Peter Lindbergh

Peter Lindbergh studied free painting at the School of Arts Krefeld in Germany. In 1969, while still a student, he exhibited for the first time at the renowned Galerie Denise René/Hans Mayer. In 1971, he turned to photography. Peter Lindbergh moved to Paris in 1978 and began an international career, first for Italian Vogue, and then the British, French, German, and American versions. He was the first fashion photographer to photograph Linda Evangelista, Naomi Campbell, Tatjana Patitz, Cindy Crawford, and Christy Turlington on the same plate for the legendary January 1990 cover of British Vogue, causing the phenomenon of “supermodels.” His first book, 10 Women, is a black and white portfolio of ten supermodels published in 1996. Since then he has published 10 other books.

He has had solo exhibitions at museums including the Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris, the Bunkamura Gallery in Tokyo, and the Schirn Kunsthalle in Frankfurt. Additionally, in 1997, the exhibit Peter Lindbergh: Images of Women premiered at the Hamburger Bahnhof in Berlin, then toured to art museums in Hamburg, Milan, Rome, Vienna, and Japan. In 2002, Lindbergh became the first photographer exhibited by the Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts in Moscow. In 2010, his On Street exhibition at C/O Berlin drew 90,000 visitors. In 2011, the Ullens Center for Contemporary Art, Beijing, presented the installation The Unknown, signed by Lindbergh, attracting over 70,000 visitors in one month.

Mr. Lindbergh is also a dedicated and staunch supporter of the fight against AIDS. In 2005, YouthAIDS partnered with Aldo Shoes and Peter Lindbergh to create a public awareness and marketing campaign entitled “Hear No Evil, See No Evil, Speak No Evil.” Through the sale of empowerment tags and lapel pins featured in ads with celebrities that were photographed by Mr. Lindbergh, Aldo raised more than $10 million while reaching 1.5 billion people in 25 countries. In 2007, Peter worked with the United Nations, alongside other masters of his craft, to photograph celebrities for a campaign that created awareness and fundraising advertisements to combat poverty, hunger, and AIDS. As a friend of amfAR, most notably through his support of Cinema Against AIDS in Cannes, Mr. Lindbergh has donated his time and talent to help amfAR raise funds through the sale of his photographs.