Bruce Weber (photographer)
Encyclopedia
Bruce Weber is an American
fashion photographer and occasional filmmaker. He is most widely known for his ad campaigns for Calvin Klein
, Ralph Lauren
, Pirelli
, Abercrombie & Fitch
, Revlon
, and Gianni Versace
, as well as his work for Vogue
, GQ
, Vanity Fair
, Elle
, Life
, Interview
, and Rolling Stone
magazines.
magazine, where he had frequent cover photos. Nan Bush, his longtime companion and agent, was able to secure a contract with Federated Department Stores
to shoot the 1978 Bloomingdales mail catalog. He came to the attention of the general public in the late 1980s and early 1990s with his advertising images for Calvin Klein
. His straightforward black and white shots, featuring an unclothed heterosexual couple on a swing facing each other, two clothed men in bed, and model Marcus Schenkenberg
barely holding jeans
in front of himself in a shower, catapulted him into the national spotlight. His photograph of Calvin Klein
of Olympic athlete Tom Hintnaus in white briefs is an iconic image. He photographed the winter 2006 Ralph Lauren
Collection.
After doing photo shoots for and of famous individuals (many of whom were featured in Andy Warhol
's Interview magazine
), Bruce entered the realm of filmmaking, making short films of teenage boxers (Broken Noses),, his beloved pet dogs, and later, a longer film entitled Chop Suey. Weber directed Let's Get Lost
a documentary feature film about jazz trumpeter Chet Baker
.
Weber's photographs are occasionally in color, however most are in black and white or toned shades. They are gathered in limited edition print books, including A House is Not a Home and Bear Pond
, an early work which featured, among other models, Eric Nies
from MTV
's The Real World
series.
Weber began collaborating with crooner Chris Isaak
in the mid-1980s. In 1986, he photographed Isaak for his second album, Chris Isaak
. In 1988, he photographed a shirtless Isaak in bed for a fashion spread in Rolling Stone
. Isaak appeared in Let's Get Lost and Weber has directed a music video for Isaak.
He photographed Harry Connick, Jr.
for his 1991 album Blue Light, Red Light
.
In 1993, he photographed singer-songwriter Jackson Browne
for his 1993 album I'm Alive.
He is married to Nan Bush, with whom he sometimes collaborates.
single "Being Boring
". He filmed a wild party with a diverse group of people. The video was filmed in one day by two film crews in a house on Long Island. Content including male and female nudity prevented the video from being played on MTV
in the United States
. In 1996 he directed the video for the Pet Shop Boys
single "Se a vida é (That's the Way Life Is)" on location in a Wet 'n' Wild, a water park
near Orlando, Florida
. In 2002, Weber again directed a Pet Shop Boys video, for the song "I Get Along
" from the album Release
. Weber filmed this video on location at his own Little Bear studio in New York City. Weber also directed the music video for the Chris Isaak
song "Blue Spanish Sky".
and Miami Beach, Florida
in 2004.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
fashion photographer and occasional filmmaker. He is most widely known for his ad campaigns for Calvin Klein
Calvin Klein
Calvin Richard Klein is an American fashion designer who launched the company that would later become Calvin Klein Inc. in 1968. In addition to clothing, Klein has also given his name to a range of perfumes, watches, and jewelry....
, Ralph Lauren
Ralph Lauren
Ralph Lauren is an American fashion designer and business executive; best known for his Polo Ralph Lauren clothing brand.-Early life:...
, Pirelli
Pirelli Calendar
The Pirelli Calendar is a trade calendar published by the Pirelli company's UK subsidiary. It has become an annual publication that dates back to 1964....
, Abercrombie & Fitch
Abercrombie & Fitch
Abercrombie & Fitch is an American retailer that focuses on casual wear for consumers aged 18 to 22. It has over 300 locations in the United States, and is expanding internationally....
, Revlon
Revlon
Revlon is an American cosmetics, skin care, fragrance, and personal care company founded in 1932.-History:Revlon was founded in the midst of the Great Depression, 1932, by Charles Revson and his brother Joseph, along with a chemist, Charles Lachman, who contributed the "L" in the Revlon name...
, and Gianni Versace
Gianni Versace
Gianni Versace was an Italian fashion designer and founder of Gianni Versace S.p.A., an international fashion house, which produces accessories, fragrances, makeup and home furnishings as well as clothes. He also designed costumes for the theatre and films, and was a friend of Madonna, Elton John,...
, as well as his work for Vogue
Vogue (magazine)
Vogue is a fashion and lifestyle magazine that is published monthly in 18 national and one regional edition by Condé Nast.-History:In 1892 Arthur Turnure founded Vogue as a weekly publication in the United States. When he died in 1909, Condé Montrose Nast picked up the magazine and slowly began...
, GQ
GQ (magazine)
GQ is a monthly men's magazine focusing on fashion, style, and culture for men, through articles on food, movies, fitness, sex, music, travel, sports, technology, and books...
, Vanity Fair
Vanity Fair (magazine)
Vanity Fair is a magazine of pop culture, fashion, and current affairs published by Condé Nast. The present Vanity Fair has been published since 1983 and there have been editions for four European countries as well as the U.S. edition. This revived the title which had ceased publication in 1935...
, Elle
Elle (magazine)
Elle is a worldwide magazine of French origin that focuses on women's fashion, beauty, health, and entertainment. Elle is also the world's largest fashion magazine. It was founded by Pierre Lazareff and his wife Hélène Gordon in 1945. The title, in French, means "she".-History:Elle was founded in...
, Life
Life (magazine)
Life generally refers to three American magazines:*A humor and general interest magazine published from 1883 to 1936. Time founder Henry Luce bought the magazine in 1936 solely so that he could acquire the rights to its name....
, Interview
Interview (magazine)
Interview is an American magazine which has the nickname The Crystal Ball Of Pop. It was founded in late 1969 by artist Andy Warhol. The magazine features intimate conversations between some of the world's biggest celebrities, artists, musicians, and creative thinkers...
, and Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone is a US-based magazine devoted to music, liberal politics, and popular culture that is published every two weeks. Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and music critic Ralph J...
magazines.
Life and work
Weber's fashion photography first appeared in the late 1970s in GQGQ (magazine)
GQ is a monthly men's magazine focusing on fashion, style, and culture for men, through articles on food, movies, fitness, sex, music, travel, sports, technology, and books...
magazine, where he had frequent cover photos. Nan Bush, his longtime companion and agent, was able to secure a contract with Federated Department Stores
Federated Department Stores
Macy's, Inc. is a department store holding company and owner of Macy's and Bloomingdale's department stores. Macy's Inc.'s stores specialize mostly in retail clothing, jewelery, watches, dinnerware, and furniture....
to shoot the 1978 Bloomingdales mail catalog. He came to the attention of the general public in the late 1980s and early 1990s with his advertising images for Calvin Klein
Calvin Klein
Calvin Richard Klein is an American fashion designer who launched the company that would later become Calvin Klein Inc. in 1968. In addition to clothing, Klein has also given his name to a range of perfumes, watches, and jewelry....
. His straightforward black and white shots, featuring an unclothed heterosexual couple on a swing facing each other, two clothed men in bed, and model Marcus Schenkenberg
Marcus Schenkenberg
Marcus Lodewijk Schenkenberg van Mierop better known as Marcus Schenkenberg, , is a Swedish model of Dutch and Indonesian descent. He was born in Solna and has dual citizenship of both Sweden and the Netherlands...
barely holding jeans
Jeans
Jeans are trousers made from denim. Some of the earliest American blue jeans were made by Jacob Davis, Calvin Rogers, and Levi Strauss in 1873. Starting in the 1950s, jeans, originally designed for cowboys, became popular among teenagers. Historic brands include Levi's, Lee, and Wrangler...
in front of himself in a shower, catapulted him into the national spotlight. His photograph of Calvin Klein
Calvin Klein
Calvin Richard Klein is an American fashion designer who launched the company that would later become Calvin Klein Inc. in 1968. In addition to clothing, Klein has also given his name to a range of perfumes, watches, and jewelry....
of Olympic athlete Tom Hintnaus in white briefs is an iconic image. He photographed the winter 2006 Ralph Lauren
Ralph Lauren
Ralph Lauren is an American fashion designer and business executive; best known for his Polo Ralph Lauren clothing brand.-Early life:...
Collection.
After doing photo shoots for and of famous individuals (many of whom were featured in Andy Warhol
Andy Warhol
Andrew Warhola , known as Andy Warhol, was an American painter, printmaker, and filmmaker who was a leading figure in the visual art movement known as pop art...
's Interview magazine
Interview (magazine)
Interview is an American magazine which has the nickname The Crystal Ball Of Pop. It was founded in late 1969 by artist Andy Warhol. The magazine features intimate conversations between some of the world's biggest celebrities, artists, musicians, and creative thinkers...
), Bruce entered the realm of filmmaking, making short films of teenage boxers (Broken Noses),, his beloved pet dogs, and later, a longer film entitled Chop Suey. Weber directed Let's Get Lost
Let's Get Lost (film)
Let's Get Lost is an American documentary film about the turbulent life and career of jazz trumpeter Chet Baker written and directed by Bruce Weber...
a documentary feature film about jazz trumpeter Chet Baker
Chet Baker
Chesney Henry "Chet" Baker, Jr. was an American jazz trumpeter, flugelhornist and singer.Though his music earned him a large following , Baker's popularity was due in part to his "matinee idol-beauty" and "well-publicized drug habit."He died in 1988 in Amsterdam, the...
.
Weber's photographs are occasionally in color, however most are in black and white or toned shades. They are gathered in limited edition print books, including A House is Not a Home and Bear Pond
Bear Pond
Bear Pond, published by Little, Brown and Company in 1990,, is an "infamous book" of nude photography by Bruce Weber and poetry by Reynolds Price. Among the models featured are Buffalo Bills punter John Nies and his younger brother Eric Nies who later gained fame as a cast member on MTV's The...
, an early work which featured, among other models, Eric Nies
Eric Nies
Eric Nies , is a former male fashion model and reality television personality. He first gained fame as a cast member on MTV's The Real World: New York, before going on to appear that show's spinoffs and other reality shows, such as The Grind and Confessions of a Teen Idol.-Family:Nies is the son of...
from MTV
MTV
MTV, formerly an initialism of Music Television, is an American network based in New York City that launched on August 1, 1981. The original purpose of the channel was to play music videos guided by on-air hosts known as VJs....
's The Real World
The Real World
The Real World is a reality television program on MTV originally produced by Mary-Ellis Bunim and Jonathan Murray. First broadcast in 1992, the show, which was inspired by the 1973 PBS documentary series An American Family, is the longest-running program in MTV history and one of the...
series.
Weber began collaborating with crooner Chris Isaak
Chris Isaak
Christopher Joseph "Chris" Isaak is an American rock musician and occasional actor.-Early life:Isaak was born in Stockton, California, the son of Dorothy , a potato chip factory worker, and Joe Isaak, a forklift driver. Isaak's mother is Italian American, originating from Genoa...
in the mid-1980s. In 1986, he photographed Isaak for his second album, Chris Isaak
Chris Isaak (album)
Chris Isaak is the eponymous second album by Chris Isaak, released in 1986.-Track listing:All tracks composed by Chris Isaak; except where indicated# "You Owe Me Some Kind of Love" – 3:51# "Heart Full of Soul" – 3:20...
. In 1988, he photographed a shirtless Isaak in bed for a fashion spread in Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone is a US-based magazine devoted to music, liberal politics, and popular culture that is published every two weeks. Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and music critic Ralph J...
. Isaak appeared in Let's Get Lost and Weber has directed a music video for Isaak.
He photographed Harry Connick, Jr.
Harry Connick, Jr.
Joseph Harry Fowler Connick, Jr. is an American singer, big-band leader/conductor, pianist, actor, and composer. He has sold over 25 million albums worldwide. Connick is ranked among the top 60 best-selling male artists in the United States by the Recording Industry Association of America, with...
for his 1991 album Blue Light, Red Light
Blue Light, Red Light
Blue Light, Red Light, a big band album by American artist Harry Connick Jr., released in 1991. The multi-platinum album features Connick's vocals and piano, accompanied by his 14-piece big band....
.
In 1993, he photographed singer-songwriter Jackson Browne
Jackson Browne
Jackson Browne is an American singer-songwriter and musician who has sold over 17 million albums in the United States alone....
for his 1993 album I'm Alive.
He is married to Nan Bush, with whom he sometimes collaborates.
Music videos
In 1990 Weber directed the music video for the Pet Shop BoysPet Shop Boys
Pet Shop Boys are an English electronic dance music duo, consisting of Neil Tennant, who provides main vocals, keyboards and occasional guitar, and Chris Lowe on keyboards....
single "Being Boring
Being Boring
"Being Boring" is a single by the British pop group Pet Shop Boys.As the second single from the 1990 album Behaviour, after "So Hard" which was released before the album, "Being Boring" was not particularly successful upon release, only reaching number twenty in the UK Singles Chart and being the...
". He filmed a wild party with a diverse group of people. The video was filmed in one day by two film crews in a house on Long Island. Content including male and female nudity prevented the video from being played on MTV
MTV
MTV, formerly an initialism of Music Television, is an American network based in New York City that launched on August 1, 1981. The original purpose of the channel was to play music videos guided by on-air hosts known as VJs....
in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. In 1996 he directed the video for the Pet Shop Boys
Pet Shop Boys
Pet Shop Boys are an English electronic dance music duo, consisting of Neil Tennant, who provides main vocals, keyboards and occasional guitar, and Chris Lowe on keyboards....
single "Se a vida é (That's the Way Life Is)" on location in a Wet 'n' Wild, a water park
Water park
A waterpark is an amusement park that features waterplay areas, such as water slides, splash pads, spraygrounds , lazy rivers, or other recreational bathing, swimming, and barefooting environments...
near Orlando, Florida
Orlando, Florida
Orlando is a city in the central region of the U.S. state of Florida. It is the county seat of Orange County, and the center of the Greater Orlando metropolitan area. According to the 2010 US Census, the city had a population of 238,300, making Orlando the 79th largest city in the United States...
. In 2002, Weber again directed a Pet Shop Boys video, for the song "I Get Along
I Get Along (Pet Shop Boys song)
"I get along" is a single by the Pet Shop Boys from their album Release. A love song, Neil Tennant has also hinted that it can also be interpreted as commentary on the then fraught relationship between British Prime Minister Tony Blair and New Labour architect Peter Mandelson after the latter had...
" from the album Release
Release (Pet Shop Boys album)
Release is the twelfth studio album, the eighth of entirely new music, by the English electronic music duo Pet Shop Boys. It was first released in 2002....
. Weber filmed this video on location at his own Little Bear studio in New York City. Weber also directed the music video for the Chris Isaak
Chris Isaak
Christopher Joseph "Chris" Isaak is an American rock musician and occasional actor.-Early life:Isaak was born in Stockton, California, the son of Dorothy , a potato chip factory worker, and Joe Isaak, a forklift driver. Isaak's mother is Italian American, originating from Genoa...
song "Blue Spanish Sky".
Fashion label
Weber created the fashion label Weberbilt in 2003; his first line, "eat, swim, sex, sleep", went on sale in boutiques in LondonLondon
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
and Miami Beach, Florida
Florida
Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...
in 2004.
Films
- Beauty Brothers (1987, 12:26 min, b&w/color)
- Broken Noses (1987, 75 min, b&w/color)
- Let's Get LostLet's Get Lost (film)Let's Get Lost is an American documentary film about the turbulent life and career of jazz trumpeter Chet Baker written and directed by Bruce Weber...
(1988, 1:59:25 min, b&w) - Backyard Movie (1991, 8:55 min, b&w)
- Gentle Giants (1994, 14:35 min, b&w/color)
- The Teddy Boys of the Edwardian Drape Society (1996, 3:45 min, b&w)
- Chop Suey (2000, 94 min, b&w/color)
- A Letter to True (2004, 78 min, b&w/color)
- Wine and Cupcakes (2007, 12:10 min, color)
Music videos
- Pet Shop BoysPet Shop BoysPet Shop Boys are an English electronic dance music duo, consisting of Neil Tennant, who provides main vocals, keyboards and occasional guitar, and Chris Lowe on keyboards....
: "Being BoringBeing Boring"Being Boring" is a single by the British pop group Pet Shop Boys.As the second single from the 1990 album Behaviour, after "So Hard" which was released before the album, "Being Boring" was not particularly successful upon release, only reaching number twenty in the UK Singles Chart and being the...
" (1990) - Chris IsaakChris IsaakChristopher Joseph "Chris" Isaak is an American rock musician and occasional actor.-Early life:Isaak was born in Stockton, California, the son of Dorothy , a potato chip factory worker, and Joe Isaak, a forklift driver. Isaak's mother is Italian American, originating from Genoa...
: "Blue Spanish Sky" (1991) - Pet Shop BoysPet Shop BoysPet Shop Boys are an English electronic dance music duo, consisting of Neil Tennant, who provides main vocals, keyboards and occasional guitar, and Chris Lowe on keyboards....
: "Se a vida é (That's the way life is)" (1996) - Pet Shop BoysPet Shop BoysPet Shop Boys are an English electronic dance music duo, consisting of Neil Tennant, who provides main vocals, keyboards and occasional guitar, and Chris Lowe on keyboards....
: "I Get AlongI Get Along (Pet Shop Boys song)"I get along" is a single by the Pet Shop Boys from their album Release. A love song, Neil Tennant has also hinted that it can also be interpreted as commentary on the then fraught relationship between British Prime Minister Tony Blair and New Labour architect Peter Mandelson after the latter had...
" (2002)
External links
- Official site
- Wine And Cupcakes - a 2007 short film by Bruce Weber.