Sabine Weiss

Country: Switzerland | Born: 1924

Sabine Weiss was born in Switzerland in 1924. In 1942, she wonders what she will do with her life, and decides that she should become a photographer because it is what she loves to do. She is the daughter of a mother who showed her art galleries and Roman churches at a very young age, and of a researcher chemist father who loved to see her print her little photos with the resources available at the time.

From 1942 until 1945 she was an apprentice at Boissonnas in Geneva, house of a dynasty of photographers that celebrated its 80th birthday.

In 1945 Sabine Weiss moved to a studio in Geneva, but in 1946 she decided to leave the city of her childhood to live in Paris. She knew there was no turning back. She asked Willy Maywald to become her assistant. In 1949, she met the painter Hugh Weiss and realized right away that she would spend her life with him. Sabine Weiss left Maywald, where she mastered her craft and started a long career, experimenting fashion, photojournalism, advertising and everything else she was asked to do.

During her free time, she liked to immortalize the depths of man in all simplicity. Her photographs moved Edward Steichen when preparing his major exhibition "The Family of Man" therefore he decided to present three of her images.

In recent years, Sabine Weiss has dedicated her time to exhibitions that showcase the humanist side of her work because it meant a lot to her.

Key dates
1924 July 23rd Birth at Gingolph in Switzerland, Naturalized French in 1995.
1942-45 Apprentice at Boissonas in Geneva
1945 Swiss diploma of photography
1946 Settles permanently in Paris
1946-50 Assistant of Willy Maywald
1950 Weds the American artist Hugh Weiss
1951 Works for several advertising agencies
1952-61 Contract with Vogue Magazine (Fashion and Assignments)
1952 Enters the Agency Rapho
1952 Free-lance for major magazines in the USA and in Europe like Paris Match, Life, Time, Newsweek, Town And Country, Fortune, Holiday, European Travel And Life, Esquire... covering countries in Europe, Africa, North America and Asia.

Most recent exhibitions:
2014 Vannes, Festival de la Photo de Mer "Portugal, 1954"
2014 Z�rich, Photobastei, R�trospective
2014 Gen�ve, Galerie Patrick Cramer, Portraits d�artistes (Giacometti et Miro)
2014 Salon de la Photo, Paris, Porte de Versailles, r�trospective � Ch�re Sabine � (Tribute to the photographer's 90th birthday)

Decorations
1987 Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres (Knight of Arts and Letters)
1999 Officier des Arts et des Lettres (Officer of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres)
2010 Ordre national du M�rite (French National Order of Merit)

Galleries:

Peter Fetterman Gallery

Holden Luntz Gallery

Website:

sabineweissphotographe.com

Selected Work:

Selected Video:

More Great Photographers To Discover

André Adolphe-Eugène Disdéri

Nationality: France

Born: 1819 - Died: 1889

Andr�-Adolphe-Eug�ne Disd�ri (French: 28 March 1819 - 4 October 1889) was a French photographer who started his photographic career as a daguerreotypist but gained greater fame for patenting his version of the carte de visite, a small photographic image which was mounted on a card. Disd�ri, a brilliant showman, made this system of mass-production portraiture world famous.

Disd�ri began his working life in a number of occupations, while also studying art. He (…)

All About André Adolphe-Eugène Disdéri

Richard Steinheimer

Nationality: United States

Born: 1929 - Died: 2011

Richard Steinheimer (1929-2011) is considered to be among the greatest American railroad photographers. A pioneer in the field, he documented the railroad's transition from steam to diesel power, using elaborate lighting equipment to photograph by night and even positioning himself atop moving trains to capture them in motion. His appreciation for the American railroad and the landscape of the American West is immediately apparent in his exceptional body of work.

(…)

All About Richard Steinheimer

Sabine Weiss

Nationality: Switzerland

Born: 1924

All About Sabine Weiss

Germán Rodriguez Laverde

Nationality: Colombia

Colombian cinematographer, thanks to his work he has managed to develop a particular style in his projects, managing to project emotions and feelings by becoming one with the camera. He also works as an assistant director, director, and cinematographer and has had the experience of working for large production houses and projects that have been mentioned worldwide.

Throughout his career, Germ�n has been the winner twice consecutively in the categories (best (…)

All About Germán Rodriguez Laverde

Anthony Goicolea

Nationality: United States/Cuba

Born: 1971

Anthony Goicolea is a New York-based fine art photographer. Goicolea's photographs frequently deal with issues of androgyny, homosexuality, and child sexuality. Goicolea, Cuban-American and gay, was educated at the University of Georgia and studied painting, photography, and sculpture at that institution. He holds an MFA in fine arts from the Pratt Institute.

He made his debut in 1999, and now shows work with Postmasters gallery in New York and Aurel Scheibler in (…)

All About Anthony Goicolea

John Rankin

Nationality: United Kingdom

Born: 1966

Synonymous with compelling portraiture, Rankin's lens captures, creates and unveils icons.

Rankin made his name in publishing, founding the seminal monthly magazine Dazed & Confused with Jefferson Hack in 1992. It provided a platform for innovation for emerging stylists, designers, photographers and writers. The magazine went on to forge a distinctive mark in the arts and publishing spheres, and developed a cult status forming and moulding trends, and (…)

All About John Rankin

Richard Avedon

Nationality: United States

Born: 1923 - Died: 2004

Richard Avedon (1923-2004) was born and lived in New York City. His interest in photography began at an early age, and he joined the Young Men's Hebrew Association (YMHA) camera club when he was twelve years old. He attended DeWitt Clinton High School in the Bronx, where he co-edited the school's literary magazine, The Magpie, with James Baldwin. He was named Poet Laureate of New York City High Schools in 1941.

Avedon joined the armed forces in 1942 during World (…)

All About Richard Avedon

Jeff Bridges

Nationality: United States

Born: 1949

Jeff Bridges is one of Hollywood's most successful actors and an Academy Award� winner. Over a career that spans five decades, his work has been recognized by the Academy Awards�, the Golden Globes, the Independent Spirit Awards, and the Screen Actors Guild. Truly passionate about photography, he makes behind-the-scenes pictures of the actors, crew and locations on his film sets. After completion of each motion picture, he edits the images into a book and gives copies (…)

All About Jeff Bridges

Gordon Parks

Nationality: United States

Born: 1912 - Died: 2006

Gordon Roger Alexander Buchanan Parks (November 30, 1912 � March 7, 2006) was an American photographer, musician, writer and film director. He is best remembered for his photographic essays for Life magazine and as the director of the 1971 film, Shaft.
At the age of twenty-five, Parks was struck by photographs of migrant workers in a magazine and bought his first camera, a Voigtl�nder Brillant, for $12.50 at a Seattle, Washington, pawnshop. The photography clerks who (…)

All About Gordon Parks

Man Ray

Nationality: United States

Born: 1890 - Died: 1976

Born in Philadelphia, Emmanuel Radnitsky grew up in New Jersey and became a commercial artist in New York in the 1910s. He began to sign his name Man Ray in 1912, although his family did not change its surname to Ray until the 1920s. He initially taught himself photography in order to reproduce his own works of art, which included paintings and mixed media. In 1921 he moved to Paris and set up a photography studio to support himself. There he began to make photograms, (…)

All About Man Ray