Johnny Rozsa
Encyclopedia
Johnny Rozsa is a New York
-based photographer, specializing in fashion, portrait, and celebrity photography.
, the son of Jewish Hungarian-Czech parents. In the early 1960s he moved to England
, where he attended Repton
, graduating in 1964.
under Grace Coddington
. He later ran a vintage shop called Nostalgia in Covent Garden
, where he met fashion editors, models, actors, and photographers on a daily basis.
In the mid-1970s Rozsa began his photography career, working in Nairobi, Geneva, England, and the U.S. By 1978, he had a series of four full-page celebrity portraits in Ritz
, with accompanying interviews.
Rozsa has been photographing celebrities such as Hugh Grant
, Halle Berry
, Janet Jackson
, Nicolas Cage
, John Malkovich
, and Natasha Richardson
since the late 1970s. His photographs have appeared in numerous publications, including Vogue
, the Sunday Times, i-D
, Maxim
, The Face
, The New York Times
, Newsweek
, New York Magazine, and People
. His portraits of Ian Charleson
, Sade
, Marilyn, and Martin Degville
are part of the permanent collection at the National Portrait Gallery in London. His photographs of Leigh Bowery
have been exhibited in several museums, including the Museum of Contemporary Art
in Sydney, the Kunsthalle in Vienna, and the Kunstverein in Hanover
. Rozsa has also exhibited at the Venice Biennale
.
, and launched at Barneys
in New York City.
in 1982, and has been a Nichiren Buddhist for over 25 years. He has homes in London, New York City, and Rio de Janeiro.
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
-based photographer, specializing in fashion, portrait, and celebrity photography.
Early life
Rozsa was born and raised in NairobiNairobi
Nairobi is the capital and largest city of Kenya. The city and its surrounding area also forms the Nairobi County. The name "Nairobi" comes from the Maasai phrase Enkare Nyirobi, which translates to "the place of cool waters". However, it is popularly known as the "Green City in the Sun" and is...
, the son of Jewish Hungarian-Czech parents. In the early 1960s he moved to England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
, where he attended Repton
Repton School
Repton School, founded in 1557, is a co-educational English independent school for both day and boarding pupils, in the British public school tradition, located in the village of Repton, in Derbyshire, in the Midlands area of England...
, graduating in 1964.
Training and career
Rozsa studied architecture, painting, and communications at Manchester University, and communications at Polytechnic of Central London. Afterwards, he interned at VogueVogue (British magazine)
The British edition of Vogue is a fashion magazine that has been published since 1916.When British Vogue was launched, it was the first overseas edition of an existing fashion magazine. Under the magazine's first editor, Elspeth Champcommunal, the magazine was essentially the same as the American...
under Grace Coddington
Grace Coddington
Grace Coddington is a former model and the creative director of American Vogue magazine.-Early life and modeling career:Coddington was born on April 14, 1941 to hotelier parents on the island of Anglesey, Wales...
. He later ran a vintage shop called Nostalgia in Covent Garden
Covent Garden
Covent Garden is a district in London on the eastern fringes of the West End, between St. Martin's Lane and Drury Lane. It is associated with the former fruit and vegetable market in the central square, now a popular shopping and tourist site, and the Royal Opera House, which is also known as...
, where he met fashion editors, models, actors, and photographers on a daily basis.
In the mid-1970s Rozsa began his photography career, working in Nairobi, Geneva, England, and the U.S. By 1978, he had a series of four full-page celebrity portraits in Ritz
Ritz Newspaper
Ritz Newspaper, colloquially Ritz Magazine, sometimes simply Ritz, was a British magazine focusing on gossip, celebrity and fashion. It was launched in 1976 by David Bailey and David Litchfield, who acted as co-editors. Published on newsprint and described by Litchfield as "the Lou Reed of...
, with accompanying interviews.
Rozsa has been photographing celebrities such as Hugh Grant
Hugh Grant
Hugh John Mungo Grant is an English actor and film producer. He has received a Golden Globe Award, a BAFTA, and an Honorary César. His films have earned more than $2.4 billion from 25 theatrical releases worldwide. Grant achieved international stardom after appearing in Richard Curtis's...
, Halle Berry
Halle Berry
Halle Berry is an American actress and a former fashion model. Berry received an Emmy, Golden Globe, SAG, and an NAACP Image Award for Introducing Dorothy Dandridge and won an Academy Award for Best Actress and was nominated for a BAFTA Award in 2001 for her performance in Monster's Ball, becoming...
, Janet Jackson
Janet Jackson
Janet Damita Jo Jackson is an American recording artist and actress. Known for a series of sonically innovative, socially conscious and sexually provocative records, as well as elaborate stage shows, television and film roles, she has been a prominent figure in popular culture for over 25 years...
, Nicolas Cage
Nicolas Cage
Nicolas Cage is an American actor, producer and director, having appeared in over 60 films including Raising Arizona , The Rock , Face/Off , Gone in 60 Seconds , Adaptation , National Treasure , Ghost Rider , Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans , and...
, John Malkovich
John Malkovich
John Gavin Malkovich is an American actor, producer, director and fashion designer with his label Technobohemian. Over the last 25 years of his career, Malkovich has appeared in more than 70 motion pictures. For his roles in Places in the Heart and In the Line of Fire, he received Academy Award...
, and Natasha Richardson
Natasha Richardson
Natasha Jane Richardson was an English actress of stage and screen. A member of the Redgrave family, she was the daughter of actress Vanessa Redgrave and director/producer Tony Richardson and the granddaughter of Michael Redgrave and Rachel Kempson...
since the late 1970s. His photographs have appeared in numerous publications, including 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...
, the Sunday Times, i-D
I-D
i-D is a British magazine dedicated to fashion, music, art and youth culture. i-D was founded by designer and former Vogue art director Terry Jones in 1980. The first issue was published in the form of a hand-stapled fanzine with text produced on a typewriter...
, Maxim
Maxim (magazine)
Maxim is an international men's magazine based in the United Kingdom and known for its pictorials featuring popular actresses, singers, and female models, sometimes pictured dressed, often pictured scantily dressed but not fully nude....
, The Face
The Face (magazine)
The Face was a British music, fashion and culture monthly magazine started in May 1980 by Nick Logan.-1980s:Logan had previously created the teen pop magazine Smash Hits, and had been an editor at the New Musical Express in the 1970s before launching The Face in 1980.The magazine was influential in...
, The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
, Newsweek
Newsweek
Newsweek is an American weekly news magazine published in New York City. It is distributed throughout the United States and internationally. It is the second-largest news weekly magazine in the U.S., having trailed Time in circulation and advertising revenue for most of its existence...
, New York Magazine, and People
People (magazine)
In 1998, the magazine introduced a version targeted at teens called Teen People. However, on July 27, 2006, the company announced it would shut down publication of Teen People immediately. The last issue to be released was scheduled for September 2006. Subscribers to this magazine received...
. His portraits of Ian Charleson
Ian Charleson
Ian Charleson was a Scottish stage and film actor. He is best known internationally for his starring role as Olympic athlete and missionary Eric Liddell, in the Oscar-winning 1981 film Chariots of Fire. He is also well known for his portrayal of Rev...
, Sade
Sade Adu
Helen Folasade Adu OBE , is a British singer-songwriter, composer, and record producer. She first achieved success in the 1980s as the frontwoman and lead vocalist of the Brit and Grammy Award winning English group Sade.-Biography:Sade was born in Ibadan, Oyo State, Nigeria...
, Marilyn, and Martin Degville
Martin Degville
Martin Degville was the lead singer and co-songwriter of the UK pop-cyberpunk band, Sigue Sigue Sputnik - which had a worldwide hit single in 1986 with "Love Missile F-1-11" - and six other EMI single releases...
are part of the permanent collection at the National Portrait Gallery in London. His photographs of Leigh Bowery
Leigh Bowery
Leigh Bowery was an Australian performance artist, club promoter, actor, pop star, model and fashion designer, based in London. Bowery is considered one of the more influential figures in the 1980s and 1990s London and New York art and fashion circles influencing a generation of artists and...
have been exhibited in several museums, including the Museum of Contemporary Art
Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney
The Museum of Contemporary Art in Sydney, Australia is an Australian museum solely dedicated to exhibiting, interpreting and collecting contemporary art, both from across Australia and around the world...
in Sydney, the Kunsthalle in Vienna, and the Kunstverein in Hanover
Hanover
Hanover or Hannover, on the river Leine, is the capital of the federal state of Lower Saxony , Germany and was once by personal union the family seat of the Hanoverian Kings of Great Britain, under their title as the dukes of Brunswick-Lüneburg...
. Rozsa has also exhibited at the Venice Biennale
Venice Biennale
The Venice Biennale is a major contemporary art exhibition that takes place once every two years in Venice, Italy. The Venice Film Festival is part of it. So too is the Venice Biennale of Architecture, which is held in even years...
.
Untouched
In 2010 Rozsa published a book, Untouched, featuring unretouched photos of 115 now world-famous celebrities, from their days before airbrushing, PhotoShop, digital cameras and enhancements, cosmetic surgery, and perfect images. The book has a foreword by Susan SarandonSusan Sarandon
Susan Sarandon is an American actress. She has worked in films and television since 1969, and won an Academy Award for Best Actress for her performance in the 1995 film Dead Man Walking. She had also been nominated for the award for four films before that and has received other recognition for her...
, and launched at Barneys
Barneys New York
Barneys New York is a chain of luxury department stores headquartered in New York City. The chain owns large stores in New York City, Beverly Hills, Boston, Chicago, San Francisco, Dallas, Las Vegas, and Scottsdale, and smaller stores in other locations across the United States.Brands sold include...
in New York City.
Personal life
Rozsa was introduced to Buddhism by Tina TurnerTina Turner
Tina Turner is an American singer and actress whose career has spanned more than 50 years. She has won numerous awards and her achievements in the rock music genre have led many to call her the "Queen of Rock 'n' Roll".Turner started out her music career with husband Ike Turner as a member of the...
in 1982, and has been a Nichiren Buddhist for over 25 years. He has homes in London, New York City, and Rio de Janeiro.