorgio Armani, Roberto Cavalli and many others.
In the 1980s, with Elite founder John Casablancas, Elite president Monique Pillard and Patrick Demarchelier, he helped invent the phenomenon of Supermodels and created the famous calendars of Paulina Porizkova, Cindy Crawford and Eva Herzigova.
In 1995 he conceived and designed “Pier 59 Studio” in New York, recognized as the most important photographic studio in the world.
His early interest in digital photography led him to publish the first digital fashion photo in American Vogue in 1982. During that time Marco consulted for Kodak, Fuji, Hasselblad, Phase One, Sinar and Scitex, during the transition from film to digital.
Around 1995, discouraged by the appearance of the new 40-kilo ideal of female beauty, he abandoned fashion and devoted himself to his personal photographs and the publication of books.
He has published 14 photography books, some of which are dedicated to the most famous models from the 1970s onwards.
In the autumn of 2006 he published “The Sixth Sense”, the first book dedicated exclusively to the landscape, of which the book on Palermo is the logical continuation.
In 2009 he published two large-format books in a limited edition of 100 copies of portraits of the greats of Jazz, on which Marco has been working since 1972, and of the most important models of the eighties.
In 2001 he founded in Milan, “Milanostudio”, the most technologically advanced digital photography studio in existence today. Marco has had more than twenty solo exhibitions in New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Miami, Milan, St. Barth, Palermo and Capri. His first solo exhibition (drawings) was in Palermo in 1948 at the age of 6.
His works are held in numerous collections in the United States, Latin America, and Europe.
Marco lives and works between New York and Milan, with the discreet presence of his sister Adriana at his side and with his daughters Barbara, Alessia and Adrianna. From here he loves to make frequent trips to his beloved city Palermo.