patti.jean
11-08-2010, 10:13 PM
I am sharing this article on the exhibit opening this week at the Art Museum in Grand Rapids, Michigan. I think it has some points of view we can all appreciate. I am looking forward to visiting the exhibit next week. Here is a link to the Art Museum: http://www.artmuseumgr.org/
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GRAND RAPIDS -- Was Princess Diana the world's most physically beautiful woman during her lifetime? No.
But there was a reason she was one of world's most photographed women of all time, said renowned British fashion photographer and new author Nigel Barker.
"One of the things that was marvelous and was wonderful about her, and you feel about it when you go to the exhibition here at the GRAM … she was naturally charming. She had a natural chemistry with almost everyone she met. She was defined more by her humanitarian efforts than anything else that she did. She didn't want to be considered the princess. She would take the silver spoon out, literally, and feed an AIDS victim with it," Barker said in an office area at the Grand Rapids Art Museum Sunday afternoon.
"It's extraordinary what she did. And that's one of the reasons why she was so beautiful."
A photographer and judge on Tyra Banks' "America's Next Top Model," Barker spoke to and fielded questions from 200 new and existing GRAM members for a special members-only early preview of "Diana -- A Celebration," featuring 150 items spanning her entire life, including her royal wedding gown and a prayer book she received from Mother Teresa.
All of the items are on loan from the Althorp Estate, her family seat in England. The exhibit opens to the public Tuesday.
Barker is a close friend of Pamella DeVos, designer of her New York City-based Pamella Roland line. Barker shot DeVos' fall 2009 collection in Grand Rapids last year and spoke at the museum in 2008 for the "Richard Avedon: Larger than Life" exhibit. DeVos, an honorary life trustee of the GRAM, helped to bring the exhibit to after meeting with Diana's brother, Charles Spencer.
Barker admitted that he would have loved the opportunity to take pictures of the princess.
"Who wouldn't have?" he said.
Of course his favorite picture of the former Princess of Wales from the exhibit is Patrick Demarchelier's iconic photo of a relaxed, but powerful Diana.
"Demarchelier's shot is fascinating. I mean, he's a genius. He did a great job, and it's simple," Barker said of the French photographer, who was a guest on "America's Next Top Model" this season.
"He's a master. We all aim to be as amazing as he is."
Although too young to photograph the princess himself, Barker did sing for her as an 8 year old, he told the GRAM audience.
"I was a backup singer for Barry Manilow. And I sang for her at the royal Albert Hall, believe it or not. Yes, I have rather shady background," he said, grinning.
But even more than the congratulatory words he received from Diana at the time, it was the way she looked into everyone's eyes with a charm and genuine affect that effected Barker. And charm and personality are what can make any woman beautiful, he told his rapt GRAM audience. Barker spent most of the time talking about beauty -- the topic of his recently released debut work, "Beauty Equation."
Barker said women have had to "endure" beauty's traditional physical benchmarks for centuries. His new novel is hoping to recast that idea of what is beauty.
"My job is to take a beautiful picture," Barker said. "It has nothing to do with whether my subject is a size two, five-foot-nine and got a clear complexion. It has to do with the life they're leading. It has to do with the compassion, the power, the energy, the spontaneity, the sort of "vive" for life. And that comes from within and, ultimately, their eyes."
Fruitport resident Sally Saheb, 51, said the speech was "a lot different than I thought it would be."
"It just turned out to be a lot more entertaining and a lot more educational," she said.
"Physical isn't all beauty," Saheb said she learned. "It goes deep down inside the person."
~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~
GRAND RAPIDS -- Was Princess Diana the world's most physically beautiful woman during her lifetime? No.
But there was a reason she was one of world's most photographed women of all time, said renowned British fashion photographer and new author Nigel Barker.
"One of the things that was marvelous and was wonderful about her, and you feel about it when you go to the exhibition here at the GRAM … she was naturally charming. She had a natural chemistry with almost everyone she met. She was defined more by her humanitarian efforts than anything else that she did. She didn't want to be considered the princess. She would take the silver spoon out, literally, and feed an AIDS victim with it," Barker said in an office area at the Grand Rapids Art Museum Sunday afternoon.
"It's extraordinary what she did. And that's one of the reasons why she was so beautiful."
A photographer and judge on Tyra Banks' "America's Next Top Model," Barker spoke to and fielded questions from 200 new and existing GRAM members for a special members-only early preview of "Diana -- A Celebration," featuring 150 items spanning her entire life, including her royal wedding gown and a prayer book she received from Mother Teresa.
All of the items are on loan from the Althorp Estate, her family seat in England. The exhibit opens to the public Tuesday.
Barker is a close friend of Pamella DeVos, designer of her New York City-based Pamella Roland line. Barker shot DeVos' fall 2009 collection in Grand Rapids last year and spoke at the museum in 2008 for the "Richard Avedon: Larger than Life" exhibit. DeVos, an honorary life trustee of the GRAM, helped to bring the exhibit to after meeting with Diana's brother, Charles Spencer.
Barker admitted that he would have loved the opportunity to take pictures of the princess.
"Who wouldn't have?" he said.
Of course his favorite picture of the former Princess of Wales from the exhibit is Patrick Demarchelier's iconic photo of a relaxed, but powerful Diana.
"Demarchelier's shot is fascinating. I mean, he's a genius. He did a great job, and it's simple," Barker said of the French photographer, who was a guest on "America's Next Top Model" this season.
"He's a master. We all aim to be as amazing as he is."
Although too young to photograph the princess himself, Barker did sing for her as an 8 year old, he told the GRAM audience.
"I was a backup singer for Barry Manilow. And I sang for her at the royal Albert Hall, believe it or not. Yes, I have rather shady background," he said, grinning.
But even more than the congratulatory words he received from Diana at the time, it was the way she looked into everyone's eyes with a charm and genuine affect that effected Barker. And charm and personality are what can make any woman beautiful, he told his rapt GRAM audience. Barker spent most of the time talking about beauty -- the topic of his recently released debut work, "Beauty Equation."
Barker said women have had to "endure" beauty's traditional physical benchmarks for centuries. His new novel is hoping to recast that idea of what is beauty.
"My job is to take a beautiful picture," Barker said. "It has nothing to do with whether my subject is a size two, five-foot-nine and got a clear complexion. It has to do with the life they're leading. It has to do with the compassion, the power, the energy, the spontaneity, the sort of "vive" for life. And that comes from within and, ultimately, their eyes."
Fruitport resident Sally Saheb, 51, said the speech was "a lot different than I thought it would be."
"It just turned out to be a lot more entertaining and a lot more educational," she said.
"Physical isn't all beauty," Saheb said she learned. "It goes deep down inside the person."