Albert Watson OBE (born 1942) is a Scottish fashion, celebrity and art photographer. He has shot over 100 covers of ''

Vogue Vogue may refer to: Business * ''Vogue'' (magazine), a US fashion magazine ** British ''Vogue'', a British fashion magazine ** ''Vogue Arabia'', an Arab fashion magazine ** ''Vogue Australia'', an Australian fashion magazine ** ''Vogue China'', ...

'' and 40 covers of ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first known for its ...

'' magazine since the mid-1970s, and has created major advertising campaigns for clients such as Prada, Chanel and Levis. Watson has also taken some well-known photographs, from the portrait of Steve Jobs that appeared on the cover of his biography, a photo of Alfred Hitchcock holding a plucked goose, and a portrait of a nude Kate Moss taken on her 19th birthday. Watson's prints of his photography are exhibited in galleries and museums worldwide. '' Photo District News'' named him one of the 20 most influential photographers of all time, along with

Richard Avedon Richard Avedon (May 15, 1923 – October 1, 2004) was an American fashion and portrait photographer. He worked for ''Harper's Bazaar'', ''Vogue'' and ''Elle'' specializing in capturing movement in still pictures of fashion, theater and danc ...

and Irving Penn, among others. Watson has won numerous honors, including a Lucie Award, a Grammy Award, the Hasselblad Masters Award and three ANDY Awards,.Albert Watson biography and exhibitions
artnet.com. Accessed 2009-06-16. He was awarded The Royal Photographic Society's Centenary Medal and Honorary Fellowship (HonFRPS) in recognition of a sustained, significant contribution to the art of photography in 2010. Queen Elizabeth II awarded Watson an

Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

(OBE) in June 2015 for 'services to photography'.

Early life

Albert Watson was born in

Edinburgh, Scotland Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian on the southern shore of ...

, the son of a physical education teacher. He grew up in

Penicuik Penicuik ( ; sco, Penicuik; gd, Peighinn na Cuthaig) is a town and former Police burgh, burgh in Midlothian, Scotland, lying on the west bank of the River Esk, Lothian, River North Esk. It lies on the A701 road, A701 midway between Edinburgh a ...

, Midlothian, and attended the

Rudolf Steiner School Waldorf education, also known as Steiner education, is based on the educational philosophy of Rudolf Steiner, the founder of anthroposophy. Its educational style is holistic, intended to develop pupils' intellectual, artistic, and practical skil ...

Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian on the southern shore of t ...

and Lasswade High School. He studied graphic design at the

Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art and Design Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art & Design (DJCAD) is part of the University of Dundee in Dundee, Scotland. It is ranked as one of the top schools of art and design in the United Kingdom. History Attempts were made to establish an art schoo ...

in Dundee, and film and television at the

Royal College of Art The Royal College of Art (RCA) is a public research university in London, United Kingdom, with campuses in South Kensington, Battersea and White City. It is the only entirely postgraduate art and design university in the United Kingdom. It o ...

in London. Though blind in one eye since birth, Watson also studied photography as part of his curriculum.

Career

Watson emigrated in 1970 to the United States, beginning his career in Los Angeles and then moving in 1976 to New York City. In 1970, Watson moved to the United States with his wife, Elizabeth, who got a job as an elementary school teacher in Los Angeles, where Watson began shooting photos, mostly as a hobby. Later that year, Watson was introduced to an art director at Max Factor, who offered him his first test session, from which the company purchased two images. Watson’s distinctive style garnered the attention of American and European fashion magazines such as ''Mademoiselle, GQ'' and ''Harper’s Bazaar'', and he began commuting between Los Angeles and New York. Albert photographed his first celebrity in 1973, a portrait of Alfred Hitchcock holding a dead goose with a ribbon around its neck, for that year's ''Harper's Bazaars Christmas issue. The image has become one of Watson's most famous portraits on a list that now includes hundreds of well-known photographs of movie stars, rock stars, rappers, supermodels, even President Clinton and Queen Elizabeth II. In 1975, Watson won a Grammy Award for the photography on the cover of the Mason Proffit album "Come and Gone," and in 1976, he landed his first job for Vogue. With his move to New York that same year, his career took off. In addition to photography for magazines, Watson created the images for hundreds of successful advertising campaigns for major corporations, such as the Gap, Levi’s, Revlon and Chanel, and he has directed more than 100 TV commercials and photographed dozens of posters for major Hollywood movies, such as ''Kill Bill, Memoirs of a Geisha'', and ''The Da Vinci Code''. All the while, Watson has spent much of his time working on personal projects, taking photographs from his travels and interests, from Marrakech to Las Vegas to the Orkney Islands. Much of this work, along with his well-known portraits and fashion photographs, has been shown in museum and gallery shows around the world, and Watson's limited-edition prints have become highly sought after by collectors. In 2007, a large-format Watson print of a Kate Moss photograph taken in 1993 sold at Christie's in London for $108,000, five times the low pre-sale estimate. The art critic Francis Hodgson, in a gallery review of Watson for the ''Financial Times'' of London, called the prints "astonishing". Watson is regarded as a master print-maker and has lectured on the subject at numerous venues, including PhotoPlus International Expo in New York, the National Portrait Gallery in London, and Le Recontres de la Photographie Art Festival in Arles, France. Watson has had numerous solo museum shows around the world, including at the

Museum of Modern Art The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is an art museum located in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, on 53rd Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenues. It plays a major role in developing and collecting modern art, and is often identified as one of ...

in Milan, Italy; the

KunstHausWien The KunstHausWien is a museum in Vienna, designed by the artist Friedensreich Hundertwasser. This museum in the Landstraße district houses the world's only permanent exhibition of Hundertwasser's works, and also hosts regular temporary exhib ...

in Vienna, Austria; the

City Art Centre The City Art Centre is part of the Museums & Galleries Edinburgh, which sits under the Culture directorate of the City of Edinburgh Council. The City Art Centre has a collection which include historic and modern Scottish painting and photograp ...

in Edinburgh; the FotoMuseum in Antwerp, Belgium; the

NRW Forum The NRW Forum Wirtschaft und Kultur (Forum NRW), formerly the Museum für Industrie und Wirtschaft, is a museum in Düsseldorf, the state capital of North Rhine-Westphalia, dealing with the development and the economy of the state of North Rhine ...

in Düsseldorf, Germany; Fotografiska, in Stockholm, Sweden; the Deichtorhallen Museum in Hamburg, Germany; and the Multimedia Art Museum in Moscow, Russia, among others. Watson was the first Western photographer to be exhibited at the Lianzhou Museum of Photography in Lianzhou, China, with an exhibition in December 2017. Watson’s photographs have also been shown in many group shows at museums, including the National Portrait Gallery in London, the Metropolitan Museum of Art and Brooklyn Museum in New York, the Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts in Moscow, the International Center of Photography in New York, and the Deichtorhallen in Hamburg, Germany.Albert Watson
artnet.com. Accessed 2009-06-16. His photographs are included in the permanent collections at the National Portrait Gallery, the Smithsonian, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Watson has published several books, including ''Cyclops'' (1994, Little, Brown), ''Maroc'' (1998, Rizzoli), "Albert Watson" (2007, Phaidon). Two books were released in the fall of 2010: "UFO: Unified Fashion Objectives," a look at 40 years of selected Watson fashion photographs, and "Strip Search," a two-volume set of hundreds of photographs Watson took in Las Vegas. There is also ''Kaos'' (2017,

Taschen Taschen is a luxury art book publisher founded in 1980 by Benedikt Taschen in Cologne, Germany. As of January 2017, Taschen is co-managed by Benedikt and his eldest daughter, Marlene Taschen. History The company began as Taschen Comics, ...

). In addition, many catalogs of Watson’s photographs have been published for shows, including "The Vienna Album" (2005). Watson received an honorary degree from the

University of Dundee , mottoeng = "My soul doth magnify the Lord" , established = 1967 – gained independent university status by Royal Charter1897 – Constituent college of the University of St Andrews1881 – University College , ...

in 1995Gazetteer for Scotland, "Overview of Albert Watson"
Accessed 12/11/2007. and was inducted into the Scottish Fashion Awards Hall of Fame in 2006. His first exhibition in his homeland, ''Frozen'', was held at the City Art Centre of Edinburgh in 2006.

Exhibitions

Solo exhibitions

Christophe Guye Galerie
Albert Watson (Biography)
/ref> 2007 * ''rétrospective'', Galerie Acte 2, Paris * ''Albert Watson'', Young Gallery, Brussels, Belgium * ''Epic'', Guy Hepner Contemporary, Los Angeles, United States * ''Frozen'', Photo Museum Antwerp, Antwerpen, Belgium * Haus der Kunst, Wien, Austria * ''A Few Portraits'', 401 Projects, New York 2008 * ''Contact'', Galería Hartmann, Barcelona, Spain * ''Miss Beehayving'', Hamiltons, London 2009 * ''The white rabbit'', Fondazione FORMA per la Fotografia, Milan, Italy * ''Albert Watson'', Camera Work, Berlin * ''Best Of – Albert Watson'', NRW-Forum Kultur und Wirtschaft, Düsseldorf, Germany 2010 * ''Albert Watson Hasted Kraeutler'', New York City * ''Retrospektive – Albert Watson'', Flo Peters Gallery, Hamburg, Germany * ''UFO – Unified Fashion Objectives'', Galería Hartmann, Barcelona, Spain * Young Gallery, Brussels, Belgium 2011 * ''Exposed'', Galerie Acte 2, Paris * ''I observe – Retrospective'', Kahmann Gallery, Amsterdam, Netherlands * Fotografiska Museum, Stockholm, Sweden * ''UFO – Unified Fashion Objectives'', A.Galerie, Paris * ''Vintage Watson'', Hamiltons, London 2012 * ''Albert Watson in Morocco'', Flo Peters Gallery, Hamburg, Germany * ''Albert Watson Archive'', Izzy Gallery, Toronto, Canada * ''Timeless Beauty'', C/O Berlin, Berlin * ''Camera Work: Color Photography'', CWC Gallery, Berlin * ''The expression of Identity'', St. Moritz Art Masters, St Moritz, Switzerland * ''Treat Photographs: Sacpe'', Hasteds Krautler Gallery, New York * ''Hamilton 'Modern Masters, London * ''Icons of tomorrow'', Christophe Guye Galerie, Zurich, Switzerland * Galerie de l'aimance Casblanca, Morocco 2013 * ''14 Days in Benin'', Rautenstrauch Joest Museum, Cologne, Germany * ''Visions'', Deichtorhallen, Hamburg Germany * ''Vintage'', Cyclops Hasted Kraeutler Gallery, New York * ''Visions'', Deichtorhallen, Hamburg, Germany 2014 * ''Silver Linings'', Young Gallery, Brussels, Belgium * ''Classics'', Qvale Gallery, Oslo, Norway 2015 * ''Roids!'', Christophe Guye Galerie, Zurich * Multimedia Art Museum, Moscow, Russia * ''Silver Linings'', Izzy Gallery, Toronto, Canada

Group exhibitions

2003 * ''Rolling Stones'', Camera Work, Berlin 2004 * ''Focus : Faces Photography'', Monika Mohr Galerie, Hamburg, Germany 2005 * ''Property of a Collector'', Photographs Do Not Bend Gallery, Dallas, United States 2006 * ''Summer in the City 06 – Passion for Fashion!'', Galerie Wouter van Leeuwen, Amsterdam, Netherlands * ''Nudes Photography'', Monika Mohr Galerie, Hamburg, Germany 2007 * ''Individuals: 20 Portraits from the GAP Collection Herb Ritts'', Annie Leibovitz, Albert "Watson", National Portrait Gallery, London 2008 * ''Fashion – 9 decades of fashion photography'', Camera Work, Berlin * ''Traum Frauen – 50 Starfotografen zeigen ihre Vision von Schönheit'', Haus der Photographie / Deichtorhallen, Hamburg, Germany * ''Blind Date Photography'', Monika Mohr Galerie, Hamburg, Germany 2009 * ''Fashion is big'', Holden Luntz Gallery, Palm Beach Florida, United States 2010 * ''Fashion – the story of a lifetime'', The Empty Quarter Gallery, Dubai, United Arab Emirates * ''A Positive View – The Third Edition'', Somerset House, London * ''Colleziona 2010'', Fondazione FORMA per la Fotografia, Milan, Italy 2011 * ''Traummänner – Starfotografen zeigen ihre Vision vom Ideal'', Haus der Photographie / Deichtorhallen, Hamburg, Germany * ''Beauty Culture'', The Annenberg Space for Photography, Los Angeles, United States 2012 * ''Icons of Tomorrow'', Christophe Guye Galerie, Zurich, Switzerland * ''Timeless beauty'', C/O Berlin, Berlin * ''Camera Work: Color Photography'', Camera Work Gallery, Berlin * ''Great photographs: Scape'', Hasted kraeutler, New York City * ''Modern Masters Hamiltons'', London 2013 * ''High Art: A Decade of Collectin'', the Smithsonian, Washington D.C. United States * ''Beauty in the 21st Century'', Multimedia Art Museum, Moscow, Russia 2014 * ''Coming into Fashion'', Pallais Galliera, Paris

References

External links

Albert Watson
Watson's site

on ArtNet

Gazetteer for Scotland * in the catalogue of the

German National Library The German National Library (DNB; german: Deutsche Nationalbibliothek) is the central archival library and national bibliographic centre for the Federal Republic of Germany. It is one of the largest libraries in the world. Its task is to colle ...

* 29 September 2005 – 29 January 2006 * (11 September 2005)
Online Gallery presenting Watson´s works
{{DEFAULTSORT:Watson, Albert 1942 births Living people Alumni of the Royal College of Art Alumni of the University of Dundee Fashion photographers Photographers from Edinburgh People educated at Lasswade High School Centre Scottish photographers Waldorf school alumni People from Penicuik Scottish emigrants to the United States Scottish fashion