“By making this wine vine known to the public, I have rendered my country as great a service as if I had enabled it to pay back the national debt”. Thomas Jefferson
Who, more fitting than Jefferson, for a quote to accompany a Lippmann image ? He, an American, a lover of France & French life & Peter Lippmann, ‘un photographe Americain à Paris’, who is now so French that he can no longer separate the pieces !
Lippmann, who would prefer to be known for his life as a song writer & rock star, having formed & morphed many a band in his short life – The Burps, Walking the Dog, The Well Hung Something’s & most recently The Lobotonics – cannot escape the fact that when the phone rings it is more often clients like Christian Louboutin, Vogue, Cartier… looking for the Midas touch of Peter’s fabulous magazine & advertising work.
This image for Willi’s Bottle Art Collection is quite literally stolen from an amazing series of photographs, soon to be published, that Peter has been working on over the last few years. He has compiled a stunning collection of late harvest grapes with ‘pourriture noble’ & ‘pastrillage’ from some of the greatest vineyards of Europe.
Does this poster make you think of outer space or jewellery? Can you sense the natural purity & seductive power burried in these extraordinary grapes? Peter’s image is a testament for the wine lover, a reminder, if one is required, that even the rotten have some show stopping qualities…& I shall drink to that.
Caitlin Boyce wrote of these images on wildapplause March 2012 «Peter Lippmann’s work reveals this noble state and reminds us of a very important fact. Death is real. It comes to everyone. These images ask us not to avoid it, but instead look at it and see its beauty. To me these are not just images of rotting fruit, but a thoughtful, graceful and intimate symbolic display of the human condition. »
With such an opinion in mind you immediately appreciate why there are just 100 signed copies of this poster. Caitlin may have missed out on the very real life giving juice that I see here ! For all of us, as life comes first, may there be time for a lot more.