by Ellen von Unwerth
Rich Bitch, Bianca Balti, Paris, 2004
Artist: Ellen von Unwerth
Made in Paris in 2004, this photograph stages Bianca Balti on a grand hotel pavement in a floor-length tiered black gown and wide-brimmed hat, chin lifted, two small white dogs at her feet, while a uniformed porter beside her buckles under a teetering stack of hatboxes and roses. Von Unwerth builds the whole frame as a piece of black-and-white social comedy, the couture hauteur of the woman set against the porter’s overloaded panic. The Haussmann facade and wrought-iron railings place it squarely in monied Paris.
Read as fine art, the picture is a satire of wealth and its retinue, the title’s barb aimed squarely at the imperious figure who will not carry so much as a rose. The theme is privilege observed with a raised eyebrow, von Unwerth playing the tableau for wit rather than aspiration, the model fully in on the joke she is fronting. Her signature is exactly this comic staging, glamour deployed and then gently mocked while the subject commands the scene. The work suits a bold, characterful interior with a sense of humour and speaks to collectors drawn to fashion photography’s crossover into fine art. Ellen von Unwerth’s photographs are issued as limited editions, each print part of a controlled run.
Size: medium
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