From the Beatles to Galliano. The Star Odyssey of Jean-Marie Perrier

From the Beatles to Galliano. The Starry Odyssey of Jean-Marie Périer

Curators: Anna Zaitseva, Maria Lavrova

Co-organiser: Lumiere Gallery

As part of the biennale Fashion and Style in Photography – 2025, the Multimedia Art Museum, Moscow presents an exhibition by the renowned French photographer and director Jean-Marie Périer, author of iconic shots of the Beatles and the Rolling Stones. He captured the most famous world luminaries of the second half of the 20th century, celebrities that defined the image of the era: Brigitte Bardot, Françoise Hardy, Alain Delon, Catherine Deneuve, Monica Bellucci, Yves Saint Laurent, John Galliano, Vivienne Westwood, and so on.

Jean-Marie Périer was born in 1940 to the family of popular actor François Périer, who played in a Federico Fellini film, and actress Jacqueline Porel. In 1956 he became an assistant to the photographer and publisher Daniel Filipacchi, who worked for leading magazines such as Paris Match and Marie Claire, as well as for Jazz Magazine. At the age of 17 Périer was already photographing jazz legends Ella Fitzgerald, Miles Davis and Dizzy Gillespie for covers and editorial materials.

The first stage of Périer’s creative career coincided with the ‘Thirty Glorious Years’ (1946-1975) in France – a time of powerful economic growth with a booming population, social and cultural revolution. The post-war generation challenged established norms and the stable way of life, striving for independence and freedom of expression. It was the young who set trends in fashion, cinema and music in the 1960s, creating innovative trends and genres. 

In 1962 the youth music magazine Salut les copains appeared in France. The publisher, Daniel Filipacchi, offered Périer a position as staff photographer and gave him unlimited creative freedom with just one condition: “Photos must not please the parents”. The magazine was a resounding success. It became a symbol of the new youth culture and played an important role in its formation. Périer recalled: “The first issue was published in a circulation of 100 thousand, and there was a real battle to get your copy at the newsstands. Six months later we were already printing in editions of a million. It was a revolution, comparable in scale to the launch of MTV in America”.

During his twelve years at the magazine Périer photographed many musicians who became cultural phenomena. In the mid-1960s the music world was confronted by a ‘British invasion’. English rock groups, in particular the Beatles and their main competitors the Rolling Stones, conquered not only the national, but also international charts. Périer often photographed the Beatles and Rolling Stones, accompanying them on tour, behind the scenes at concerts and during album recordings. In 1967 he photographed the Beatles at the famous Abbey Road Studios and shot the cover for their single ‘Penny Lane / Strawberry Fields Forever’. The exhibition features one of the best images from this photo session.

Périer’s constant subjects were the rising stars of the ‘yé-yé’ generation (from the English ‘yeah! yeah!’ catchphrase in popular English-language songs): Françoise Hardy, Sylvie Vartan, Claude François, Johnny Hallyday and many other musicians. The ‘yé-yé’ style originated in France and swept the music scene of the 1960s. It first arose under the influence of American and English rock and subsequently spread right across Europe and Japan. Périer created iconic images of the ‘yé-yé’ performers for Salut les copains, which became the mouthpiece of the new style.

In 1974, at the end of the ‘glorious era’, Périer left photography and got involved in cinema. He made several full-length feature films and documentaries, including ‘Antoine and Sébastian’, starring François Périer and Jacques Dutronc. Then in 1980 Périer moved to the United States, where he made commercials for major companies from Ford to Coca-Cola.

When supermodels and fashion designers became the new heroes of modern culture in the 1990s, Périer returned to photography. His sister, the editor-in-chief of French Elle, suggested he take pictures of famous couturiers. This is how the series ‘The World of Fashion Designers’ appeared, which included portraits of Jean Paul Gaultier, Thierry Mugler, Giorgio Armani, Sonia Rykiel and other couturiers. Périer saw them as modern rock stars: “The rebellious musicians of the past have long since become respectable bourgeois. Designers can afford the lifestyle they have chosen. Like the rock stars of the 1960s they have money, imagination and talent, but they also retained a rebellious spirit and the ability to act crazy.”

Jean-Marie Périer’s unique ability to transform celebrities into pop idols with the help of spectacular staged shots has made him one of the most sought-after photographers. “I didn’t just photograph musicians, I photographed a dream,” Périer insists.