Exhibitions
David Seidner, the timeless vision of fashion, arrives at the Yves Saint Laurent Museum in Marrakech
The Yves Saint Laurent Museum in Marrakech is hosting the first exhibition in Morocco dedicated to the innovative American photographer David Seidner (1957–1999). The exhibition, which opened on September 15, will remain on display until August 2, 2026, in the museum's temporary exhibition hall.
The exhibition highlights the exceptional collaboration between Seidner and the legendary couturier Yves Saint Laurent. Their joint work began in 1982 and reached one of its most iconic milestones with the 1983 Paris perfume advertising campaign, considered a landmark in the history of fashion photography.
More than 25 years after his untimely death, David Seidner's art remains decidedly modern. His images, inspired by antiquity and the great masters of portraiture, yet projected with a forward-looking vision, reveal a unique and deeply personal aesthetic: his delicate interplay of light, innovative framing, and bold fragmentation decisively shaped fashion photography in the 1980s, 1990s, and beyond.
Seidner's sensitive and visionary approach captured the essence of Saint Laurent's style, fusing elegance with a modern artistic sensibility. More than 25 years after his death, Seidner's work continues to influence contemporary fashion photography. Drawing inspiration from classical painting and the great masters of antiquity, Seidner developed a unique visual language, combining refined light, innovative framing, and bold fragmentation that defined fashion aesthetics in the 1980s, 1990s, and beyond.
The exhibition is curated by Violeta Sánchez, a former Saint Laurent model and one of Seidner's favorite collaborators. Sánchez worked closely with the Musée Yves Saint Laurent in Paris and the International Center of Photography (ICP) in New York to offer a faithful and illuminating presentation of the photographer's entire body of work.
YSLM director Alexis Sornin stated that the exhibition reflects the unique relationship between Seidner and the Yves Saint Laurent Museum. Violeta Sánchez, for her part, emphasized that the exhibition allows visitors to explore the evolution of Seidner's visual language through a carefully curated selection of his most iconic prints.
The tour is complemented by essays by Marc Donnadieu, Samia Saouma, Violeta Sánchez, Olivier Saillard and Robert McElroy, as well as a prologue written by Pierre Bergé.
In addition, the exhibition features a detailed catalogue that includes essays by Marc Donnadieu, Samia Saouma, Violeta Sánchez, Olivier Saillard, and Robert McElroy, with a preface by the late Pierre Bergé, originally written for Seidner's exhibition in Paris in 2008. The volume offers an in-depth analysis of the artist's work and his era, underscoring the enduring relevance of his photography.
