Shanghai Hardcover - 2004

Bettina Rheims, born in Paris in 1952, first exhibited her work in 1981 at the Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris. As a photographer of fashion and advertisement, Rheims is renowned for her ability to combine commercial and artistic work. Her publications include Modern Lovers (Paris Audiovisuel, 1990) and Female Trouble (Schirmer-Mosel, 1989) as well as the collaborations with Serge Bramly: I.N.R.I. (Monacelli Press, 1999) and Chambre Close (Gina Kehayoff, 1992). Winner of the City of Paris Photography Grand Prize in 1994, she was chosen to take the official portrait of President Jacques Chirac in 1995. Her most recent work is X’mas (Scheer Editions, 2000), a monograph featuring sixty young girls, posing nude for the first time, in their own universe of unlimited fantasy. Rheims lives in Paris.

Serge Bramly was born in Tunisia in 1949 and came to Paris to study literature in 1961. He has published short stories, novels, biographies, screenplays, and photography, and has contributed essays to various exhibition catalogs. Bramly’s fiction and essays have been published in numerous collaborations with Bettina Rheims, including X’mas (Scheer Editions, 2000) and Chambre Close (Gina Kehayoff, 1992). His biographies include Leonardo: The Artist and the Man (Michael Joseph, 1992). Work from his photography collection was published in Anonym (Gina Kehayoff, 1996). Bramly is a member of the purchase commission of the Centre Pompidou in Paris and has served as a curator for institutions and galleries. Bramly lives in Paris.