Peter Lindbergh a Different Vision

Peter Lindbergh a Different Vision

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The German photographer was known for shooting some of the industry's most iconic images.

Harper's Bazaar editor in chief Justine Picardie paid tribute to the revered photographer and his "brilliant and rare gift for storytelling".

"Peter Lindbergh was a truly great photographer, whose creative aesthetic shaped the entire fashion industry," she said. "His imagery was utterly unique, with its combination of elegance and romance, and he was possessed of a brilliant and rare gift for storytelling. Lindbergh’s narrative of Amber Valetta as an angel on the streets of New York, photographed for Harper’s Bazaar in 1993, is one of my all-time favourite fashion stories; yet as with so much of his exceptional work, it transcended fashion, and remains as timeless now as when it first appeared."

He preferred to capture his models naturally, telling Vogue earlier this year: "I hate retouching. I hate make-up. I always say: 'Take the make-up off!'"

Edward Enninful, editor of UK Vogue said: "His ability to see real beauty in people, and the world, was ceaseless, and will live on through the images he created. He will be missed by everyone who knew him, worked with him or loved his pictures."

His work was shown in museums such as the Victoria & Albert Museum in London and the Centre Pompidou in Paris.

Lindbergh also directed a number of films and documentaries. His film Inner Voices won best documentary at the Toronto International Film Festival in 2000.

Celebrities who have worked with Lindbergh paid tribute to him on Twitter.

Lindbergh was known for masterminding some of the industry's most iconic imagery, using his signature black and white, elegant style to capture women at their most naturally beautiful, from Naomi Campbell and Cindy Crawford to Rihanna and Lady Gaga. He redefined standards of beauty, refusing to curtail to the glossy, retouched perfection that pervades some magazines and social media. Instead, he focused on his subject's humanity and essence.

"This should be the responsibility of photographers today: to free women, and finally everyone, from the terror of youth and perfection," he once said.

He also shot the Pirelli calendar three times in 1996, 2002 and 2017 - the only photographer in the calendar's 50-year history to do so - taking pictures of actresses, rather than models for the first time. In 2017, he photographed a number of stars for Pirelli with barely any make-up or styling. He hoped to "remind everyone that there's a beauty that's more real and truthful and not manipulated by commercial or any other interests," as he said at a press conference at the time.

He had studied arts in Berlin and Krefeld, and exhibitied his works already before graduation. In 1971 he turned to photography and worked for the Stern magazine.

In fashion photography, he portrayed models Linda Evangelista, Naomi Campbell, Tatjana Patitz, Cindy Crawford and Christy Turlington together for the January 1990 British Vogue cover, beginning an era of supermodels. He twice photographed the Pirelli Calendar, made several films, and created covers for music including Tina Turner's Foreign Affair, Sheryl Crow's The Globe Sessions and Beyoncé's I Am... Sasha Fierce.

His work has been presented at international exhibitions. Lindbergh preferred black & white photography, and noted in 2014: "This should be the responsibility of photographers today to free women, and finally everyone, from the terror of youth and perfection."

Intimate black-and-white portraits became another Lindbergh trademark. Influenced by the work of street photographer Garry Winogrand and Depression-era documentary photographer Dorothea Lange, he told Vogue Italia that this medium was, for him, “connected to the image’s deeper truth, to its most hidden meaning”. Czech supermodel Eva Herzigova, who Lindbergh photographed many times during her career, told Vogue: “Peter has taken pictures of me since I was 16 years old. I felt protected in his company and absolutely adored those stunning black and white images that expressed women’s strength through their eyes. He was capable of capturing people’s soul [in an image].”