Whether he is photographing Kate Moss or Catherine Deneuve, the melancholy pictures of Peter Lindbergh look behind the star cult, styling and make-up to reveal the individual personality in all its strength. Born in 1944 in Lissa, Poland, Lindbergh grew up in Germany, and currently lives in Paris, Arles and New York. He began photography in 1971 and established himself as an advertising photographer. He is considered to be one of the world's preeminent fashion photographers, particularly in black and white, and is credited with helping create the supermodel phenomenon of the 1990s. As a visual teller of tales, Peter Lindbergh frequently arranges his compositions to resemble famous film scenes from early German cinema or from the free dance of the 1920s.
Despite a Berlin exhibition that made its debut in September and another set for Shanghai next year, Lindbergh is very much rooted in the moment. "
Fashion photography has gotten a little lost. There is a lot of carnival going on. The hair has gotten too crazy and the make-up. At the moment, everybody is trying to do young. They have to look young or dress young. Youth is so overdone," he said. "
All the advertising and magazine covers today - they don't look like natural women. For me, that's a real pity. There's all this retouching. A little humanity would do good, especially in fashion photography."
WWD, 2010
A large new Peter Lindbergh exhibition " On Street " is currently on view at
C/O Berlin Museum, from September 25, 2010 to January 9, 2011.
Kate Moss for Harper's Bazaar, New York, 1994
Mariacarla Boscono, New York, 2008
Monique Olsen for Vogue Italy, NY, 2006
Comme des Garcons, Pont A Mousson Factory, Nancy, France, 1988
Milla Jovovich, Karen Elson for Vogue Italy, Downtown Los Angeles, 2000
Milla Jovovich for Vogue Italy, Downtown L.A, 2000
All images, courtesy Peter Lindbergh and C/O Berlin
