by Ellen von Unwerth
The Mansion, Los Angeles, 2015
Artist: Ellen von Unwerth
Made in Los Angeles in 2015, this silver gelatin photograph places Pamela Anderson on a wide lawn before a grand, ivy-clad Tudor-revival mansion, stone lions flanking the terrace steps behind her. She kneels low in the grass in sunglasses and heels, her tousled blonde hair catching the light, dwarfed by the great house rising behind. Von Unwerth shoots it in high-key black and white, the architecture given as much presence as the figure.
Read as fine art, the picture stages the icon against the estate, the mansion’s baronial permanence set against a body and a persona built on Californian celebrity. The theme is myth and its setting, a knowing portrait of a woman inseparable from the fantasy she came to embody, held here with a cool, almost documentary distance. Von Unwerth’s signature is exactly this framing of a famous subject on her own terms, in command of the scene rather than caught by it. The work suits a bold, design-led interior with room to carry its scale, 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.
Sizes & Editions
40.6 × 50.8 cm (16 × 20 in), Silver Gelatin Photograph, edition of 15
50.8 × 61 cm (20 × 24 in), Silver Gelatin Photograph, edition of 15
76.2 × 101.6 cm (30 × 40 in), Silver Gelatin Photograph, edition of 7
101.6 × 152.4 cm (40 × 60 in), Silver Gelatin Photograph, edition of 5
121.9 × 182.9 cm (48 × 72 in), Silver Gelatin Photograph, edition of 3
149.9 × 228.6 cm (59 × 90 in), Silver Gelatin Photograph, edition of 3
Size: medium
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