It’s a unique art to capture a special moment of our life or the emotion and thoughts of a person for the eternity. For decades he did it in a very special way. Therefore, he belongs to the best international photographers ever: Peter Lindbergh.
PETER LINDBERGH – WOMEN’S STORIES
The film is a documentation of one of the greatest photographers of the 20th century.
Besides exceptional insights into his daily work, the film shows the personal and emotional story of Peter Lindbergh’s life. It deals with questions like:
- How and why one becomes an artist?
- Wherefrom comes the creative power, which defy any logic and analysis?
THE SUPER WOMEN
Peter Lindberg presented unique personalities such as Naomi Campbell, Linda Evangelista, Christy Turlington or Cindy Crawford in a totally new point of view. Stars, models, icons, muses, actresses.
All those women raised to stardom via his work. Because of his work, the fame of these first influencers will not be forgotten. Thus, their flames aren’t extinguished until today.
Jean Michel Vecciet‘s PETER LINDBERGH – WOMEN’S STORIES is a sensitive portrait. It shows Peter’s childhood.
Of course, it was marked by the traces of the war. Besides, the movie is witness of the birth and evolution of the artist Peter Lindbergh. The photographer who works for the biggest brands worldwide for years.
PETER LINDBERGH – THE EARLY YEARS
Born in Lissa (Germany) in 1944, he spent his childhood in Duisburg (North Rhine-Westphalia). He worked as a window dresser for a local department store. Hereafter, he enrolled at the Berlin Academy of Fine Arts in the early 1960s.
He recalls, „I preferred actively seeking out van Gogh’s inspirations, my idol, rather than painting the mandatory portraits and landscapes taught in Art schools…“.
Then, after moving to Düsseldorf in 1971, he turned his attention to photography. So, he worked for two years assisting German photographer Hans Lux. Later, he opened his own studio in 1973.
Peter Lindbergh became well known in his native country. Thus, he joined the Stern magazine family along with photography legends Helmut Newton, Guy Bourdin and Hans Feurer. Subsequently, he moved to Paris in 1978 to pursue his career.
PETER LINDBERGH
THE PIONEER IN PHOTOGRAPHY
Peter Lindbergh was considered as a pioneer in photography. He introduced a form of new realism by redefining the standards of beauty with timeless images.
Moreover, his humanist approach and idealization of women set him apart from the other photographers, as he privileges the soul and the personality.
Additionally, he drastically changed the standards of fashion photography at a time of excessive retouching, believing that there is something else that makes a person interesting, beyond their age.
He explains: „It should be the responsibility of photographers today to free women, and finally everyone, from the terror of youth and perfection.“
Through his singular vision, they are presented in their pure state, „in all honesty“, avoiding all stereotypes and preferring un-made-up faces. Furthermore, his photographs enhance the authenticity and natural beauty of his women in a baring act.
THE NEW INTERPRETATION OF WOMEN
Peter Lindbergh offered a new interpretation of women in the 1980s, choosing to largely ignore the clothes they wore.
He claimed, „If you take out the fashion and the artifice, you can then see the real person.“
British journalist Suzy Menkes points out that: „Refusing to bow to glossy perfection is Peter Lind-bergh‘s trademark – the essence of the images that look into each person‘s unvarnished soul, however familiar or famous the sitter.“
So, back in 1988, Lindbergh garnered international acclaim when he showed a new generation of models that he had recently discovered. All were dressed in white shirts.
The images launched the models‘ careers. A year later, Linda Evangelista, Naomi Campbell, Cindy Crawford, Christy Turlington and Tatjana Patitz, young models then, were photographed together for the first time by him for British Vogue‘s legendary January 1990 cover.
SIMPLE BUT REVEALING PORTRAITS
Simple and revealing portraits as well as unique still life images characterize Peter Lindbergh’s work.
Howsoever, the early German Cinema influenced his work strongly. Additionally, industrial surroundings of his childhood, dance and cabarets influenced him. Moreover, another source of inspiration were landscapes as well as the outer space.
In 2016, Lindbergh was commissioned for a record third time to create the 2017 edition of the Pirelli calendar. So, he was the first one who worked more than twice for Pirelli in the fifty years history of the iconic calendar. Previously, he photographed the 1996 and 2002 editions.
Moreover, Lindbergh has also directed a number of critically acclaimed films and documentaries.
- MODELS: THE FILM (1991);
- INNER VOICES (1999) which won the Best Documentary Prize at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) in 2000;
- PINA BAUSCH, DER FENSTERPUTZER (2001) and
- EVERYWHRE AT ONCE (2007).
PETER LINDBERGH AND THE MAGAZINES
Since the 1970s Lindbergh has worked with the most prestigious fashion brands and magazines. Among them international editions of Vogue, The New Yorker, Rolling Stone, Vanity Fair, Harper‘s Bazaar US, Wall Street Journal Magazine, The Face, Visionaire, Interview and W.
JEAN MICHEL VECCHIET’S POETIC PORTRAIT OF PETER LINDBERGH.
Peter Lindbergh – Woman Stories’ leads us into a labyrinth of the artist’s world, drifting between the conscious and unconscious, and serving as a kind of cinematic psychoanalysis.
With this “mise en abyme”, assembled through collected writings, photographs, anecdotes and a poetic narration that hovers on the periphery of the real and imaginary, Vecchiet liberates his subject from the constraints of genre.
© Pictures: Peter Lindbergh
