Retrospective

Loretta Lux (b. Dresden, 1969) trained as a painter at the Munich academy and began making photographs in 1999. In 2005 she won a prestigious Infinity Award in Art from the International Center of Photography in New York. The artist walks a fine line between painting and photography in her technique. Lux photographs her models in vintage clothing in a studio against a white backdrop divorced from any social setting. She then uses a computer to place them into surroundings she has photographed herself. The resulting composites are then subjected to a process of subtle modification via digital manipulation which can take several months. The influence of Old Masters painters such as Bronzino, Goya, Runge and Velasquez is most evident in the way Lux carefully structures her finished compositions. The resulting images portray children who seem extraordinarily isolated and self-aware. The sparseness of the images is reminiscent of Vermeer, the colours are painterly, and despite the aura of spontaneity that usually surrounds children, the poses are painstakingly constructed – Lux’s photographs could hardly be more different from a snapshot. The subjects are both isolated and distant, a basic experience of human existence. Like aliens uncertain how they got here, they are suspended between past and future, their thoughts impossible to guess – whether filled with memories, or fear, or dissatisfaction. These children convey a startling self-awareness akin to the discovery of the self, challenging the ideal of childhood innocence. Back in 2003, the Hague Museum of Photography presented work by Loretta Lux as part of the KunstRai exhibition on manipulation in photography. The new exhibition at the museum itself will present around 55 of Lux’s photographs (her entire oeuvre to date), including the four in the collection of the Gemeentemuseum Den Haag. In the course of 2006, solo exhibitions of Lux’s work are to be held at the House of Photography in Moscow and the Yossi Milo Gallery in New York. The artist is represented in Europe by Torch Gallery in Amsterdam and in New York by the Yossi Milo Gallery. An English-language book on Loretta Lux, published by the Aperture Foundation, is on sale in the museum shop (€ 34.90). Have a look at: www.lorettalux.de