A candid collection of photographs depicting Madonna circa 1983 will feature as part of the Madonna NYC 83 exhibition, thanks to the Weiss Katz Gallery in New York.
Photographer Richard Corman snapped the then 24-year-old Madonna in her Lower East Side apartment during a period of economic fragility which fostered a restless and adventurous street style.
In Madonna NYC 83, Corman captures the prolific artist on the cusp of her rise to fame, charged with the confidence and edginess she would soon become known for.
Speaking to Dazed & Confused, Corman shared his experience of shooting pre-fame Madonna.
“I never thought of her as pre-fame Madonna when I shot her in 1983. I was introduced to her by a casting director who told me she had just met this incredible young woman. ‘I have never seen, or been in the presence of anyone like her’, she told me. ‘She is an absolute original. You need to call her and go down and photograph her.’
“…At the time she really had a cult following in New York. She was travelling to clubs all over the city: clubs you would want to go to, clubs you wouldn’t want to go to. She was fiercely determined to get to where she wanted to go to.”
“You look at her swag, her confidence, her fashion. Look at the denim, the make-up, the red lips, the heavy eye shadow, the blonde streaks in her hair, the dark roots – everything about her is everything I see today walking the streets. The visionaries of the world were always years ahead, whether it was science, music, literature. She was in her own world.”
The exclusive online exhibition will run until July 7. For more Madonna greatness, you can check out the images below.
Via Dazed.
