Jerry Schatzberg’s portraits are characterised by their narrative quality, combining emotion and understated actions. During the 1960s, Schatzberg captured some of the most iconic and intimate portraits of a generation of celebrated figures.
Jerry Schatzberg Prints For Sale (17):
Artist Biography
Jerry Schatzberg
USA
B. 1927
EnquireEarly Years
Schatzberg was born to a Jewish family in the Bronx, New York City, on the 26th June, 1927. In his early years, he studied at the University of Miami before working as an assistant to the photographer Bill Hepburn.
Photographic Career
Schatzberg’s fashion photography was published in Vogue, McCalls, Esquire, Glamour and Life. He mixed fashion and street photography in a way that had not previously been seen, bringing life and movement to the rigid studio. Never offering specific direction in his work, Schatzberg gave his subjects free rein to find their own moment, allowing for their personality to come through. He built a reputation for portraiture and photographed the most notable artists and thinkers of the 1960s, from Robert Rauschenberg and Andy Warhol through to Jimi Hendrix, Steve McQueen and Frank Zappa.
Jerry Schatzberg
USA
B. 1927
EnquireBob Dylan
His most celebrated portraits are those of Bob Dylan, most notably the photographs he took for the cover of Dylan’s celebrated album ‘Blonde on Blonde’, which was released in 1966. Schatzberg has said of their relationship: “as a photographic subject, Dylan was the best. You just point the camera at him and things happen. We had a good rapport and he was willing to try anything.” His success with Dylan led Schatzberg to work with many other towering names of popular culture and music, including The Rolling Stones, The Beatles, and Sammy Davis Jr.
Film Career
Schatzberg began working as a film director in the early 1970s, during the renaissance of American cinema. His debut was ‘Puzzle of a Downfall Child’ in 1970, following it in 1971 with ‘The Panic in Needle Park’ (Al Pacino’s first starring role), and ‘Scarecrow’ in 1973, which shared the grand prize at the 1973 Cannes Film Festival. These films focus on the troubled outsiders in American society, drug addicts, criminals and misfits. Rendering an unflinching and raw view of society, these films solidified Schatzberg’s position among the foremost American filmmakers of the 1970s. His films, like his photographs, explore and examine the subtleties of the human spirit. Schatzberg lives and works in New York City.
