Jean-Marie Périer’s fame goes back to his iconic photographs of The Beatles, Rolling Stones, Bob Dylan, James Brown, to name but a few; images that indelibly captured the Pop and Rock scenes of the Sixties.  In 1990, Jean-Marie returned home to Paris having spent ten years in LA and NY directing commercials for such prominent clients as Coca-Cola, Canada Dry, Ford and Nestlé.  It was photography that he wished to return; to once again feel the freedom and creativity he experienced during those Rock n’ Roll years.  ELLE magazine gave him carte blanche to produce a series of images, entitled “The World of Fashion Designers” that presented the glamour and elegance of the fashion industry and its icons.

This portrait of Yves-Saint Laurent in his famous Paris flat, located at rue de Babylone, is a very classical composition and quite typical of Périer with the main character in the background on the left side of the image. The model Sybil Buck, to the right, is wearing an YSL evening gown.

This photograph is also a unique testimony to Saint-Laurent’s interior. With the help of interior decorator Jacques Grange, Saint-Laurent gradually acquired Master Paintings from the Twenties with furnishings just as prestigious.  The Fernand Léger painting, “Le profil noir” (1928) dominates the room.  To the right can be seen a magnificent vase by Jean Dunand (1925). Saint-Laurent mixed these works with Renaissance bronzes, 18th century rococo furniture -- even an Egyptian sarcophagus.

After Saint-Laurent’s death, his collection was sold at Christies during a much- publicized 3-day auction that netted $484 million, the largest auction ever held in Europe.  Later on, the apartment was sold and today all that remains are photographs of the apartment on rue des Babylone – and this print of Yves Saint-Laurent among his treasured collection.

A C-print, or chromogenic print, is characterized by a reaction between two chemicals to create the color dyes that make up a photographic image. Chromogenic color images are composed of three main dye layers—cyan, magenta, and yellow—that together form a full color image. The light sensitive material in each layer is a silver halide emulsion—just like black and white papers.  After exposure, the silver image is developed, or reduced, by a special color developer.  In this reaction, the color developer in the areas of exposed silver are oxidized, and then react with another chemical, the dye coupler, which is present throughout the emulsion. This is the chromogenic reaction—the union of the oxidized developer and the dye coupler form a color dye. C-prints can be obtained using a positive-to-positive exposure or digital exposure systems.
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