My Fair Lady
21 October–31 December, 2023press release
This autumn, f22 foto space is delighted to present the My Fair Lady exhibition, an intimate journey discovering the production of the much-loved movie starring Audrey Hepburn and Rex Harrison in 1964.
Featuring the rare behind-the-scene images of My Fair Lady, this photo exhibition gives an insider look into the intriguing creation of the award-winning movie, revealing the technical aspects, creative decisions and interesting anecdotes behind one of the most successful adaptions in Hollywood.
Originally a romance in five acts titled Pygmalion by George Bernard Shaw in 1913, the play gained its fame as a motion picture in 1938 and later as a Broadway stage musical with songs written by Alan Jay Lerner and Frederick Loewe. The plot depicts Eliza Doolittle’s transformation from a cockney flower girl to an elegant lady in high society at the hands of Prof Henry Higgins, a snobbish phonetics professor. The romantic comedy explores the theme of intelligence, love and the class system with sharp conversations surrounding Eliza’s growth and emotional struggles, and how she finally became a confident woman set free to realise her potential.
Featuring the rare behind-the-scene images of My Fair Lady, this photo exhibition gives an insider look into the intriguing creation of the award-winning movie, revealing the technical aspects, creative decisions and interesting anecdotes behind one of the most successful adaptions in Hollywood.
Originally a romance in five acts titled Pygmalion by George Bernard Shaw in 1913, the play gained its fame as a motion picture in 1938 and later as a Broadway stage musical with songs written by Alan Jay Lerner and Frederick Loewe. The plot depicts Eliza Doolittle’s transformation from a cockney flower girl to an elegant lady in high society at the hands of Prof Henry Higgins, a snobbish phonetics professor. The romantic comedy explores the theme of intelligence, love and the class system with sharp conversations surrounding Eliza’s growth and emotional struggles, and how she finally became a confident woman set free to realise her potential.
publication
the artist
Bob Willoughby
Bob Willoughby was the first photographer retained by a Hollywood studio to take on-set promotional stills for sale to magazines. He first met Audrey when Paramount Studios signed her to a contract in 1953, following the acclaim generated by her first starring role in Roman Holiday. Over the next few years they became close family friends, giving Bob the chance to capture hundreds of informal candid shots of Audrey in both her public and private lives – a unique pictorial record of this timeless star’s career. Bob’s work has been exhibited in more than 50 countries and is on permanent display at the Museum of Modern Art in New York, the National Portrait Gallery in London and the Bibliotheque National in Paris, among others.