INTRODUCTION

Since the early 60s, the world's most prominent photographers have worked with Vera Lehndorff under her modeling pseudonym, Veruschka.

Today, many of the images are now legendary. But, Veruschka was not simply considered to be the most beautiful woman in the world (by R. Avedon), she was also the visible personification of the liberation of the model from the male dominated viewpoint of the artist. In the same way as other performers of her era, Vera Lehndorff soon began working on the reversal of expectations of perfection at an early stage, and it was not long before she turned her back on the world of fashion.

This project shows a photographic collection resulting from the collaboration between Vera Lehndorff and Andreas Hubertus Ilse between 1992 and 1996. Here, the photographer documents Vera Lehndorff's retrospective revitalization of her alter ego Veruschka from the distant past, a figure which she modifies and multiplies in the displayed works. By way of contrast, the exhibition also shows an archival display of her magazine articles in a ready-made installation.

VERA LEHNDORFF (born 1939) has exhibited in international museums and galleries, most recently, in 2001, at PS1 in New York. The now famous "Metamorphoses", series, which already began during her fashion orientated career, and was subsequently continued in collaboration with Holger Trülzsch, can now be found in the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam, the Musée Nationale d´Art Moderne, Centre George Pompidou in Paris, in the Art Institute of Chicago and many other prominent museums.

ANDREAS HUBERTUS ILSE (born 1966): started his career in Duesseldorf, Germany. His work in fasion- and advertising photography, was more defined and established in Paris, where he met Vera Lehndorff. As a result of the collaboration on "Veruschka Self-Portraits" he concentrated on working in New York and Los Angeles, wich also influenced his work as a director in music videos and commercials.

Today he lives and works in Berlin. As a photographer, he previously worked for German Vogue, Marie Claire Japan and many others. In the early 90s, he met Vera Lehndorff with whom he has since collaborated in the documentation and compilation of the works which make up the exhibited collection.