BIOGRAPHY

1944

Birth of Peter Lindbergh – born Brodbeck, on November 23rd in Lezsno (current Poland). He spends his childhood in Germany’s North Rhine-Westphalia, between the monumental industrial surroundings of Duisburg and his uncle’s farm, a 15-kilometer-long meadow sitting on the Rhine’s bank.

“Had I grown elsewhere, my photographs would have been radically different. Ruhr is an incredible graphic school. It’s not a place of compromise. Things there are neither a little pretty, nor a little ugly.
Back then already, they were rather tough, straight and brutal even. And there’s nothing negative about it. I had always found it beautiful, impressive and inspiring.”

1958

First apprenticeship as a window dresser at renowned German department store Karstadt.

1961

Lindbergh enrolls in the Berlin Academy of Fine Arts, where he “preferred actively seeking the inspirations of Van Gogh, my idol, rather than painting the mandatory portraits and landscapes taught in art schools.”

1964

He soon drops and moves to Arles for almost a year on “spiritual pilgrimage”, before hitchhiking through Spain and North Africa.

1966

Studies arts and free painting at the Werkkunstschule in Krefeld.

Influenced by Joseph Kosuth and the Conceptual movement, Lindbergh’s first monotypes are exhibited in 1969 (one year before he graduates) at the esteemed avant-garde Galerie Denise René-Hans Mayer. His very short-lived artist name is ‘Sultan’.

1971

Lindbergh moves to Düsseldorf and turns his attention to photography. A year after, he starts working as an assistant to German photographer Hans Lux, who soon encourages him to work independently.

1973

Peter Lindbergh opens his own studio. Becoming well known in his native country, he joins Stern magazine’s artistic team along with Helmut Newton, Guy Bourdin and Hans Feurer.

1978

After meeting Willy Fleckhaus, the art director of Twen magazine, one of Lindbergh’s first assignment is to photograph fashion designers for Stern, among which established names like Yves Saint Laurent and Karl Lagerfeld, as well as a new guard represented by Kenzo Takada or Giorgio Armani. Peter Lindbergh moves to Paris in order to pursue his career.

1988

Lindbergh embarks a group of young models on the beach of Santa Monica. He asks Fashion Editor Carlyne Cerf de Dudzeele to style the likes of Karen Alexander, Linda Evangelista, Estelle Lefébure, Tatjana Patitz, Christy Turlington and Rachel Williams in plain white shirts.

The photoshoot’s unrestrained feeling and the outdoors setting highly contrasts with fashion’s predominant imagery of the times, as the models are pictured smiling and moving freely while wearing natural hair and makeup.
Early on, the ‘White Shirts’ story defines Lindbergh’s vision on women and roots his aesthetic in truth and emotions.

“I wanted to move away from the rather formal, quite perfectly styled woman who was very artificial. I was more concerned about a more outspoken, adventurous woman in control of her life and unbothered by her social status.”

Vogue Italia releases their first issue under Franca Sozzani’s editorship in July 1988. It features Lindbergh’s tribute story to Josephine Baker, featuring then newcomer Naomi Campbell. This marks her first ever story for a Vogue title.
Sozzani and Lindbergh’s unique collaboration and close friendship will go on until the Italian Editor’s passing in 2016.

Anna Wintour, named Editor-in-chief of American Vogue in July 1988, appoints Peter Lindbergh to capture the cover of her inaugural issue. The decision to publish the photograph of Michaela Bercu casually wearing haute couture, mixed with denim jeans while not looking at the camera is considered a revolution.

On the occasion of American Vogue’s centenary in 1992, Lindbergh’s cover for the November 1988 issue is named the most influential image of the 1980s (as published in the celebratory book One The Edge: Images from 100 Years of Vogue).

1989

Lindbergh is commissioned by British Vogue Editor-in-chief Liz Tilberis to present his vision for the new decade. He gathers for the first time a group of five upcoming models with strong, different personalities, including Naomi Campbell, Cindy Crawford, Linda Evangelista, Tatjana Patitz and Christy Turlington.

The emblematic magazine’s January cover becomes the supermodels’ birth certificate; an image that would reach icon status and define the 1990s era vividly and enduringly.

“My ideal was always the young women I met in art school, very independent and outspoken. The supermodels represented this change”.

1990

Lindbergh’s ‘E.T. Story’ (Vogue Italia, March 1990) relates Helena Christensen’s encounter with a Martian whose UFO had crashed in the Californian desert. Considered by the New York Times (“Images of Fashion Tiptoe Into The Modern”, by Roberta Smith, 2004) as the first narrative editorial in fashion photography, this series foresees the introduction of science-fiction references and cinematic storytelling in his work.

“Where does the story come from? Never from the clothes, as much as I deeply respect the designers.”

1992

Peter Lindbergh is appointed by Liz Tilberis as Harper’s Bazaar’s exclusive photographer. Until the year 2010, he captured over two hundred fashion editorials, some becoming landmarks in both fashion photography and contemporary culture overall.
Among Lindbergh’s personal favorite are ‘Angel Story’ inspired by German director Wim Wenders’ Wings of Desire (published in December 1993) and the series ‘A Star is Born’ that revealed Kate Moss (December 1994).

1995

Lindbergh photographs the 1996 Pirelli Calendar. He will later imagine their 2002 and 2017 editions, becoming the first artist to collaborate for a record third time with the Italian brand.

1996

Peter Lindbergh releases his first book titled 10 Women, with a foreword by Karl Lagerfeld and published by Schirmer/Mosel. Over 100 000 copies are sold at the time.

1999

Lindbergh directs Inner Voices; wins the award for Best Documentary at the 2000 Toronto International Film Festival.

2001

Peter Lindbergh is named Chevalier de l’ordre des Arts et des Lettres by French Minister of Culture.

2005

Granted the Honoree Lucie Award for Outstanding Achievement in Fashion Photography.

Lindbergh directs Everywhere At Once, narrated by Jeanne Moreau and presented during the Cannes and Tribeca Film Festivals.

2014

Peter Lindbergh honored by the amfAR for his “exceptional contributions to the global struggle against HIV/AIDS”.

2019

Peter Lindbergh dies on September 3rd.

2020

Peter Lindbergh. Untold Stories opens at the Kunstpalast Düsseldorf on February 5th. It is the first exhibition self-curated by the photographer who worked on it for over three years and was later shown in Brussels’s Vanderborght building in 2022.

“Part of my work remains a secret to me. And particularly through this exhibition project, I see my photographs in a completely new light. [...] It was overwhelming to be confronted with who I am”.