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Artist Biography

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Martin Schoeller by Kathy Ryan

Celebrated photographer Martin Schoeller's distinct method for creating his striking large-scale portraits involves getting up close and personal with his subjects. Characterized by his models' unflinching, direct gazes, which meet the eyes of the viewer and then hold them for eternity, his Close Up photographs, often presented in larger than life sizes, offer raw and revealing glimpses into his subjects, exposing them in a way that feels almost unforgivingly truthful.

Schoeller (b. 1968) has captured such famed faces as Jack Nicholson, Cate Blanchett, and Angelina Jolie, political figures including Bill Clinton, and incumbent president, Barack Obama. In his tightly cropped representations, his models face him squarely, even despite the blaring studio light he turns in their direction.  His method, he has explained, involves taking many, many photographs until he manages to catch his subject at an honest moment, ideally when his or her guard is down—and he thereby exposes in them something viewers would not otherwise witness. “The pictures that survive over the years are ones where you see something of somebody that they normally wouldn’t share so easily,” he says. “Something intimate, honest. I don’t believe you can capture the soul of someone, but there are pictures that are more honest and ones that are less honest.”

Born in Germany, the artist has lived in New York for many years and has worked as a contract photographer for the New Yorker, allowing him access to many of his subjects. His rigorous and systematic approach to image making echoes the grand tradition of German typographies pioneered by Bernd and Hilla Becher, and he often exhibits his photographs in neat, orderly grids that belie the human content they contain. Schoeller's photographs are minutely observed studies of the human face—its features, wrinkles, gestures, and expressive capacities—his images share a history with those created by Chuck Close, the contemporary art world’s master of photorealist portraiture.

Although he has photographed musicians, Olympic athletes, world leaders, scientists, war heroes, celebrities and even presidents, Schoeller maintains that his favorite kind of work is to document people who have not had their pictures taken countless times—and perhaps to even take their first ever photograph. In that vein, a 2008 series of images depicts members of the Amazonian Pirahâs, a rarely depicted indigenous tribe of hunter-gatherers whose current population is numbered at a mere 360, placing them dangerously at risk of vanishing. There is a rawness and an excitement to the almost anthropological experience, he says, of capturing the image of little-known peoples and cultures, which produces the most evocative, compelling images.

Martin Schoeller's photographs have been exhibited by such renowned institutions as the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery, the Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum in New York, the Naples Museum of Art in Naples, Florida, and the EMP Museum in Seattle, Washington. Numerous monographs of his work have been published, including Portraits (teNeues, 2014), Identical: Portraits of Twins (teNeues, 2012), Martin Schoeller: Stern Portfolio (teNeues, 2009), Female Bodybuilders (Pond Press, 2008) and Close Up (teNeues,2005).

 

Exhibitions

Martin Schoeller

Portraits
Nov 13, 2014 - Jan 03, 2015

Martin Schoeller

Female Bodybuilders
Jul 01 - Aug 20, 2010

Martin Schoeller

New Work
Jan 08 - Feb 23, 2008

Martin Schoeller

Close Up
May 24 - Sep 01, 2006

Press

People

What It’s Like Shooting Dolly Parton: She’s ‘So Energetic and Limber!’
Mar 31, 2015

Ken Weingart Art And Photography

Interview with German photographer Martin Schoeller
Jan 11, 2015

Elle Mexico

I’m Ready for My Close – Up
Dec 12, 2014

Musee Magazine

Martin Schoeller: Portraits at Hasted Kraeutler
Nov 20, 2014

New York Post

Photog spills secrets to shooting P.Diddy, Tina Fey, DeNiro and more
Nov 19, 2014

Arte Fuse

Martin Schoeller: The Truth Behind the Portraits
Nov 19, 2014

W Magazine

Martin Schoeller: Portraits
Nov 18, 2014

InStyle

Martin Schoeller’s Portraits: A Unique View at the World’s Most Famous Faces
Nov 15, 2014

GQ

Martin Schoeller's "Portraits"
Nov 14, 2014

Artsy

From Steve Carell to Jeff Koons, Celebrities Get Their Closeup with Martin Schoeller
Nov 13, 2014

Esquire

6 Celebrity Portraits from the Photographer Behind One Of Esquire's Most Legendary Covers
Nov 13, 2014

Time LightBox

From Zuckerberg to Tarantino, See Martin Schoeller’s Portraits
Nov 12, 2014

The New Yorker

Martin Schoeller's Portraits
Nov 12, 2014

Architectural Digest

MARTIN SCHOELLER'S NEVER-BEFORE-COLLECTED PHOTOGRAPHS
Nov 12, 2014

Surface

The Top Seven Happenings in Art, Design, and Beyond
Nov 12, 2014

Entertainment Weekly

Shoot and Tell
Nov 07, 2014

PDN

Martin Schoeller's Portraits
Oct 22, 2014

Daily Mail

George Clooney taking a potshot at Brad Pitt to Emma Watson having a cup of tea: Celebrity photographer reveals stories behind famous portraits
Oct 04, 2014

Time LightBox

The Photo That Made Me: Martin Schoeller, New York 1998
Oct 01, 2014

Wall Street Journal

Shutter Genius: How to Take the Perfect Portrait
Jan 30, 2014

National Geographic

Behind the Cover: Martin Schoeller Photographs an Amazon Tribe
Dec 19, 2013

Fast Company

Do These Identical Twins Look The Same To You?
May 15, 2013

The New Yorker

Martin Schoeller Takes Over Instagram
Jul 31, 2012

UK Daily Mail

Martin Schoeller: Female Bodybuilders
Mar 05, 2012

La Lettre

Martin Schoeller : Behind the Mask
Jul 07, 2011

Ciel Variable

Martin Schoeller
Jun 01, 2011

Focus

Portrait of an Artist
Feb 11, 2011

The Syndey Morning Herald

READY FOR HIS CLOSE-UPS
Nov 20, 2010

THE CANBERRA TIMES

UP CLOSE AND PERSONAL WITH THE STARS
Nov 19, 2010

ABC CANBERRA

UP CLOSE AND PERSONAL AT THE PORTRAIT GALLERY
Nov 18, 2010

TIME OUT NEW YORK

Review
Aug 12, 2010

THE VILLAGE VOICE

SOLO FLEX: MARTIN SCHOELLER UNVEILS THE BIG GUNS
Aug 04, 2010

Daily News

Female Bodybuilders: Pumping Perfection
Aug 03, 2010

Velvet Park

Jul 27, 2010

ARTFORUM.COM

CRITICS' PICKS
Jul 22, 2010

FLAVORWIRE

Jul 15, 2010

Vulture

See Martin Schoeller's Feeling Portraits of Female Bodybuilders
Jul 14, 2010

WNYC GALLERINA BLOG

DATEBOOK: JULY 1, 2010
Jul 01, 2010

DNAINFO

CHELSEA PHOTO SHOW MAKES VIEWERS FLEX THEIR NOTIONS OF BEAUTY
Jul 01, 2010

DEUTSCHES HYGIENE MUSEUM DRESDEN

WHAT IS BEAUTIFUL? PRESS RELEASE
Mar 27, 2010

Marie Claire

Candid Photos
Oct 25, 2009

1000 Words Photography

Martin Schoeller: Female Bodybuilders
Apr 10, 2009

HotShoe International

Female Bodybuilders
Jan 15, 2009

THE WASHINGTON TIMES

CAPTURING REALITY-- FLAWS AND ALL
Jan 04, 2009

VOICE OF AMERICA NEWS

FACE-TO-FACE WITH OBAMA
Dec 26, 2008

artnet

Martin Schoeller: Female Bodybuilders at Ace Gallery Beverly Hills
Jun 01, 2008

Blouin ARTINFO

INTERVIEW: MARTIN SCHOELLER
Feb 03, 2008

The New Yorker

Review
Jan 22, 2008

CHELSEA NOW

CLOSER UP
Jan 05, 2008

American Photo

IMAGES OF THE YEAR 2007
Dec 05, 2007

THE WALL STREET JOURNAL

BIG PORTRAITS OF BIG NAMES AT ART MIAMI
Dec 05, 2007

LOS ANGELES TIMES

MARTIN SCHOELLER: READY FOR THEIR CLOSE UP
Sep 28, 2007

The New Yorker

Review
Jul 10, 2006

The New York Times

MARTIN SCHOELLER
Jun 23, 2006

Daily News

Sizing up Celebrities
Jun 18, 2006

NEW YORK PRESS

About Town
May 31, 2006

City

Exhibit : Too Close for Comfort?
May 24, 2006

Germany in NYC

Close up at Hasted Hunt Gallery
May 09, 2006

WWD

MARTIN SCHOELLER
May 02, 2006

American Photo

The Big Picture
Jan 01, 2006

Life

GETTING A BIG HEAD
May 01, 2000

News

Martin Schoeller

Martin Schoeller's newest publication "Close" announced on L'oeil de la Photographie
Oct 01, 2018

Sarah Hasted

Presents new portraits by Martin Schoeller
Sep 25, 2018

Martin Schoeller

Guided Gallery Tour and Book Signing
Dec 12, 2014

Martin Schoeller

Go Behind TIME’s Taylor Swift Cover With Photographer Martin Schoeller
Nov 14, 2014

Martin Schoeller

Portraits - Opening Reception
Nov 14, 2014

Marc Dennis, Awol Erizku & Martin Schoeller

Hasted Kraeutler artists included in Shaquille O'Neal's booth at Expo Chicago
Sep 08, 2014

Martin Schoeller

Identical Book Release Party
January 22, 2013

Martin Schoeller

Body Builders, Artist Reception
Jul 01, 2010

Publications

Portraits

teNeues
Oct 01, 2014

Martin Schoeller

Stern Portfolio
Jan 15, 2009

Female Bodybuilders

Pond Press
Sep 01, 2008

Close Up

teNeues
Jun 15, 2005