Loretta Lux

Présentation de l'éditeur Though the sense of realism in German photographer Loretta Lux's striking portraits of children remains eerily intact, Lux does not strive to create faithful photographic representations of her young subjects. Instead, each image - usually composed of a lone child in a sparse landscape - is painstakingly composed and manipulated to create psychically charged explorations of the nature of childhood and the process of self-discovery. Originally trained as a painter, Lux continues to draw influence from paintings by Old Masters such as Velasquez, Goya, and Runge. This influence is especially apparent in Lux's compositions. After carefully choosing the models, costumes, and backdrops - sometimes using her own paintings - she digitally combines and enhances each element to form meticulously structured tableaux. The consistently forlorn expressions of her models combined with the hyperreality of the image create portraits that transcend their subjects and remind us that childhood is as chaotic and multidimensional as any other part of life. Biographie de l'auteur Loretta Lux was born in Dresden, Germany, in 1969 and currently lives and works in Ireland. Her work has been exhibited extensively and is included in several collections in Europe and the United States, including the Guggenheim Museum; Los Angeles County Museum of Art; Brooklyn Museum of Art; Museum of Fine Arts, Houston; Norton Museum of Art; Bayerische Staatsgemaldesammlung, Munich; Artothek Munich; Photo Museum Munich, and Fotomuseum Den Haag. Lux is represented by Yossi Milo Gallery, New York. Francine Prose is the author of ten highly acclaimed works of fiction, including Bigfoot Dreams and Household Saints, and her essays have appeared in The New Yorker, Atlantic Monthly, and The Paris Review. A contributing editor at Harper's, she also writes regularly on art for the Wall Street Journal. She lives in New York City.