Peter Lindbergh

Invasion. Cinema

Born November 23, 1944 in Lissa — currently lives in Paris, New York, Arles

Since the 1980s, one of the most-discussed interpreters of fashion internationally. Photographs in black-and-white using a pictorial language that takes its lead from early German cinema and from the free dance of the 1920s.

Childhood in Duisburg (North Rhine-Westphalia). Employed as a window dresser for the Karstadt and Horten department stores in Duisburg. At 18, he moved to Switzerland. Eight months later, he went from Lucerne to Berlin. Evening courses at the Academy of Fine Arts. Hitchhiked to Arles in the footsteps of his idol, Vincent van Gogh. Several months later he continued through Spain and Morocco, a journey that took him a period of two years. Return to Germany. Studied Free Painting at the College of Art in Krefeld (North Rhine-Westphalia). In 1969, while still a student, first exhibition of his work at the renowned Galerie Denise Rene/Hans Mayer. Concept Art marked his last period of interest in art. In 1971 he turned his attention to photography. Worked for two years as assistant to Dusseldorf-based photographer Hans Lux. As of 1973, freelance photographer in Dusseldorf. In 1978, a much-admired fashion feature in Stern magazine marked the starting point of his international career as a fashion photographer. Moved to Paris the same year. Initially work for Vogue, first the Italian version, then the English, French and German and American ones, later for Marie-Claire, New Yorker, Vanity Fair, Allure and Rolling Stone. In 1992 he signed a four-year contract with the American Harper’s Bazaar in New York. At the same time he handled campaigns for Giorgio Armani, Jil Sander, Prada, Donna Karan, Calvin Klein. Portraits of Catherine Deneuve, Mick Jagger, Charlotte Rampling, Nastassja Kinski, Tina Turner, John Travolta, Madonna, Sharon Stone, John Malkovich and many others. In 1992, first documentary film (60 min): ‘Models — the film’ with Linda Evangelista, Naomi Campbell, Tatjana Patitz, Stephanie Seymour and Cindy Crawford. A second documentary film (‘Inner Voices’, 1999) on Lee Strasberg and his Actro’s Studio. 1996: ‘Missing You’: music video for Tina Turner in Los Angeles. 1988: ‘Highest Achievement Award for Fashion Photography’ in New York. 1990 and 1991: grand prix and gold-medal at the International Festival of Fashion Photography in Budapest and Barcelona. 1995 and 1997: named as the ‘Best International Fashion Photographer / The Fashion Awards’, Paris (chosen by a jury of 400 members from the international fashion scene and from photography). 1996: Honorary member of ADC Germany. Also in 1996: ‘Raymond Loewy Design Award’ (Europe’s top prize for design). 1996: designed the highly regarded Pirelli calendar. There has been a large number of TV portraits on him, including ‘Poet des Glamours’ (60 min, ZDF); ‘P. L. Profile’ (45 min, V. H. −1); ‘P. L. A Portrait’ (60 min, Paris Premiere & Centre National de la Cinematographie).

‘Peter Lindbergh started working in Paris around the same time as Paolo Roversi, sometimes for the same magazines. However, his work developed in a completely different direction: powerful black-and-white photographs, rich in contrasts reflecting, as he puts it, his’melancholy Expressionist German vein’. The dramatic style of his photo series is the result of his interest in cinema: his work contains references to directors from Fritz Lang to Jim Jarmusch, thus displaying his reverence for photographers as different as Lartigue and Blumenfeld.’

Martin Harrison