Pirelli Calendar

Sarah Moon, Robert Freeman, Brian Duffy, Peter Knapp, Harri Peccinotti, Francis Giacobetti, Allen Jones, Hans Feurer, Uwe Ommer, Norman Parkinson, Bert Stern, Terence Donovan, Barry Lategan, Joyce Tenneson, Arthur Elgort, Clive Arrowsmith, John Claridge, Herb Ritts, Richard Avedon, Peter Lindbergh, Bruce Weber, Annie Leibovitz, Mario Testino, Nick Knight, Patrick Demarchelier

Each of these calendars is an important event in the art of photography.

Some of them can be purchased. But only from collectors or on auctions like Sotheby’s or Christie.

For more than forty years the Pirelli Company is creating calendars which are distributed only in the form of a present. The limited edition is given away to different celebrities pertaining to the world of politics, show-business, fashion and art and to the most distinguished business partners of the company. The King of Spain, the Duke of Edinburgh, Prince Charles, stars of the podium and the stage, representatives of the business elite receive a copy of this calendar as a Christmas present.

Ideas and themes change from year to year, so do the authors and the models, but the main principle of the Pirelli Calendar stays the same: the best photographer in the world shoots the most famous top-models. There was not a single case when a person invited to collaborate on the project turned down the proposal. It is a special honor and a chance to join the select. Suffice it to say that it was owing to the Pirelli Calendar that the world discovered Naomi Campbell, and through the years on its pages one could admire Cindy Crawford and Letizia Casta, Marilyn Monroe and Carry Otis, Brigitte Bordot, Eva Hertzigova and many other universally acclaimed stars. This year the creation of the calendar was entrusted to Patric Demarchelier, a world-famous photographer, who chose the magnificent and sensual Rio de Janeiro as the background for the pictures.

The release of every Pirelli Calendar inevitably causes an avalanche of publications and a major response in the media. The history of the Pirelli Calendars is a record of the highest achievements in the art of photography and it reflects the essence of what is usually defined as «glamour». In our times the calendar is regarded as a cult edition, defining the major tendencies in the development of photography. Until now the world had only four chances to see all the pages, year after year, of this grandiose project. In the past the best exhibition halls of London, New York, Tokyo and Paris had the chance of presenting to the public a collection of Pirelli Calendars, which became the focus of public attention. Today, for the fifth time in history, the exhibition is opening in Moscow. It is an event that cannot be missed!

The exhibition will take place between 14 March and 11 April at the «Maly Manezh», opening the festival «Fashion and Style in Photography». The organizer of the festival — the Moscow House of Photography — wishes to express its thanks to the Moscow office of the Pirelli Company for the opportunity to display this unique collection.