Nicole Kidman, Uma Thurman and Julianne Moore are among the actresses appearing natural and minimally retouched in tire brand Pirelli’s 2017 calendar, unveiled Tuesday in Paris.
The new photos were shot by German photographer Peter Lindbergh, who’s often credited with the creation of the supermodel. Each actress was shot in black and white, wearing minimal makeup – a Lindbergh signature.
His aim was to “capture sensitivity and emotion, laying bare the souls of the women in the images, rendering them more naked than a nude,” he said at the international press launch in Paris.
“As an artist, I feel I have a responsibility to free women from the idea of eternal youth and perfection,” he said. “Society’s ideal of perfection is impossible to achieve.”
Lindbergh, who has three Pirelli calendars under his belt, also shot A-listers Jessica Chastain, Léa Seydoux, Robin Wright, Zhang Ziyi, Rooney Mara, Penelope Cruz, Charlotte Rampling, Alicia Vikander and Kate Winslet.
Beauty meets talent
The one unfamiliar face is that of Anastasia Ignatova, a lecturer at the Moscow State Institute of Political Theory, whom Lindbergh met at a dinner party in 2015. (According to Pirelli, Lindbergh was “struck by her face and outstanding beauty.”)
This marks the second year in a row that the calendar has defied its NSFW reputation, and the formula of nudity and youth that has come to define it.
Last year’s calendar, shot by American portraitist Annie Leibovitz, was praised for its body and age diversity, and featured the likes of Serena Williams, Amy Schumer and Yoko Ono.