Werk

The faces that Anton Corbijn photographs are familiar to anyone with a passing knowledge of popular culture. Rock stars and divas, actors and supermodels, Corbijn's subjects are not only accustomed to being photographed, their images have reached iconic status. But something happens when a celebrity faces Corbijn's camera. It isn't that this groundbreaking photographer imbues his subjects with some artificially imposed mythology. Rather, he allows each person's own mythology to speak for and against itself: whether it's the famous photo of David Bowie descending Christ-like from a cross; Luciano Pavarotti with the scowl and wild eyes of a heavy metal rocker; Courtney Love emerging from the ocean like Venus on a wave; or Christy Turlington crouching vulnerably on a treacherous bridge. Corbijn's easy relationship with the famous—from Michael Stipe and Bono to Salman Rushdie and Danny DeVito—offers him access to decidedly un-glamorous attitudes and poses not often seen in celebrity photos. Yet Corbijn never denies the star power of his subjects. Dazzling and alluring, imaginative and provocative, Corbijn's pictures are a paean to the artistic skills and visions that have made his subjects as famous as they are beloved.