PAOLO ROVERSI
Paolo Roversi was born in Ravenna in 1947. His interest in photography was kindled at the age of seventeen during a family trip to Spain. When he returned home, Roversi became actively involved in taking photographs and developing and printing photos. In 1970 he began a collaboration with the Associated Press, and during the same year he opened his first studio with a friend. In 1971 the photographer met Peter Knapp, the legendary artistic director of Elle magazine. At his invitation, Roversi went to Paris, where he gradually got into fashion photography and stayed for a long time. For nine months Roversi worked as an assistant to British photographer Lawrence Sackmann, from whom he learned everything necessary to become a professional photographer. Afterward, he began to be published in various magazines, including Elle and Marie Claire, and his advertising campaign for Dior in 1980 brought him increased renown.
KATE FOR CERRUTI STUDIO MENILMONTANT, PARIS NOVEMBER 4TH, 1996
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In 1996 Paolo Roversi took a series of photographs of British supermodel Kate Moss for Cerutti’s spring-summer 1997 advertising campaign. He says that his technique is about “subtraction” rather than “addition.” In other words, anything superfluous should be removed so that the inner beauty can emerge.
NATALIE FOR THE EGOISTE, STUDIO RUE PAUL FORT, PARIS NOVEMBER 23TH, 2003
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Roversi’s style is characterized by soft monochromatic images with expressive shadows that help to highlight the model’s facial features. This pattern is clearly visible in his photos of the famous model Natalia Vodianova for the Egoiste magazine.