Zurich's Design Museum presents François Berthoud - The Art of Fashion Illustration

François Berthoud from Switzerland is considered one of the most exceptional fashion illustrators of our time. His first solo exhibition in a museum features his work, which deals with fashion, accessories and a subtle eroticism.

François has a very unique style when it comes to the visual realisation of fashion, shoes, bags, perfumes and accessories. He gained international fame with illustrations for Vanity or Vogue. His expressive, aesthetic linocuts, drop pictures and CGI graphics are part of campaigns which play a pivotal role in defining the image of the likes of Yves Saint Laurent, Bulgari, Ferragamo, Viktor&Rolf or Christian Dior.

His work mediates the facets of visual seduction in a two-fold manner: both in fashion and illustrative interpretation, it’s all about an explicit or concealed message, about insinuation, conciseness and aesthetics.

The erotic aspect plays an important role, as he explains himself: “Eroticism is a permanent topic, even in advertising. Illustrations however can offer more room for the imagination and interpretations when compared to photography.”

The exhibition is divided into three sections. It features pre-studies and intermediate stages before arriving at the final works and as such, covers the suggestive visual world’s development process as well. The audience is welcomed by Eric Stitzel’s film for the exhibition that accompanies the lino prints from the first sketch to the final product. The film illuminates the manner, in which Berthoud reduces a photograph to its visual essence in order to make it the vantage point for his work – a handful of lines that serve as base for cutting the lino plates.

The second part of the exhibition is dedicated to the final prints. François Berthoud has developed several independent visual techniques (mostly print) over the course of the last few decades, which serve as templates for ads, packaging, magazines and campaigns for clients. Most of his works are exhibited without glass and unframed to ensure that the whole structure and intensity of colour in his works can be experienced to the fullest. Commission work for Calzedonia, Brioni or the Galeries Lafayette stands next to portrait studies of Karl Lagerfeld and Sonja Rykiel.

Two studios within the exhibition constitute the third part and offer a glance into the work progress itself: one is dedicated to the pre-studies, sketches, drawings and the cutting of lino plates. The other studio decodes selected stages of the work progress: beginning with the first sketch to Berthoud’s colour keyboard and finally the published campaign, the studio makes it possible to trace and experience how François Berthoud structured his work progress in order to achieve his visual results, that stand the test of time.

François Berthoud was born in Le Locle in 1961 and studied graphic design at the College of Art in Lausanne. In 1983, he began to work as an art director for the Condé Nast publishing house in Milan. At the same time, he successfully published his works in Vanity Magazine, which quickly became the international reference point for fashion illustration.

Following long sojourns in Milan, New York and Paris, Berthoud has been running his studio from Zurich since 2008, where he works on commissions for international fashion brands and the world’s most famous magazine titles. In early 2011, his portrait of Wikileaks founder Julian Assange adorned the cover of the New York Times Magazine.

Publication on the exhibition
François Berthoud Studio
Feat. an interview with François Berthoud and an essay by Jeroen van Rooijen
Museum für Gestaltung Zurich (Hg.), D/E, Hatje Cantz, CHF 47
Order from: www.museum-gestaltung.ch/e-shop


François Berthoud – Die Kunst der Modeillustration
Museum für Gestaltung Zurich
Exhibition until the 9th of October 2011
Tuesday–Sunday 10am–5pm, Wednesday 10am–8pm
Long Night of Museums 3./4. September 7pm – 2am
Ausstellungsstrasse 60, CH-8005 Zurich