Antonio Lopez Unexpected
A Surprising Side Shown at Danziger Gallery
Fashion in the 1970s balanced the natural with the unnatural: wild hair and barely-there makeup went with exaggerated silhouettes, or an over-emphasized visage went with a nude figure. The rule was that everything was cool (as long your parents didn’t approve) as long as you lived fast, and illustrator Antonio Lopez documented it all. As one of the most influential figures in the fashion world, Lopez’s pictorial portfolio worships the fashions and faces of the 1970s via Instamatic prints; his photographic estate is now on view at Danziger Gallery in New York.
Lopez had an affinity for pairs and frequently offered his images as couples assembled with intention. He immortalized Grace Coddington, Grace Jones, and Paloma Picasso.“
[He] brilliantly transformed the women in his world,” writes Karin Nelson of his work. “Under his tutelage, Jerry Hall, a long tall Texan he met at Paris’s Club Sept, evolved into a golden goddess. He put Jessica Lange in gold lamé evening dresses after discovering her in Paris studying mime, and gave aspiring model Tina Lutz her start (and an introduction to future husband Michael Chow); and, by spotlighting Pat Cleveland, a mixed-race model with a theatrical streak, he helped break down the color barrier in high fashion.”
If ever there was a person more fit to utter the words, “Make love to the camera” to his subject, it was Lopez. We invite you to take a look at this selection of works from the Danziger Gallery and indulge your fetish for all things retro.
