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Otherworldly: Deborah Turbeville Photographs

January 17–April 6, 2024
University Gallery
Curator: Denise Birkhofer

This exhibition from The Image Centre collection presents more than 40 photographic works spanning the innovative career of American photographer Deborah Turbeville (1932–2013), from her major fashion commissions of the 1970s to the more personal projects of her later years. Widely credited with evolving the editorial genre of fashion photography into an art form, Turbeville de-emphasized the clothed figure in her pioneering compositions, whose often-decaying settings reinforce their dreamlike atmosphere. Experimental techniques such as soft focus, the use of printing papers with varied tones and textures, distressing or tearing of the print, and the application of masking tape or other collage elements contribute to the photographs’ otherworldly aesthetic.

Fig. 1

Deborah Turbeville, Asser Levy Public Bathhouse, New York, for Vogue (New York), 1975, black and white chromogenic print. The Image Centre, Gift of Eric Berthold, 2017 © Deborah Turbeville/MUUS Collection

Fig. 2

Deborah Turbeville, Autumn Leaves inside the Pavillon Français: Aurelia Weingarten, from Unseen Versailles, 1980 (printed later), inkjet print mounted on aluminum. The Image Centre, Gift of Eric Berthold, 2023 © Deborah Turbeville/MUUS Collection

Fig. 3

Deborah Turbeville, Maria Luisa Hernandez, Pozos, Guanajuato, Mexico, 1992, gelatin silver print. The Image Centre, Gift of Eric Berthold, 2017 © Deborah Turbeville/MUUS Collection

Fig. 4

Deborah Turbeville, Potocki Palace, near Krakow, Poland, for W Magazine (New York), 1997, gelatin silver prints with masking tape. The Image Centre, Gift of Eric Berthold, 2017. © Deborah Turbeville/MUUS Collection

Fig. 5

Deborah Turbeville, Wallflower: Victoria Guinness and Nathalie, The Glass House in Normandy, France, for Façade Magazine (Paris), 1978, gelatin silver print (photostat). The Image Centre, Gift of Eric Berthold, 2017 © Deborah Turbeville/MUUS Collection

Fig. 6

Deborah Turbeville, Rainy Day People, Lancaster, Massachusetts, for L'Uomo Vogue (Milan), 1995, inkjet print. The Image Centre, Gift of Eric Berthold, 2023 © Deborah Turbeville/MUUS Collection

Fig. 7

Deborah Turbeville, Stigmata: Ella M., École des Beaux-Arts, Paris, 1977 (printed later), inkjet print. The Image Centre, Gift of Eric Berthold, 2023 © Deborah Turbeville/MUUS Collection