Martin Schoeller (b. 1968, Germany) is one of the world’s preeminent contemporary portrait photographers. He is most known for his extreme close-up portraits, a series in which familiar faces are treated with the same scrutiny as the unfamous. The stylistic consistency of this work creates a democratic platform for comparison between his subjects, challenging a viewer’s existing notions of celebrity, value and honesty.
Growing up in Germany, Schoeller was deeply influenced by August Sander’s countless portraits of the poor, the working class and the bourgeoisie, as well as Bernd and Hilla Becher, who spawned a school of photographic typology known as the Becher-Schüler. Schoeller’s close-up portraits emphasize, in equal measure, facial features, of his subjects — world leaders and indigenous groups, movie stars and the homeless, athletes and artists — leveling them in an inherently democratic fashion.
Schoeller studied photography at the Lette Verein and moved to New York in the mid-1990s where he began his career. Producing portraits of people he met on the street, his work soon gained recognition for its strong visual impact and since 1998 he has contributed to publications such as National Geographic, The New Yorker, Vanity Fair, TIME, The New York Times Magazine, Rolling Stone and GQ, among others.
Martin’s print and motion work has appeared in many major advertising campaigns. His work has won multiple awards, notably receiving praise for his Colin Kaepernick image in Nike’s “Just Do It” campaign. This image went along to win the prestigious D&AD Black Pencil and the Outdoor Grand Prix at Cannes. Other advertising clients include: Volvo, Chevron, Allstate, HBO, Coca-Cola, AT&T, Mercedes, DreamWorks, Southwest Airlines, GE and Johnnie Walker.
Schoeller’s portraits are exhibited and collected internationally, as well as part of the permanent collection of the National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC. Martin lives and works in New York City.
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Growing up in Germany, Schoeller was deeply influenced by August Sander’s countless portraits of the poor, the working class and the bourgeoisie, as well as Bernd and Hilla Becher, who spawned a school of photographic typology known as the Becher-Schüler. Schoeller’s close-up portraits emphasize, in equal measure, facial features, of his subjects — world leaders and indigenous groups, movie stars and the homeless, athletes and artists — leveling them in an inherently democratic fashion.
Schoeller studied photography at the Lette Verein and moved to New York in the mid-1990s where he began his career. Producing portraits of people he met on the street, his work soon gained recognition for its strong visual impact and since 1998 he has contributed to publications such as National Geographic, The New Yorker, Vanity Fair, TIME, The New York Times Magazine, Rolling Stone and GQ, among others.
Martin’s print and motion work has appeared in many major advertising campaigns. His work has won multiple awards, notably receiving praise for his Colin Kaepernick image in Nike’s “Just Do It” campaign. This image went along to win the prestigious D&AD Black Pencil and the Outdoor Grand Prix at Cannes. Other advertising clients include: Volvo, Chevron, Allstate, HBO, Coca-Cola, AT&T, Mercedes, DreamWorks, Southwest Airlines, GE and Johnnie Walker.
Schoeller’s portraits are exhibited and collected internationally, as well as part of the permanent collection of the National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC. Martin lives and works in New York City.
