Juergen Teller Celebrates the Handbag

What would a woman be without her handbag? In all honesty, probably nothing. How else are we supposed to carry around all the essentials that keep us going as we glide from gallery to gallery, day-in, day-out. The handbag you see, is not just a fashion item. It is also a vessel within which we place all that we need to survive our busy, art-filled lives. It seems fitting therefore, that the humble handbag, that much sought-after designer accessory that helps us as we move our lives from A to B, is now being celebrated in an exhibition of Juergen Teller’s images at Museo Villa Pignatelli in Naples, a space that has come to be recognised as the “Home of Photography”.

Throughout his three-decade long career, Teller has photographed every must have-designer from Celine to Valentino. He has also snapped the faces of fashion’s most sought-after darlings, including Sofia Coppola, Kate Moss and Vivienne Westwood. Many of these images have included a purse or a clutch, held from the perfectly manicured hands of the women we wish we were. Encompassing over 600 images, the exhibition puts the handbag under the spotlight, relegating the model to second place. As in that infamous image of Victoria Beckham’s legs hanging out of a Marc Jacobs bag, this exhibition gives the fashion-lovers best friend the attention it deserves.

The exhibition also coincides with a new book JUERGEN TELLER: HANDBAGS published by Steidl.

Juergen Teller: Handbags is on display at Museo Villa Pignatelli, Naples until 19 May 2019
 
Text by Lizzy Vartanian
Images via @portrait_s, @rivashoes.bcn @watermansally