The extraordinary history of the Pirelli calendars began in 1963 when the Pirelli tire company created a calendar featuring pin-up models as a promotional piece to send to its top customers as a gift for the closing year. Every year since, the company has called upon world-renowned photographers such as Richard Avedon, Mario Testino, Herb Ritts, Norman Parkinson, Bruce Weber, and Annie Leibovitz to photograph the world’s most beautiful women, including Iman, Cindy Crawford, Naomi Campbell, Sophia Loren, Naomi Watts, and Penelope Cruz. It has continued to generate publicity for its exclusivity; a huge public clamors for the calendar, but it is only available to a very privileged list of corporate customers and VIPs. A product of the cultural revolution of the 1960’s, the Pirelli calendar has shaken the world with the audacity, sensuality, and innovation of its content. The images stretch the parameters of sensual fantasy and fabulous photography, but their subtlety and quality also establish the calendar as a paradigm of its genre and a coveted collector’s item. This book contains all the photographs of the calendars from 1964-2007, the never-published calendar of 1963, as well as intimate behind-the-scene photographs. The stunning imagery is accompanied by a comprehensive text, which traces not only the evolution of the calendar but also the history of photography in the past forty years.
