Comprising Karl Lagerfeld’s photographs of the Byzantine mosaics in the Basilica di San Vitale in Ravenna and
conceived in connection with his acclaimed Paris-Byzance collection for Chanel in December 2010, Byzantine
Fragments is an eloquent book object that imitates the delicate mosaics it depicts.
Lagerfeld’s pictures are impressions, not documentations of the mosaics: each is printed at a different angle and with
blurred edges like sepia images on vintage postcards. Byzantine Fragments is all restrained luxury: the photos are
printed on ivory parchment, the title page is of indigo tracing paper with gold lettering, while the cover is of gold
Arches paper printed with copper ink. Each book is hand-stitched with umber thread and housed in an embossed
gold slipcase: this is a precious stone in book form.
Karl Lagerfeld, fashion designer, book dealer and publisher, began working as a photographer in 1987. He has
received the Lucky Strike Design Award from the Raymond Lewy Foundation, the cultural prize from the German
Photographic Society, and the ICP Trustees Award at the International Center of Photography’s Infinity Awards in
2007. His recent photographic exhibitions include ‘Konkret Abstrakt Gesehen’ at the Langen Foundation, Neuss; and
‘Metamorphoses of an American – A Cycle of Youth, 2003–8’ at Pace/MacGill, New York. Steidl has published most
of Lagerfeld’s photography books, including Casa Malaparte, Aktstrakt, A Portrait of Dorian Gray, Room Service,
Palazzo, Metamorphoses of an American, and The Beauty of Violence.
Byzantine Fragments
von Karl Lagerfeld
