SUSANNE SCHAPOWALOW

Exhibition at CAMERA WORK 01.24 - 02.28.09
The photos of Susanne Schapowalow, born 1922 in Berlin, offer us fascinating insight into the time when Rock n’ Roll was still named Jazz and was still a worldwide movement.

 

These photographs have never been shown fully enlarged before. With a closeness to the artist that is today unthinkable, the portraits show famous jazz musicians such as Louis Armstrong, Ella Fitzgerald, Nina Simone, Miles Davis or Quincy Jones, whose band she accompanied for two months as it toured throughout Europe. Her close friendship with her subject, such as Duke Ellington or Chet Baker allowed her to render the unique concert atmosphere but also an extraordinarily intimate view of behind the scenes and of the private lives of the musicians.  

Susanne Schapowalow has been working since the 1940s as a photographer for newspapers and magazines such as Kristall, Stern, Der Spiegel or GEO.

 

The highlights of her work were jazz, architecture and new music. Over the years, a vast photo archive was compiled. At the end of the 1960s the photographer founded the “Photo Agency Susanne Schapowalow” with an emphasis on “worldwide tourism”. After many successful years, she eventually sold the agency in 2003. The artist now lives in Bad Malente.