Karl Lagerfeld Visions

In recent years, the Ernst Barlach Museum in Wedel has repeatedly attracted attention with contemporary exhibitions on important representatives of contemporary art and pop culture. With the exhibition "Karl Lagerfeld - Visions" we try to prove that museums can also respond to current cultural events in a timely manner.

Following the death of Karl Lagerfeld on February 19, 2019, preparations for a tribute to Karl Lagerfeld began immediately. The curators of the exhibition are Chanel's art director Eric Pfrunder, who today runs the brand together with Virginie Viard, and the Göttingen publisher Gerhard Steidl, with whom Lagerfeld produced all the books and catalogs over decades and founded the Lagerfeld-Steidl-Druckerei publishing house. In addition, documentaries, films and videos about and by Lagerfeld can be seen.

Lagerfeld was an iconic master of elevated style, a world-class fashion designer, a congenial photographer and director. But his most legendary design was himself: Silver braid, sunglasses, extra-high Kent collar and gloves, a trademark, globally recognizable, never tangible. Lagerfeld was an icon of pop culture .

An artistic multi-talent, Lagerfeld was responsible for all the campaigns and visual appearances of his labels. This required the right eye for the very big picture. Karl Lagerfeld was a master at creating scenic images, as a draftsman, but also as a photographer and filmmaker. His photographic style is characterized by classic elegance. He creates perfectly lit and immaculate settings, sometimes in stately homes or urban city spaces, against romantic natural backdrops or in simple studio backgrounds. The models depicted are often reminiscent of the great stars of film history.

The exhibition in the intimate rooms of the Ernst Barlach Museum shows the very personal selection of the curators Eric Pfrunder and Gerhard Steidl. They have knowledgeably and imaginatively worked out the diverse interests and thematic focuses of Lagerfeld's photographic and cinematic work and lead the visitor excitingly from architecture to landscape, from portrait to abstraction and from lifestyle to fashion.