Sharjah Museums Department hosts montage of 20th Century glamour

Sharjah: 22nd September 2013

Sharjah Museums Department (SMD), in collaboration with the Department of Culture and Information, is proud to present 'The Lure of Beauty' at Sharjah Art Museum, a fascinating collection of 350 fashion illustrations and photographs from the renowned collection of Martin Fervers charting a 100 years in the fashion world.

The journey through 20th-century fashion runs from 25 September to 30 November 2013 and is the latest in a long line of temporary exhibitions organised by SMD as part of its mission to enrich the cultural life of Sharjah's community.

'The Lure of Beauty' documents 100 years of fashion drawings and photography, from the early part of the 20th century, through the 1950s and '60s to the turn of the millennium. Fervers, an art collector from the German city of Cologne, started acquiring artistic photography at the beginning of the 1990s. As his passion grew, so did his unique collection, which not only illustrates but brings to life the various styles that were in vogue during the course of the century.

'The Lure of Beauty' includes drawings from the 1920s, romantic gouaches depicting gowns, coats, furs and hats from the house of Jeanne Lanvin, and 60 pencil-sketches from 1930-60 that were created for fashion labels such as Christian Dior, Jacques Fath and Pierre Balmain. A further grouping features sketches published during the '30s and '40s in the era's iconic fashion magazines, such as Gazette du Bon Ton, Harper´s Bazaar and the American, British and French Vogue.

Numerous drawings by renowned artists such as Edouard Benito, Carl Erickson, René Bouché, Rene Bouet-Willaumez, Rene Gruau and Tony Viramonte are featured in the exhibition, along with the work of vintage photographers including Edward Steichen, George Hoyningen-Huene, Cecil Beaton, Horst P. Horst and Richard Avedon.

Photographs of the Parisian fashion shows of the '90s create an artistic reportage of the supermodel era, with catwalk shots and intriguing backstage glimpses. Alongside some of the greatest haute couture fashion designers such as Karl Lagerfeld, Jean Paul Gaultier and Yves Saint Laurent, there is also a large selection of work by American fashion photographer and fashion illustrator David Croland.

“We are immensely proud to be hosting this stunning exhibition in Sharjah,” says Manal Ataya, Director General of SMD. “We hope this exhibition will bring a new audience of people that are interested in fashion but also in photography as art. The "Lure of Beauty" features a unique collection of fashion illustrations and photographs that demonstrate the dynamic role fashion plays in illustrating the culture of human communities."