Aside from making bald look incredibly chic and cool, Yul Brynner is best known for his flawless performances in classic films The King and I, The Ten Commandments, and The Magnificent Seven. Brynner is lesser known for his photography work, which is a shame, because he apparently took thousands of wonderful pictures.
YUL, Yul Brynner: A Photographic Journey is Lehmann Maupin's exhibition of the late actor's photographic work that accompanies the release of a four volume book of the same name. YUL, the exhibit, features 70 of Brynner's works shot throughout his career both on and off set. The images were selected from each of the four volumes—"Lifestyle", "Life on Set", "1956", and "Man of Style"—of YUL, the book. The beautiful, intimate photos showcase major hollywood stars - colleagues and friends of Brynner's - casual and at ease either at work or at play. He snapped actresses vamping it up for his camera or caught them relaxing behind the scenes. He captured sweet moments of famous women with their children. He shot elegant self-portraits and family pictures. And he photographed countless celebs off-duty at home or on holiday. Just a few of the famous faces you'll recognize in his photos include: Ingrid Bergman, Charlie Chaplin, Joan Collins, Audrey Hepburn, Grace Kelly, Sophia Loren, Frank Sinatra, Elizabeth Taylor, and of course, his co-stars from The King and I and The Ten Commandments.
Born Yuli Borisovich Bryner in Vladivostok, Russia in 1920, the Oscar and Tony winning actor (both for the King and I), director, and musician was also a very talented shutterbug. While he certainly had glamorous and photogenic subjects, Brynner definitely had a good eye and captured wonderful scenes in black-and-white and color. YUL, Yul Brynner: A Photographic Journey, the book, was published by Edition 7L and was edited by Victoria Brynner, one of his four children. The multi-talented Brynner died of lung cancer 25 years ago (!) on October 10, 1985 at the age of 65. Both YUL the exhibition and book are definitely worth checking out to discover another side of the versatile and legendary artist. Learn more at Lehmannmaupin.com. Through September 25th.
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