Ocula the best in contemporary art logo
Seoul Auction (via maps. Co., Ltd.) Advert
Ocula the best in contemporary art icon.
Ocula the best in contemporary art icon.
Discover the Best of Contemporary Art Now
Ocula discover the best in contemporary art icon.
  • Gallery Membership
  • About
  • EN
  • Login
  • Sign Up
  • My Ocula
    • Notifications
    • Profile
    • Following
    • Favourites
    • Logout
  • Ocula discover the best in contemporary art icon.
Ocula the best in contemporary art logo
  • Home
  • Artists
  • Artworks
  • Galleries
    • Galleries
    • Institutions
  • Exhibitions
    • Exhibitions
    • Viewing Rooms
  • Fairs
  • Cities
  • Advisory
    • Latest
    • Advisory Perspectives
    • Curated Selections
    • Advisory Picks
    • About
    • Services
  • Magazine
    • Latest
    • Conversations
    • Features
    • Insights
    • News
    • Photologs
    • Contributors
    • Publications
    • 中文
  • Gallery Membership
  • About
  • EN
Logout Login
My Ocula Sign Up
Reflex Amsterdam
Follow
All Locations  |  Select Location
  • Amsterdam
  • The Residence
  • All Locations
  • Amsterdam
  • The Residence
  • Home
  • Exhibitions
  • Artists
  • Artworks
  • Magazine
  • Art Fairs
  • Press
  • Publications
  • Video & Audio
  • Locations
  • Close

Irina Ionesco

Follow

b. 1935, Romania

In the 1970s and '80s, Irina Ionesco developed a keen and intense eye for women and their seductive allure. The impact of her nude photographs, with their enigmatic and timeless aura,reached well beyond the gaze of male viewers. Indeed, artists like Irina Ionesco helped to establish a new type of woman: a sensual and ambivalent embodiment of the unconventionality and permissiveness of the times.

Read More

Ionesco's erotic productions evade simple categorisation as only portraits, fashion, or nudes. Instead they are a composite, in which the photographer explores the dualism of revealing and concealing, and plays subtly with the lewd and the louche. Ionesco outfitted her female models in lingerie and fur stoles, veiled them in tulle and netting, adorned them with opulent jewels and flowers, and posed their semi-nude bodies in nocturnal, neo-surrealist settings, often in front of mirrors.

The models donned costume after costume before Ionesco's camera, against the ever-changing backdrop of her small stage. Unconventional props, half-object, half-decoration, and theatrical make-up underpinned her subject's personality, indeed, role. Pictured mostly alone, they play the role of femme fatale among others, staged by the photographer, their director.

Ionesco's complex, often dark arrangements function like a theatre play in several acts, or a movie, captured frame by frame. Yet the decisive element in her refined black-and-white images remains the partial nudity and immediate sensuality of the female models.

In collaboration with Zoo Magazine Reflex Amsterdam organised the retrospective exhibition Ma Réalité Rêvée in 2016, and published an extensive catalogue of Ionesco's work with an essayby Matthias Harder (Helmut Newton Foundation, Berlin). Reflex Amsterdam exclusively represents the work of Irina Ionesco worldwide.

Text courtesy Reflex Amsterdam.

Recent Exhibitions

Contemporary art exhibition, Group Exhibition, All the World's A Stage at Reflex Amsterdam, Netherlands Closed 9 February–2 March 2019 Group Exhibition All the World's A Stage Amsterdam

Recent Artworks

View All (9)
Fafa by Irina Ionesco contemporary artwork photography
Irina Ionesco Fafa, 1972 Gelatin silver print
26.5 x 27.7 cm
Reflex Amsterdam Contact Gallery
Fafa by Irina Ionesco contemporary artwork photography
Irina Ionesco Fafa, 1972 Vintage silver gelatin print on fibre paper
Reflex Amsterdam Contact Gallery
Fafa, Le Coeur Percé by Irina Ionesco contemporary artwork photography
Irina Ionesco Fafa, Le Coeur Percé, 1970 Vintage silver gelatin print on fibre paper
40.3 x 59.4 cm
Reflex Amsterdam Contact Gallery
Litanie pour une amante funebre by Irina Ionesco contemporary artwork photography
Irina Ionesco Litanie pour une amante funebre, 1974 Vintage silver gelatin print on fibre paper
26.3 x 39.3 cm
Reflex Amsterdam Contact Gallery
Fafa by Irina Ionesco contemporary artwork photography
Irina Ionesco Fafa, 1970 Vintage silver gelatin print on fibre paper
59.4 x 40.3 cm
Reflex Amsterdam Contact Gallery
Vampire by Irina Ionesco contemporary artwork photography
Irina Ionesco Vampire, 1970 Vintage gelatin silver print
38.9 x 27.9 cm
Reflex Amsterdam Contact Gallery
Model with umbrella by Irina Ionesco contemporary artwork photography
Irina Ionesco Model with umbrella, 1975 Vintage gelatin silver print on fibre paper
37.5 x 24.6 cm
Sold
Reflex Amsterdam
La Mort Amoureuse by Irina Ionesco contemporary artwork photography
Irina Ionesco La Mort Amoureuse, 1985 Vintage silver gelatin print on fibre paper
Reflex Amsterdam Contact Gallery
Load More
No results found.
Recent Artworks View All (9) Recent Artworks

Irina Ionesco In Publications

Irina Ionesco: Ma Réalité Rêvée Irina Ionesco: Ma Réalité Rêvée
About Ocula
About Team My Ocula Contact Us Careers
Ocula Advisory
To find out more click here
Advertise
Request Media Kit
Quick Sign Up
To make artwork enquiries, follow artists & galleries, save & share artworks and receive our newsletter.
Sign Up
Gallery Membership
In order to present the best of contemporary art our gallery membership is by application or invitation only. Admission is determined by a select group of influential gallerists by vote. Institutions are also welcome to join the Ocula gallery network. For more information
click here.
Ocula the best in contemporary art logo
© 2022 Ocula Limited Terms & Conditions Copyright Policy Privacy Policy Cookie Policy

Sign Up
I forgot my password
You can unsubscribe anytime at: [email protected] or click unsubscribe in the email.

Your personal data is held in accordance with our Privacy Policy.

Login
Artists
    Galleries
      Skip
      You can manage the artists and galleries you follow in My Ocula/Following
      Already an Ocula registered user?
      Login
      Login

      We have sent you an email containing a link to reset your password. Simply click the link and enter your new password to complete this process.

      Return to Login.
      Close