The Sensuality of Marc Lagrange Photography
Marc Lagrange, a fine art photographer based in Antwerp, Belgium. Lagrange was born in Kinshasa, Congo, in 1957. His career path led him from engineering to photography, and his creativity from fashion to art.
Marc Lagrange. Photo by Stephan Vanfleteren
Filled sensuality, Marc Lagrange’s photographs celebrate fantasies and desire—placing beauty and dreams at the center of his world.
Today it is an internationally recognized photographer for his portraits and female nudes both elusive, shaped secrets, desires and fantasies.
His giant Polaroids—which have been exhibited worldwide—are a powerful example of his craft as well as his attention to detail: he can display the texture of skin, highlight natural curves and make his models stand out. Lagrange elaborates entire sets until he finds the exact mood he wishes to convey, with the end goal being to create the images he wants. From the color of the walls to the shape of a chair, every single detail counts, underlining Lagrange’s perfectionist streak and his willingness to unfold narratives.
Due to his excellence, intimacy, and timeless effort, he is often associated with masters such as Irving Penn and Helmut Newton which he was inspired by the aesthetics and their stagings.
“All the women working with Marc, are being turned into a kind of powerful goddesses”
Throughout his career, Lagrange has photographed the same women over different periods of time, turning them into his muses. Inge Van Bruystegem—a striking model and talented dancer—is one of them. Lagrange has been working with her for more than fifteen years, developing a privileged relationship. The trust that has flourished between them over the years is quite rare in photography and still generates surprising results. Individuals who pose in front of Lagrange’s lens end up spontaneously performing and revealing more about themselves than they perhaps intended to. One thing Lagrange respects is the mystery and power of women: even fully nude, his models are confident and in control; real protagonists as opposed to passive figures.
Some of his most loved protagonists, muses and models have been Inge Van Bruystegem, Meliss Gateau, Ella-June Henrard, Emilie Congos, Cristina Grasu, Nadege Golonga, Symone Beli and Irina Vovika.
Marc Lagrange - Alto-Rilievo
In 2012, Delvaux—the oldest luxury leather goods house in the world—commissioned Lagrange with portraits of women from different generations depicting their relationship with their handbags. Seductive and elegant, the black-and-white photographs gave birth to a new series that has been ongoing. In 2014, Lagrange traveled to New York to shoot iconic women and the results were powerful. From Carmen Dell’Orefice to Zani Gugelmann, he met some of Manhattan’s most stylish and influential women and captured their strength and charisma. The series was named Timeless Beauties and subsequent trips to China, Japan and other key destinations for Delvaux were organized. Since 2008, Lagrange has additionally developed his video work, including a film for the fashion brand Supertrash’s fragrance launch. In 2012, he also filmed Liesa Van der Aa’s clip for Louisa’s Bolero.
Marc Lagrange’s work has been honoured with several exhibitions in Europe and the United States. In 2011, Maison Lagrange introduced more than 240 artworks to the public, many of them previously unseen. The retrospective lasted six months. The following year, his Extra Large Marc Lagrange show in Graz, Austria, spread over 3,000 square meters. Lagrange also participates in Art Miami on a regular basis, and several books have been published under his name, including Polarized by Ludion in 2009 and Marc Lagrange 20 by Lido in 2009. In 2013, Diamonds and Pearls was published by teNeues in 80 countries. The following year, in 2014, he published Hotel Maritime – Room 58, a private edition limited to 300 copies whose content was shown internationally. The atmosphere of Hotel Maritime – Room 58 echoes some of Edward Hopper’s most soulful and alluring paintings. More conceptual than his previous works, it underlines the descriptive quality of his art.
Writing about Senza Parole, Mark Lagrange mentions: “A project such as this never happens in a vacuum. It is always a labor of love, and without the cooperation and dedication of all the creative souls who worked together to create something magical and inspiring, none of this would have turned out as it did."
White Velvet - Marc Lagrange
In Senza Parole (2015), Marc Lagrange is audacious enough to make that thrilling leap as he boldly showcases a broad array of distinctive approaches—everything from starkly straight nude studies to Lagrange’s more typically intricate and exotic compositions. The photographer’s devoted followers will still find the dream-like eroticism he is known for, yet, in this work, each photograph is one of a kind, with Lagrange’s hallmark of technical perfection. As one would expect from Lagrange, each tableau is carefully configured with not a single detail left to chance.
The bird - Marc Lagrange
Sub-Rosa - Marc Lagrange
The world is your oyste - Marc Lagrange
In 2015, a selection of Lagrange’s iconic works was featured at the TEFAF art fair in Maastricht, the Netherlands. Senza Parole, which partly took place in the Italian town of Pietrasanta, coupled with the Handelsbeurs project in Antwerp, Belgium and a Fellini inspired shoot at the baroque loft of Paolo Calia in Paris, these three series are part of his last book.
The straw that broke the camels back - Marc Lagrange
Black Parrot - Marc Lagrange
Bonne The Face - Marc Lagrange
Aphrodite -Marc Lagrange
In December 2015, Mark passed away. Trough his pictures he remains immortal.
Among Giants - Marc Lagrange
“Marc Lagrange is a poet who communicates women’s beauty by caressing it, sculpting it, contaminating it, disentangling it… In short he’s an artist who journeys trough the most magnificent things … And when he combines them with sculptors’ works, he creates a brilliant display.
On set, he places his subject in theatrical poses - showing a deliberate woman on top of an enormous elephant nude with an assortment of peacock feathers, jumping or calmly next to another face.
He’s a skilled photographer who employs photographic masters grand artistic traditions, and each example is profound work of unrivalled malleability…
His imagination is boiling with sensuality, spirituality, and his ode to beauty is a marvellous song that evokes the sublime… the allure of the WOMAN.”
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Below you can find a glimpse of the Story behind the new book ' Senza Parole ' during Marc Lagrange shootings in Antwerp, Italy and Paris, besides more artistic shots of the master.
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