German fashion photographer Peter Lindbergh has died on Wednesday (4 September 2019) in Paris. It was announced on his official Instagram account: “It is with great sadness that we announce the passing of Peter Lindbergh on September 3rd 2019, at the age of 74.He is survived by his wife Petra, his first wife Astrid, his four sons Benjamin, Jérémy, Simon, Joseph and seven grandchildren. He leaves a big void.”
Lindbergh was born in Poland in 1944, and his whole family fled to Germany when he was only a few months old following the advance of the Russian troops.
Most known for his stark black and white portraits, Lindbergh was often credited also for driving the careers of Naomi Campbell, Christy Turlington and Linda Evangelista to great heights. According to AFP, it was “his 1988 photo of a group of young women in white shirts and tousled hair on a beach in Malibu — a far cry from the big make-up, big-hair studio shoots of the day — that helped define his stark, cinematic style.
The new faces included Evangelista, Christy Turlington and Tatjana Patitz, all of whom would go on to become stars of the international catwalks.”
Lindbergh was also famously averse to touching up photographs. He once said: “There is no beauty without truth. All this fake making up of a person into something that is not them cannot be beautiful. It is just ridiculous.”His most recent shoot was for British Vogue, where he photographed 15 women for the cover of the September issue. The Duchess of Sussex Meghan Markle was the guest editor.
The official Instagram of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex paid tribute to Lindbergh on the official royal Instagram account: “Honouring the life and work of photographer Peter Lindbergh.His work is revered globally for capturing the essence of a subject and promoting healthy ideals of beauty, eschewing photoshopping, and preferring natural beauty with minimal makeup. The Duchess of Sussex had worked with Peter in the past and personally chose him to shoot the 15 women on the cover for the September issue of British Vogue, which she guest edited. There is no other photographer she considered to bring this meaningful project to life.“Forces for Change” was the one of the esteemed photographer’s final published projects. He will be deeply missed.”
No cause of death was given.