Juergen Teller

Juergen Teller (born 28 January 1964) is a German fine-art and fashion photographer. He was awarded the Citibank Prize for Photography in 2003 and received the Special Presentation International Center of Photography Infinity Award in 2018.

Major solo exhibitions of his work have been organised at Fondation Cartier pour l’art Contemporain, Paris (2006); Le Consortium, Dijon, France (2010); Dallas Contemporary, Texas (2011); Daelim Museum, Seoul (2011); Institute of Contemporary Art, London (2013); Contemporary Fine Arts, Berlin (2015); Kunsthalle Bonn, Germany (2016), Garage Museum of Contemporary Art, Moscow (2018), Grand Palais Éphémère, Paris (2023) and Onassis Ready, Athens (2025). Self-portraiture has been a prominent feature of his practice and was the main focus of his 'Macho' exhibition at DESTE Foundation, Athens, Greece (2014).

Early life and education Juergen (Jürgen ) Teller was born 28 January 1964 in Erlangen, West Germany. Before embarking on a career of photography, Teller tried to follow in his family's footsteps by learning to craft violin bridges. Teller ended up being forced to quit however, because he developed an unusual allergy to wood.

Teller studied at the Bayerische Staatslehranstalt für Photographie in Munich, Germany (1984–1986). In order to avoid military national service, he learned English and moved to London in 1986, aged 22.

Career From the beginning his career in the late 1980s, Teller has blurred the boundaries between his commissioned and personal work in his numerous campaigns, editorials, publications and exhibitions. Teller treats all of his subjects—family members, celebrities, and himself with a uniform style of grit, raw emotion and humour that has become his iconic and recognizable aesthetic.

His photographs have appeared in Arena Homme +, The Face, i-D, 032c, Index Magazine, Pop, Purple, Self Service, W, Vogue (American, Australian, British, French, Italian, Japanese, Polish) and Zeit magazin among others. He photographed Kylie Minogue for the artwork of her 1991 album Let's Get to It. Teller first gained wider recognition in 1996 with his front cover of Süddeutsche Zeitung Magazine featuring a nude Kristen McMenamy with the word 'Versace' drawn in a heart across her chest.

In 1997, Marc Jacobs worked with Teller's then-partner, Venetia Scott to style his collections and Teller shot Kim Gordon from Sonic Youth for the Spring Summer 1998 campaign.

For the brand's 2005 campaign, he photographed himself with Cindy Sherman and also collaborated with Winona Ryder, Sofia Coppola, Helena Bonham Carter, Michael Stipe, Rufus Wainwright and Harmony Korine amongst others until the SS2014 campaign. Teller has also collaborated with a range of other designers and fashion houses during his career, including Helmut Lang, Yves Saint Laurent, Céline, Missoni, Moschino, Barney's, Louis Vuitton, Adidas, Palace and Valentino.

Teller has photographed many celebrities, musicians, artists and photographers, including Arnold Schwarzenegger, O. J. Simpson, Kurt Cobain, Bjork, Kate Moss, Elton John, Joan Didion, Pelé, David Hockney, Roni Horn, Sarah Lucas, William Eggleston, Boris Mikhailov and Araki Nobuyoshi. He photographed American rapper Kanye West for T: The New York Times Style Magazine and shot the 'Kanye, Juergen and Kim' supplement for System featuring Kanye West and Kim Kardashian as well as himself in 2015. The actress Charlotte Rampling has been a long term collaborator, appearing in Teller's Louis XV series which was exhibited at Contemporary Fine Arts, Berlin and published by Steidl as a book in 2005, and the Paradis photographs shot at Musée du Louvre in 2009.

Teller has directed several fashion films, short films and artist videos including Can I Own Myself (1998), Go-Sees (2001), World Cup Final, Germany 0 Brazil 2 London (2002), Schmetterling''' (2005) and Dieter (2017).

Curating In 2016, Teller curated an exhibition of Robert Mapplethorpe's photographs at Alison Jacques Gallery in London where he selected 58 images from the Mapplethorpe Foundation collection.

Personal life Teller was married to UK contemporary art dealer Sadie Coles from 2003 to 2018. Teller married Dovile Drizyte in 2021.

PublicationsJuergen Teller. Cologne: Taschen, 1996Der verborgene Brecht. Ein Berliner Stadtrundgang. Zurich: Scalo, 1998Go-Sees: Girls Knocking on My Door. Zurich: Scalo, 1999. . Remake Berlin. Steidl Verlag, Fotomuseum Winterthur, Bank Hofmann AG, 1999Tracht.Göttingen: Steidl/Lehmann Maupin Gallery, 2001More. Göttingen: Steidl, 2001Märchenstüberl. Göttingen: Steidl, 2002Zwei Schäuferle mit Kloß und eine Kinderportion Schnitzel mit Pommes Frites. Göttingen: Steidl, 2003Nackig auf dem Fußballplatz. Göttingen: Steidl, 2003Louis XV. Göttingen: Steidl, 2004Ich bin Vierzig. Göttingen: Steidl, 2004The Master. Göttingen: Steidl, 2004Ohne Titel. Göttingen: Steidl, 2005Nürnberg. Göttingen: Steidl, 2006Ed in Japan. Paris: Purple publications, 2006Jürgen Teller, Do You Know What I Mean. Exhibition catalogue. Paris: Foundation Cartier pour l'art contemporain/London-New York: Thames & Hudson, 2006Juergen Teller Vivienne Westwood, Spring Summer 2008. Göttingen: Steidl, 2008Election Day, Vivienne Westwood, Spring Summer 2009. Göttingen: Steidl, 2009Juergen Teller: Marc Jacobs Advertising 1997-2008. Göttingen: Steidl, 2008The Master II. Göttingen: Steidl, 2010Zimmermann. Göttingen: Steidl, 2010The Deste Foundation Collection. Göttingen: Steidl, 2010Get a Life, Vivienne Westwood Spring Summer 2010. Göttingen: Steidl, 2010Calves and Thighs. TF Editore, 2010Touch Me. Reel, 2011Hotel Il Pellicano. Italy: Slim Arons, John Swope, Juergen Teller, Rizzoli 2011Common Ground. Marsilio Editoria, 2012The Keys to the House. Göttingen: Steidl, 2012Pictures and Text Göttingen: Steidl, 2012The Master III Göttingen: Steidl, 2012Woo! Juergen Teller Steidl and ICA, 2013Eating at Hotel Il Pellicano. Violette Editions, 2013Kolkata. The Juergen Teller Purple Book, Purple Institute, 2014I'm Fifty. Suzanne Tarasieve, Paris, 2014Araki Teller, Teller Araki., Eyesencia, 2014. With Nobuyoshi ArakiI Just Arrived in Paris. (Louis Vuitton AW2014), Göttingen: Steidl, 2014Siegerflieger Göttingen: Steidl, 2015The Flow. (Louis Vuitton SS2015), Göttingen: Steidl, 2015Season Three. (Louis Vuitton AW2015), Göttingen: Steidl, 2015The Clinic. Contemporary Fine Arts, Berlin, 2015Mit dem Teller nach Bonn. Steidl/Bundeskunsthalle, 2016Boris Mikhailov, Parliament. Rodovid, Kyiv, Ukraine, 2017Vivienne Westwood, Andreas Kronthaler, Juergen Teller. In Other Words, 2017Leg, Snails and Peaches. Suzanne Tarasieve, Paris, 2018The Master IV. Göttingen: Steidl, 2019Handbags. Göttingen: Steidl, 2019Mmm!. Göttingen: Steidl, 2019TELLER ABLOH. Fine Print/Prestel, 201950 Times Bonami and Obrist. Göttingen: Steidl, 2019Plumtree Court. Göttingen: Steidl, 2020Leben und Tod: Nobuyoshi Araki and Juergen Teller. Göttingen: Steidl, 2020The Nipple, Annual Series No.7. Oakland California: TBW, 2020William Eggleston 414. Göttingen: Steidl, 2020. With Harmony Korine. .Donkey Man and Other Stories. New York: Rizzoli, 2021. .Auguri. Göttingen: Steidl, 2022. With Dovile Drizyte. .Notes About My Work. Göttingen: Steidl, 2022. .The Master V. Göttingen: Steidl, 2022. .Fashion Photography for America 1999–2016. Göttingen: Steidl, 2023. . More Handbags. Göttingen: Steidl, 2023. . Jurgaičai. Göttingen: Steidl, 2023. . The Myth. Göttingen: Steidl, 2023. . i need to live. Göttingen: Steidl, 2023. . Old Mills Never Die: Birkenstock. Göttingen: Steidl, 2024. . Saint Laurent: Juergen Teller x Anthony Vaccarello. Paris: Saint Laurent Editions, 2024.Auschwitz Birkenau. Göttingen: Steidl, 2025you are invited. Göttingen: Steidl, 2025

Awards 2003: Citibank Prize for Photography 2018: Special Presentation, International Center of Photography Infinity Award

Exhibitions

Solo exhibitions

1998 Juergen Teller, The Photographers' Gallery, London 2002 Märchenstüberl, Münchner Stadtmuseum, Germany 2002 Märchenstüberl, Museum Folkwang, Essen, Germany 2003 Märchenstüberl, Galleria d'Arte Moderna, Bologna, Italy 2003 Märchenstüberl, Frans Hals Museum, Haarlem, Netherlands 2003 Tracht, Kunsthalle Mannheim, Mannheim, Germany 2004 Go-sees and World cup Final, Germany v Brazil 0-2 Temple Bar Visual Arts, Dublin, Ireland 2004 Ich bin Vierzig, Kunsthalle Wien, Vienna, Austria 2006 Do You Know What I Mean, Fondation Cartier pour l'Art Contemporain, Paris 2007 Awailable, Inverleith House, Edinburgh, Scotland 2009 Teller, Frans Hals Museum, Haarlem, Netherlands 2009 Logisch, Kunsthalle Nürnberg, Germany 2010 Touch Me, Le Consortium, Dijon, France 2011 Man with Banana, Dallas Contemporary, US 2011 Texte und Bilder, Moscow House of Photography, Russia 2011 Texte und Bilder, Brukenthal National Museum, Sibiu, Romania 2012 Bilder und Texte, Embassy of the Federal Republic of Germany, London, UK 2013 Woo!, Institute of Contemporary Arts, London 2014 Bus Stops, Strand, London 2014 Macho, Deste Foundation, Athens, Greece 2016 Enjoy Your Life!, Bundeskunsthalle, Bonn, Germany 2016 Enjoy Your Life!, Galerie Rudolfinum, Prague, Czech Republic 2017 Enjoy Your Life!, Martin-Gropius-Bau, Berlin, Germany 2017 Juergen Teller, Kunstpalais Erlangen, Germany 2017 Juergen Teller, Great Arch Hall, Photo London, Somerset House, London 2018 Enjoy Your Life!, Fotomuseum Winterthur, Switzerland 2018 Zittern auf dem Sofa, Garage Museum of Contemporary Art, Moscow, Russia 2019 Handbags, Museo Villa Pignatelli, Naples, Italy 2019 Heimweh, Konig Tokio x MCM Ginza Haus I, Tokyo 2021 What Are We Talking About?, T-10, Beijing, China 2023 i need to live, Grand Palais Éphémère, Paris, France 2024 i need to live, Triennale, Milano, Italy 2024 Where we come from, Kunstpalais, Erlangen, Germany 2025 Auschwitz Birkenau, Kunsthaus Göttingen, Germany 2025 Auschwitz Birkenau, Casstl, Antwerp, Belgium 2025 7 ½, Sabbioneta Galleria Degli Antichi, Palazzo Giardino, Italy 2025 you are invited, Onassis Ready, Athens, Greece

Curated exhibitions 2016 Teller on Mapplethorpe, Alison Jacques Gallery, London

Selected Group exhibitions 2000 Remake Berlin, Fotomuseum, Winterthur, Zürich, Switzerland 2003 Citibank Photography Prize, The Photographers Gallery, London, UK 2004 Fashioning Fiction: Photography since 1990, Museum of Modern Art, New York, USA 2006 Click double Click, Haus der Kunst, Munich, Germany and Palais des Beaux Arts, Brussels, Belgium 2006 The Kate Show, The Foam Museum, Amsterdam, Netherlands 2007 A Poem about an Inland Sea, Ukrainian Pavilion, Palazzo Papadopoli, 52nd Venice Biennale, Italy - Represented Ukraine as one of five artists 2008 Street & Studio: An Urban History of Photography, Tate Modern, London, UK 2008 Fashion in the Mirror, Photographer’s Gallery, London, UK 2010 Not in Fashion, MMK Museum, Frankfürt, Germany 2011 Nothing in the World but Youth, Turner Contemporary, Margate, UK 2011 Making it Up as We Go Along: 20 Years of Dazed and Confused magazine, Somerset House, London, UK 2012 Night in Twilight: Art from Romanticism to the Present, Belvedere Museum, Vienna, Austria 2012-13 Riotous Baroque, Kunsthaus Zurich, Switzerland, Toured to Guggenheim, Bilbao, Spain (2013) 2014 Paparazzi! Photographers, Stars and Artists, Centre Pompidou, Metz, France 2015 Sleepless: The Bed in History and Contemporary Art, Belvedere 21, Vienna, Austria 2015-2016Faces Now: European Portrait Photography Since 1990, BOZAR Centre for Fine Arts, Brussels, toured to Nederlands Fotomuseum, Rotterdam, and National Museum of Photography, Thessaloniki, Greece 2016 VOGUE 100: A Century of Style, National Portrait Gallery, London and Manchester Art Gallery 2016 Get a Life: Vivienne Westwood, K11 Shanghai Xinshiyi Art Center, Shanghai, China 2017 La Vie Simple - Simplement la Vie, Fondation Vincent van Gogh, Arles, France 2017 Aging Pride, Museum Belvedere, Vienna, Austria 2017 Boris Mikhailov Parliament, Ukrainian Pavilion at the Venice Biennale, Italy 2018 Icons of Style: A Century of Fashion Photography 1911-2011, J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles, USA 2018-19 Dior: From Paris to the World, Denver Art Museum, Denver, USA, Toured to Dallas Museum of Art, USA 2020 The Exhausted Man, Swiss National Museum, Zurich, Switzerland 2020 Beyond Fashion, Shanghai Center of Photography, Shanghai, China, Toured to ArtisTree, Hong Kong; Xie Zilong Photography Museum, Changsha, China; ALT.1 Hundai Seoul, Seoul, South Korea; IPFO, House of Photography, Olten, Switzerland; Saatchi Gallery, London, UK (2019-2024) 2021 E/Motion. Fashion in Transition, MoMu Fashion Museum Antwerp, Belgium 2021 Captivate! Fashion Photography from the 1990s. Curated by Claudia Schiffer, Kunstpalast, Dusseldorf, Germany 2021 Vogue Paris-100 years-1920-2020, Palais Galliera, Paris, France 2022 Joan Didion: What She Means, Hammer Museum, Los Angeles, USA 2022 Football: Sport and Spectacle, Design Museum, London, UK 2022 Beyond Fashion, ALT.1 Hundai Seoul, Seoul, South Korea 2023 Beyond Fashion, IPFO, House of Photography, Olten, Switzerland 2024 Beyond Fashion, Saatchi Gallery, London, UK 2024 Fragile Beauty, V&A, London, UK 2024 Naomi in Fashion, V&A, London, UK 2025 The Face Magazine: Culture Shift, National Portrait Gallery, London, UK 2025 GIRLS: On Boredom, Rebellion, and Being In-Between'', MoMu Fashion Museum Antwerp, Belgium

Collections Teller's work is held in the following permanent collections: Centre Pompidou, Paris Fondation Cartier pour l'Art Contemporain, Paris Le Louvre, Paris, France Museum für Moderne Kunst, Frankfurt National Portrait Gallery, London: 3 prints (as of January 2021) Victoria and Albert Museum, London: 4 prints (as of January 2021)