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Celebration of the most collectable of calendars
LAVISH and lovingly compiled,
The lavish Complete
Pirelli Calendars presents
every issue of the prestigious
annual since its inception in
1964 (by Edmondo Berselli,
Francesco Negri Arnoldi, Italo
Zannier, published in hardback by
Thames & Hudson, priced £45).
Instigated as a promotional tool
by the Italian company Pirelli's UK
subsidiary, solely for distribution
amongst its clientele, the calendar
has over the decades belied its
humble origins in establishing itself
as an iconic presence on the
cultural landscape.
It is a much sought-after acquisition,
owing in equal parts to its
limited availability - the calendar
is not sold - and to the elite calibre
of both photographers and
models involved. Among their
ranks number such names as
Naomi Campbell, Cindy Crawford, Kate Moss and, from the
world of celluloid, such luminaries
as Penelope Cruz, Hilary
Swank, Brittany Murphy and the
great Sophia Loren.
From the early days of heavy
product placement, the calendar
has morphed into a celebration of
high photographic art. The now
trademark "tyre track" motif implanted
into almost every shot
provides the sole reminder of the
calendar's corporate origins.
As much as successive calendars
have become increasingly artistic,
so have they become a reflection
of the times, from the pop-art influence
of the swinging Sixties,
through the decadently suggestive
eroticism of the Seventies into the
aggressive commercialism of the
Eighties.
These constantly-evolving themes
have afforded some of the world's
greatest portrait photographers
the opportunity to interpret their
personal influences and ideas to
dazzling effect, revelling in the career-
defining challenge that their
contributions present as much as
the models they photograph.
From Sarah Moon (the calendar's
first female photographer in 1972)
to Herb Ritts, Terence Donovan,
Mario Testino, Annie Leibovitz
and Patrick Demarchelier, successive
snappers have used their
tenures to confront, eulogise, provoke
and honour, often polarising
opinions in the process.
In 1967, the Vatican even placed
an injunction on Pirelli's Milan
headquarters in order to prevent
publication, such was the perceived
power the annual wielded
on the mass consciousness.
This compendium provides both
an exquisitely presented collection
of glamour photography at its
most beautiful and thought provoking
and also a documentary of
the changing tastes and ideologies
of the last four decades.
Spanish Fly by Will Ferguson
(hardback by Harvill Secker,
£12.99), is a witty and entertaining
story by the author of the bestselling
novel Happiness in which
the moral seems to be that a fool
and his money are easily parted.
It is a road-trip story told through
the eyes of Jack McGreary, a 19-
year- old salt mine worker who
joins a couple of con artists as
they travel through the Midwest of
America in 1939, extracting as
much money as possible from unsuspecting
victims using a variety
of ingenious, and at times daring,
confidence tricks.
Jack is struggling with his life in
the dustbowl of Paradise Flats, a
town that does not even come
close to resembling its name,
when he spots the con-artists at
work and subsequently becomes
their apprentice. He already has
some experience of being on both
sides of a hustle, having sold a
penny to a local shopkeeper for
five dollars, after describing it as a
bronze engraving of President
Lincoln, as well as seeing his erratic
father become one of the many
victims of the infamous Drake
Scam - having been convinced
that for a few dollars investment,
he could buy into a share of the
inheritance money from the family
of Sir Francis Drake.
In the background to Jack's adventure
is Hitler's march through Europe
in 1939. Jack's dad wants him
to go to Canada to enlist and join
the fight against the Nazis, but he
feels that joining up with Virgil
and Miss Rose is the better plan
for his immediate future.
Ferguson provides an entertaining
story and shows that, in the end,
there is no such thing as honour
among thieves.
1:14pm Friday 25th January 2008
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