Larsen

Gunnar (1930-1990). Danish photographer. He became interested in photography in 1946, which he studied in depth in the early 1950s. He bought his first professional camera — a Rolleiflex 6×6 — and began working as a travel photographer in black-and-white for Danish magazines and newspapers. He started working in the fashion field in 1956 and 4 years later moved to Paris where he made his name as portrait photographer (Brigitte Bardot, Roger Vadim, Catherine Deneuve) and as an interpreter of the best fashion shows of the time: Courrèges, Dior, Yves Saint Laurent, Paco Rabanne. Hos photographs were published in Stern, Elle, Harper’s Bazaar, Marie Claire, and Vogue; they were very personal images, sometimes harsh and rich in contrasts, like his black-and-white prints. In the late 1960s he worked with the most important models of the time, such as Twiggy and Carol St. John. One of his pictures of the latter became famous, when she was seen in a miniskirt surrounded by a crowd of curious people in front of a building in Moscow. In 1971 he helped John Casablanca to open his model agency and from 1973 to 1977 collaborated with International Fashions. He created his own magazines, like Gunnar’s Coiffure and Mode Avantgarde. In the 1980s he took up set decoration and choreography to great effect.