Pirelli calendar to celebrate 50th

Pirelli’s tribute to titillation, known and trademarked as “The Cal”, celebrates its 50th anniversary next year with the release of a calendar that was created by celebrated German-Australian photographer Helmut Newton in 1986 but never published.

It is probable that few calendars have been the subject of as much anticipation as the Pirelli calendar. That anticipation reaches a crescendo as each new year approaches. Limited availability only adds to the Pirelli calendar’s mystique.

The artistically alluring images that have set the tone since the first calendar was published in 1964 have been the work of many famous photographers; 26 men and four women including names such as Patrick Demarchelier, Peter Lindbergh, Bert Stern, Richard Avedon, and Annie Leibovitz.

As the brainchild of Pirelli UK Limited, the Pirelli calendar was created with the intention of setting the company apart from its domestic competition – something achieved with resounding success.

The 1964 calendar, which was the work of well-known Beatles photographer Robert Freeman, under the guidance of art director Derek Forsyth, immediately set the tone for what was to follow.

According to Pirelli, the calendar has since “continued to mark the passing of time with images by the most highly acclaimed photographers of the moment – capturing and interpreting contemporary culture and often setting new trends.”

Three separate eras mark the calendar’s progression from 1964 to the 21st century.

After its initial success, the calendar was not published in 1967 and, largely as a result of the worldwide oil crisis and the Yom Kippur war, from 1975 to 1983. Aficionados were shocked and dismayed.

It was relaunched in 1984 with Martyn Walsh as the new art director and returned somewhat to its roots with a more discreet approach and subtle references to Pirelli’s product – its tyres.

Then, in 1993, the calendar was integrated into Pirelli’s innovative advertising campaigns which included, for example, American sprinter Carl Lewis wearing red stilettos.

Internationally famous personalities such as Cindy Crawford, Kate Moss, Christie Turlington, Natasha Kinsky and Naomi Campbell also featured in the calendar to firmly establish its role as part of western-world culture.

Perhaps one of the most interesting events during the calendar’s 50 years was when two teams, one from Pirelli UK and the other from Pirelli Italia (who wanted some of the glory enjoyed by the British who invented the calendar in the first place), vied for the 1986 calendar.

The unsuccessful British team employed Helmut Newton, while the Italian team chose American photographer Bert Stern who was famous for his iconic images of people like Marilyn Monroe, Elizabeth Taylor and Audrey Hepburn.

Unsuccessful in 1986, Helmut Newton’s work has arguably won in the end because of the decision to bring it out of the archives for 2014.

For the 1986 shoot, photographic locations moved from Monte Carlo to Chianti, Tuscany, with Newton aiming to capture the Italian identity through images of earthy sensuality. The 12 black and white images in the 2014 calendar are accompanied by 29 backstage photos "that will give aficionados a glimpse behind the scenes of the historic shots captured in Chianti and Monte Carlo in 1985.”

The 2014 calendar was celebrated with an 800-guest gala event and a retrospective exhibition in Pirelli’s “HangarBicocca” venue in Milan, Italy that was open to the public for two days in late November.

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