Michael A. Russ

Michael Andreas Russ (January 1945 – September 27, 2021) was an American photographer, photo designer and film director. In reference to his artistic cooperation on the Swordfishtrombones album cover production, singer Tom Waits commented on Russ' work: "His approach to photography is with the eyes of a painter working with light. This technique is what drew me to Michael’s work in the beginning".

Russ' career as a photographer began in New York in the late 1960s, where he photographed his fellow acting students. Self-taught, he evolved his own style: "The grainy picture appearing horizontally in subtle motion as though it came of the silver screen". A black and white photograph by Russ, inspired by an Ingmar Bergman film, was published on the cover of Art Direction, The Magazine of Visual Communication with a Gertrude Stein quotation: "The composition in which we live makes the art which we see and hear". He eventually moved to his own studio off Union Square, Manhattan and connected with the local underground art scene. In his early years Russ focused on men's fashion magazines and erotic sequential photographic scenes for Playboy Press books. He soon experimented with distinctive photographic techniques, turning 35mm black and white film into chemically toned, masked, solarized and hand-colored, "one of a kind" silver gelatin prints. These "TinTones", as Russ would call them, were to become the trademark of his work. They were published in popular fashion and lifestyle magazines and brought him international recognition among peers in the art world. Michael Russ' "Prussian Blue" TinTone photo exhibition at the Los Angeles China Club was the basis for the artistic collaboration with Tom Waits, who commissioned Russ for the cover photograph for the album Swordfishtrombones.

Early years – life and work in the 1960s and '70s Russ moved from Berlin, Germany to the US in 1958 after his father's death to rejoin his mother. They resided in Denver, Colorado. While still in high school he took ballet (Lillian Cushing School of Ballet) and acting lessons and performed locally. On his 17th birthday he enlisted in the US army and spent two and a half years stationed in Bamberg, Germany. After his discharge he moved to New York City in 1965, where he attended Renate Mannhardt acting workshop and began taking pictures of his fellow acting students. Wilhelmina Cooper of Wilhelmina Models encouraged him to pursue a career in fashion photography. She sent him models on Go-Sees for test shoots and thus helped him to make his entry into fashion photography.

In 1970 he moved into his own studio off Union Square, right around the corner from Andy Warhol and The Factory, frequenting Max's Kansas City, a favorite hang-out for Warhol and his friends as well as upcoming musical legends like David Bowie, Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix or The Velvet Underground. By the early seventies Russ' work had been published with major fashion and lifestyle magazines like Mens Wear, Esquire, GQ, and True Magazine, and he contributed erotic fantasy images to three Playboy Press books: Love Games, Sexy Ladies and Ecstasy. In his treatment of color, he especially admired Marc Chagall. His work was published in major fashion, lifestyle and avant-garde magazines GUNNARS, Mode International, Mode Avant Guarde, PHOTO Magazine, and Zoom (photography magazine), as well as German Playboy, Photo Reporter and cover art to IL Magazine. He also contributed sequential "sujets de chambre" to Vogue magazine. His erotic postcard edition "The Compagnie" became part of the permanent collection of the Musée des arts décoratifs de Paris, an annex to the Louvre museum. TinTone artwork by Michael A. Russ. Handcolored silver gelatine print

Later years - from the '80s to his death In 1981 Michael relocated to Los Angeles. There he photographed actors and celebrities for the L.A. Times and L.A. Weekly, but mainly focused on exhibiting his TinTones in large format. His "Prussian Blue" exhibition at the original China Club in 1983 caught the attention of Tom Waits and Kathleen Brennan, Tom's wife. with a photograph in the TinTone style, featuring himself, Lee Kolima, the strong man and Angelo Rossitto (the mayor of Hollywood). Russ then became associate director and choreographer on the music video to the song "In the Neighborhood" from that album for MTV, closely working with director Haskell Wexler.

He kept refining his TinTone techniques by creating images using various materials in limited editions and he has exhibited in the US, Europe and Asia.

Wear magazine commissioned him for a showcase entitled "Nella villa di Tamara", in the "TinTone" style of the Canadian theater production TAMARA, which had a ten-year run at the American Legion.

From 1986 to 1995 Russ returned to Germany and focused on fine art photographic work, perfecting his TinTone variations. These were published as portfolios and on the covers of renowned trade and photographic magazines: Photo Technik International, Color Foto, Playgirl, ZOOM, NewMag, and Das Magazin. In 1992 he worked on a special Fine Art sequence on Robert Wilson's The Black Rider at the Thalia Theater (Hamburg). In 1995 he resettled in Los Angeles, where he was showcased in Larry Flynt's experimental RAGE Magazine, Larry Flynt Publications (LFP), featuring a 12-foot python act at the Opium Den. Eroticism, beauty and the allure of the female body is the subject matter of much of Michael Russ' photography. Despite working for the fashion industry and glamour magazines, Russ' photography preserved a raw and edgy aspect and a distinct artistic quality far from glossy surfaces and the idea of a "perfect picture". He directed Samantha Fox' comeback video "The reason is you" for Basilea Film Zürich, which was shown on music TV channels MTV and VIVA.

In 2001 Russ returned to Berlin and since then commuted between the continents (Berlin, New York, Los Angeles), working and exhibiting internationally. Playboy magazine (Germany) and Fine Art Photo magazine published showcases and biographical portraits. In 2012 he had an exhibition with his TinTones in Seoul, Republic of Korea. In 2013 Russ' large-scale TinTone Industrials were featured at the Berlin Fotofestival The Browse.

Exhibitions 1980: Musee des Arts Decoratifs (Louvre Annex, Paris). "Postcard edition The Compagnie". 2008: Art Center Berlin. "TinTones", large format AluDiBonds/Silver/Industrial. 2009: Galerie Lucas Carrieri (Berlin). "TinTones", large format AluDiBonds/Silver/Industrial. 2011: Art Center Berlin. "TinTones. Rough Print", large format AluDiBonds/Silver/Industrial. 2012: Art Place Seoul, South Corea. "TinTones. Rough Print", large format Lambda Prints. 2013: Retrospektive: Fotografien von Michael A. Russ, 1973 – 2013. "06:00 AM … positive/negatives…" 2013: Station Berlin, Berlin Fotofestival The Browse 2013. "TinTones", large format AluDiBonds/Silver/Industrial.