Martin Schoeller

Martin Schoeller is one of the best-known portrait photographers of the younger generation. He photographs celebrities such as Bill Clinton, Cindy Sherman, Jack Nicholson, Angelina Jolie, Donald Rumsfeld, Arnold Schwarzenegger and David Lynch as well as unknown people.

 

 

After studying photography in Berlin, Martin Schoeller  went to New York in order to attend to portrait photography and documentation. Having little knowledge of the language and even less money, he asked Annie Leibovitz and Irving Penn, both photographers he adored, for an assistant job.

 

At first none of the two photographers wanted to work with him. But after three months, another call and some smaller jobs, he was employed by Annie Leibovitz as an assistant. He worked for her during almost 4 years before starting his own career in 1996.

Since the mid-90ies Martin Schoeller concentrated his work mainly on portrait photography. His photographs are clear and straightforward. He sets euphemistic effects aside and presents the people honestly. The series he started in 1995 with known and unknown people is the basis of his style, which he continues to refine and improve. His way of taking pictures is influenced by his ideals Bernd and Hilla Becher as well as August Sander.

Today Martin Schoeller’s work has reached international recognition. He photographs for magazines such as »Rolling Stone«, »GQ«, »Esquire«, »Vogue«, »Interview « and is one of the four photographers, who are employed by the magazine »The New Yorker« .