A topless female figure stands poised on a boat, with the "USA" surfing board
embodying grace and adventure, as the water stretches into the horizon...
This is the original Pirelli Print for selection to the 1998 Pirelli Calendar, shot by Bruce Weber. It's a very rare as it shows Elaine Irwin in her natural beauty before any retouching.
The Pirelli Calendar, known and trade-marked as "The Cal", is an annual trade calendar which has been published by the UK subsidiary of the Italian tyre manufacturing company Pirelli since 1964. The calendar has a reputation for its choice of photographers and models and featured glamour photography from the 1980s until the 2010s.
The calendar is produced with limited availability (20,000 are printed annually). Copies do not go on sale, but are instead given as corporate gifts to celebrities and select Pirelli customers. The annual production cost was about US$2 million in 2017. Marco Tronchetti Provera, Pirelli's CEO from 1992 to 2022, commented that the purpose of the Cal is "to mark the passing of time" by recording the zeitgeist.
The 1998 Pirelli Calendar was photographed in Miami by Bruce Weber. Models include Patricia Arquette, Georgina Grenville, Daryl Hannah, Shalom Harlow, Eva Herzigová, Kirsty Hume, Elaine Irwin Mellencamp, Milla Jovovich, Kiara Kabukuru, Tanga Moreau, Carolyn Murphy, Rachel Roberts, Stella Tennant
And also BB King, Bono, Paul Cadmus, Francesco Clemente, Kris Kristofferson, John Malkovich, Ewan McGregor, Dermot Mulroney, Dan O'Brien, Sonny Rollins, Kelly Slater, Fred Ward
This is the original test print that has been submitted to Pirelli UK Tyre for the iconic Calendar 1998. These are original test prints (more visible on our Artsy profile like this), and some of them didn’t make it to subsequent calendars. There is a strong possibility that some of these prints might not even have been published which makes them very rare, an interesting find for any collector.
Bruce Weber is a photographer and filmmaker best known for black-and-white photographs that capture an all-American look and feel. Often working in portraiture, Weber strives to capture the emotions of his subjects and honestly reveal elements of personality. While he credits Diane Arbus as an artistic influence, Weber has helped define an idealized and iconic American look, particularly through 1980s advertisement campaigns for brands such as Abercrombie and Fitch, Ralph Lauren, and Calvin Klein.