Bruce Weber - Photographer

[justaguy]

US Vanity Fair August 2007
Spotlight | Christopher Wheeldon's Leap Year
Photo Bruce Weber
Text Laura Jacobs
Grooming Regine Thorre
Hair Thom Priano


vanity fair

 

[jjjmmm]

^ Well what you know is incorrect, his case was not 'dropped', it was settled and it wasn't just one model.

I adore his work, I think he is a photographer that is far superior than most out there, every time old pictures are posted in this thread, I rush here because I miss seeing his work. I am not born nor raised in the US but I do believe in the court of law and that if you press charges and allow justice to be served (giving you the option to settle is one of the freedoms it allows) and the outcome creates a record that prevents or at least diminishes similar acts from happening, then that is all there is, justice is not a tooth-by-tooth dynamic, it's a system that aims to preserve society and people should be allowed to resume their work, whether they are unwilling if the level of privilege (budget) they used to work under has been affected, that's another story.

Bruce is American, his work is pure Americana and has taken place and gained profit primarily in the US, through icons of American pop culture. To say that his work is not understood in the US and to suggest it is understood better in Europe is to.. maybe not be that familiar with his work after all and what has informed his work and his cultural context.

The US is one of these strange countries that every person who is not and/or has never lived in the US, is truly convinced that they can fully assess and totally understand just based on the number of US exports and media that they are able to consume. Cultures and societies are complex, yes, even the US. And while it does have puritanical elements and it does export the most basic definition of terrorism, it has also exported a sense of outspokenness, litigiousness, solidarity and action-driven mentality that more bureaucratic cultures lack. Without 'Me too', there would be no 'balance ton porc' and French victims that found empowerment and a voice after years of not standing a chance in front of people sheltered by power. People can cry all they want about the oh-so puritanical cancel culture and yet, it created an awareness that enough noise can bring abusers in power down, and certainly an awareness that there are consequences for a type of behavior that, when personally attractive, it will naturally make you hate and ridicule the movement.

I've been following Bruce's work since the 80s, so I'm very familiar with his work and his impact in the American media landscape.
If you see what legendary and actually working male models said of him (Jeff Aquilon, Tim Easton, Thom Gwin,etc ) and not just mediocre wanna-be models that tried to jump on the "me too" (for men) bandwagon...
I remember that a decade ago he did a video with Saint Laurent (still somehere on the internet) where he warned about this puritanical vision that Americans were having again with naked bodies. Unfortunately the soulless corporation that is Conde Nast will not allow now anything remotely close to freedom of expression or a "racy" picture. The idea of "sanitizing" all art and just showing "safe/diverse/inclusive" is so forced and so fake, that is not really art but just "content".