Robert Farber is an American photographer and lecturer known for his work with nudes,

fashion Fashion is a form of self-expression and autonomy at a particular period and place and in a specific context, of clothing, footwear, lifestyle, accessories, makeup, hairstyle, and body posture. The term implies a look defined by the fashion in ...

landscapes A landscape is the visible features of an area of Terrestrial ecoregion, land, its landforms, and how they integrate with Nature, natural or man-made features, often considered in terms of their aesthetic appeal.''New Oxford American Dictionar ...

and still lives. He has published eleven books of original collections that have sold over half-a-million copies, four of them revised into later editions. He continues to exhibit classic and new work worldwide.

Early life

Farber was born on February 29, 1944 Leap Year day, in

Newark, New Jersey Newark ( , ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of New Jersey and the seat of Essex County and the second largest city within the New York metropolitan area.Maplewood-South Orange. He was interested in art from an early age and his mother, a painter, encouraged him to make his own "art studio" in the basement where he worked in oils, drawings and watercolors. He later attended the

University of Miami The University of Miami (UM, UMiami, Miami, U of M, and The U) is a private research university in Coral Gables, Florida. , the university enrolled 19,096 students in 12 colleges and schools across nearly 350 academic majors and programs, incl ...

to study marketing and business. While in school Farber kept his ambition to one day work in the arts and described how he was initially inspired to take up photography:

"One day I was walking on Miami Beach and saw a very large woman wearing the tiniest string bikini I had ever seen, sitting on the beach, knitting. I thought to myself, 'I wish I had a camera.' I suddenly saw photography as a way to capture a moment for storytelling. I kept this thought in my mind, and after college I bought my first camera, a Petri 35mm SLR. I was not a technical person, I often made mistakes like color shifts and grainy pictures. But I realized the mistakes made my photographs look a lot like paintings."

Career

In 1970 Farber moved to New York City and began experimenting with photography. He entered his early photographs into outdoor art shows around Manhattan in the "graphics" category because photography was not widely recognized as a legitimate art form in the late 1960s and early 1970s. At one show a woman approached him and asked if his entries were paintings or photographs and he replied that yes, they were indeed photographs. She revealed herself to be the show's director and informed him that photography was not allowed and he would have to leave immediately. "She actually stood there while I packed up everything and took it away," he recalled in an interview with the magazine Photographer's Forum. At a different show he was approached by the creative director from a major advertising agency who was taken by his painterly style of an interior image, and said to him, "If you can capture that mood placing a model in that environment with that lighting, I will commission you to do a fashion ad." This led to his first national ad with Cotton, Inc. and further assignments that jumpstarted Farber's career in fashion and commercial work.

1970s and 80s

Farber's first book ''Images of Woman'', published in 1976, was a series of delicate, painterly, and sensual female nudes in naturally-lit interiors and impressionistic landscapes that outlined an aesthetic vision that evolved in parallel with his fashion/commercial career. The book caught the eyes of publishers, advertising art directors and gallerists that led to new commercial assignments and fine art exhibitions. When working with more erotic publications, such as

Playboy ''Playboy'' is an American men's lifestyle and entertainment magazine, formerly in print and currently online. It was founded in Chicago in 1953, by Hugh Hefner and his associates, and funded in part by a $1,000 loan from Hefner's mother. K ...

and

Penthouse Penthouse most often refers to: *Penthouse apartment, a special apartment on the top floor of a building *Penthouse (magazine), ''Penthouse'' (magazine), a British-founded men's magazine *Mechanical penthouse, a floor, typically located directly u ...

, Farber often chose to publish under different names to not to affect his growing reputation as a fine art photographer. In the late 1970s and throughout the 1980s he was shooting with major fashion clients such as

Bloomingdales Bloomingdale's Inc. is an American luxury department store chain; it was founded in New York City by Joseph B. and Lyman G. Bloomingdale in 1861. A third brother, Emanuel Watson Bloomingdale, was also involved in the business. It became a div ...

Saks Fifth Avenue Saks Fifth Avenue (originally Saks & Company; Colloquialism, colloquially Saks) is an American Luxury goods, luxury department store chain headquartered in New York City and founded by Andrew Saks. The original store opened in the F Street and ...

Macy's Macy's (originally R. H. Macy & Co.) is an American chain of high-end department stores founded in 1858 by Rowland Hussey Macy. It became a division of the Cincinnati-based Federated Department Stores in 1994, through which it is affiliated wi ...

Bill Blass William Ralph Blass (June 22, 1922 – June 12, 2002) was an American fashion designer. He was the recipient of many fashion awards, including seven Coty Awards and the Fashion Institute of Technology's Lifetime Achievement Award (1999). Early ...

, Anne Taylor,

Christian Dior Christian Ernest Dior (; 21 January 1905 – 24 October 1957) was a French fashion designer, best known as the founder of one of the world's top fashion houses, Christian Dior SE, which is now owned by parent company LVMH. His fashion houses a ...

Geoffrey Beene Geoffrey Beene (born Samuel Albert Bozeman Jr.; August 30, 1924 – September 28, 2004) was an American fashion designer. Beene was one of New York's most famous fashion designers, recognized for his artistic and technical skills and for creati ...

, Loden Frey, L'Oreal,

Gillette Gillette is an American brand of safety razors and other personal care products including shaving supplies, owned by the multi-national corporation Procter & Gamble (P&G). Based in Boston, Massachusetts, United States, it was owned by The Gil ...

Revlon Revlon, Inc. is an American multinational company dealing in cosmetics, skin care, fragrance, and personal care. The headquarters of Revlon was established in New York City on March 1, 1932, where it still remains. Revlon was founded by brothe ...

, Wrangler,

ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster ** Disney–ABC Television ...

Paramount Pictures Paramount Pictures Corporation is an American film and television production company, production and Distribution (marketing), distribution company and the main namesake division of Paramount Global (formerly ViacomCBS). It is the fifth-oldes ...

, amongst others; with magazines GQ,

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'', ...

Elle ''Elle'' (stylized ''ELLE'') is a worldwide women's magazine of French origin that offers a mix of fashion and beauty content, together with culture, society and lifestyle. The title means "she" or "her" in French. ''Elle'' is considered the w ...

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Viva Viva may refer to: Companies and organisations * Viva (network operator), a Dominican mobile network operator * Viva Air, a Spanish airline taken over by flag carrier Iberia * Viva Air Dominicana * VIVA Bahrain, a telecommunication company * ...

Cosmopolitan Cosmopolitan may refer to: Food and drink * Cosmopolitan (cocktail), also known as a "Cosmo" History * Rootless cosmopolitan, a Soviet derogatory epithet during Joseph Stalin's anti-Semitic campaign of 1949–1953 Hotels and resorts * Cosmopoli ...

, and Vanity Fair; and with top supermodels

Beverly Johnson Beverly Ann Johnson (born October 13, 1952) is an American model, actress, singer, and businesswoman. Johnson rose to fame when she became the first African-American model to appear on the cover of American ''Vogue'' in August 1974. In 1975, Jo ...

Gia Carangi Gia Marie Carangi (January 29, 1960November 18, 1986) was an American model, considered by many to be the first supermodel. She was featured on the cover of many magazines, including multiple editions of ''Vogue'' and ''Cosmopolitan'', and appea ...

Linda Evangelista Linda Evangelista (; born May 10, 1965) is a Canadian fashion model. She is regarded as one of the most accomplished and influential models of all time, and has been featured on over 700 magazine covers. Evangelista is primarily known for being ...

Carol Alt Carol Ann Alt (born December 1, 1960) is an American model and actress. Early life Alt was born in Flushing, Queens, New York, the daughter of Muriel, an airline employee and model, and Anthony Alt, a fire chief in the Bronx. She was noticed w ...

Christie Brinkley Christie Lee Brinkley (née Hudson; born February 2, 1954) is an American model, actress, and entrepreneur. Brinkley gained worldwide fame with her appearances in ''Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issues'', ultimately appearing on an unprecedented ...

Janice Dickinson Janice Doreen Dickinson (born February 16, 1955)As per Dickinson in NNDB aJanice Dickinson profilegives February 15, 1955, noting, "Although Dickinson has maintained in several interviews and her autobiography ''No Lifeguard on Duty'' that she ...

, and Iman. Farber's experiences in fashion resulted in the publication of his next two books, ''Professional Fashion Photography'' (1978) and ''The Fashion Photographer'' (1982). Both explored the creative process by going behind the scenes at fashion shoots and documenting how to work with clients. These large format books served Farber well, helping to escalate his reputation in fashion photography as well as enable him to publish an atmospheric collection of new works, ''Moods'' (1980), his first book to combine still lives,

, and nudes. In the early 1980s Farber was approached by musicians and video producers to adapt his visual style to motion pictures. In 1985 he directed his first music video, "Rumours of You" by

Aldo Nova Aldo Nova (born Aldo Caporuscio on November 13, 1956) is a Canadian guitarist, keyboardist, vocalist, and producer. He initially gained fame and popularity with the release of his 1982 debut album ''Aldo Nova'' which peaked to ''Billboards n ...

that led to his own experiments with long-form film. He went on to direct national and international television commercials for clients such as Wrangler,

Toyota is a Japanese multinational automotive manufacturer headquartered in Toyota City, Aichi, Japan. It was founded by Kiichiro Toyoda and incorporated on . Toyota is one of the largest automobile manufacturers in the world, producing about 10 ...

, Loden Frey, and

Neutrogena Neutrogena Corporation, trading as Neutrogena, is an American company that markets skin care, hair care and cosmetics owned by parent company Johnson & Johnson and is headquartered in Los Angeles, California.

, and later signed with

The Gersh Agency The Gersh Agency (also known as simply Gersh) is a talent and literary agency established in 1949 by Phil Gersh, based in Beverly Hills, California and New York City. The Gersh Agency is the fourth largest talent agency in the United States. H ...

. His fifth book ''Farber Nudes'' (1983) attracted the eyes of Doubleday senior editor and former first lady

Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis Jacqueline Lee Kennedy Onassis ( ; July 28, 1929 – May 19, 1994) was an American socialite, writer, photographer, and book editor who served as first lady of the United States from 1961 to 1963, as the wife of President John F. Kennedy. A pop ...

. She arranged a meeting to discuss a potential collaboration and Farber showed her recent photographs he had taken around the French Riviera that included many seaside images. Mrs. Onassis was entranced by them and said, "Let's call the book ‘By The Sea’ and add images from various parts of the world." The book exhibited a unique concept: Farber asked colleagues and friends what their feelings were to be by the sea and their thoughts were published in their own hand writing adjacent to his photographs. A wide range of people were asked, from a commercial clam digger to famous celebrities. First published in 1987, then revised for paperback in 1994, ‘’By The Sea’’ went on to win the Art Director's Award for Color Photography with designer Larry Vigon. Throughout the 1980s, seventy-three of Farber's images were published into posters and distributed worldwide.

1990s and 2000s

While still shooting commercially and publishing a retrospective ''Classic Farber Nudes: Twenty Years of Photography'' in 1991, Farber became aware of the newly emerging Internet as both a unique marketing tool for his photography and purchased the URL, Farber.com, and became one of the first major photographers to display his work online. Within the following year an unusual opportunity emerged as the Internet grew in popularity: people began to email him creative, technical, and business questions about his work. This led him to create a unique way to engage with other photographers — an online “photo workshop” in a virtual reality environment. The concept featured a 3-D interactive gallery tour where visitors could go into different rooms and look through his various collections and have their questions answered. In 1996 he launched PhotoWorkshop.com with web designer Daniel Leighton. The site's content was aimed to attract serious amateurs and professionals alike with an expanded gallery tour to include workshops and tutorials taught by Farber himself as well as his recorded interviews with other prominent photographers. Users were able to digitally meet in chat rooms and discuss their own work and experiences, as well as post their own photos. It became the most visited photography education website on the Internet (and later was Canon's official education site), and by 2007 was receiving 50,000 unique visitors day, with 185,000 registered users. In addition to his online teaching presence Farber toured extensively throughout the United States and internationally giving lectures at the

Smithsonian Institution The Smithsonian Institution ( ), or simply the Smithsonian, is a group of museums and education and research centers, the largest such complex in the world, created by the U.S. government "for the increase and diffusion of knowledge". Founded ...

, the

George Eastman House The George Eastman Museum, also referred to as ''George Eastman House, International Museum of Photography and Film'', the world's oldest museum dedicated to photography and one of the world's oldest film archives, opened to the public in 1949 in ...

and many universities, as well as seminars and on-location workshops with models. Education about the craft and profession has always been an integral aspect of Farber's professional life. In his books during this period ''Natural Beauty'' (2001) and ''American Mood'' (2004) he includes a technical glossary of the locations, camera, film speeds and processing for each photograph, a consistent theme throughout his literary oeuvre. When describing his teaching methods with the magazines Photo Insider and the

British Journal of Photography The ''British Journal of Photography'' (BJP) is a magazine about photography, published by 1854 Media. It includes in-depth articles, profiles of photographers, analyses, and technological reviews. History The magazine was established in Liverpo ...

he also emphasizes the unique perspective of every photographer: “I like sharing how I do my work. uteven in the exact same settings, no two pictures turn out identically. All photographs reflect the photographer, the technical is just one side." And further in his introduction to ''Natural Beauty'':

“Of course, many powerful images are technically perfect, but that is not what makes them great. If the viewer is taken in by a perfect exposure, then the image lacks what is most important: the soul of its creator. All this translates as sensitivity: sensitivity to the subject, whether it be human or otherwise. A spark in the eyes is not merely a reflection of light, just as a tear is more than a drop of water. You have to feel your subject in the same way that a dancer has to feel the music.”

2010 to current

In recent years Farber's work has been featured in art fairs as well as international solo gallery and museum exhibitions. In 2013 Farber was the subject of solo-retrospective show "Journey Through Moods" at the Museum of Modern Art in

Dubrovnik Dubrovnik (), historically known as Ragusa (; see notes on naming), is a city on the Adriatic Sea in the region of Dalmatia, in the southeastern semi-exclave of Croatia. It is one of the most prominent tourist destinations in the Mediterran ...

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, featuring images of all genres taken throughout his 40-year career. In December 2013 he was a featured photographer for

Canon Canon or Canons may refer to: Arts and entertainment * Canon (fiction), the conceptual material accepted as official in a fictional universe by its fan base * Literary canon, an accepted body of works considered as high culture ** Western ca ...

at the Art Miami fair. In 2016, the publisher 21st Editions collaborated with Farber on a fine art book entitled ''Colour''. It compares the chemically degenerative effects of film positives discovered in Farber's archives with

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (28 August 1749 – 22 March 1832) was a German poet, playwright, novelist, scientist, statesman, theatre director, and critic. His works include plays, poetry, literature, and aesthetic criticism, as well as trea ...

's ''

Theory of Colours ''Theory of Colours'' (german: Zur Farbenlehre, links=no) is a book by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe about the poet's views on the nature of colours and how these are perceived by humans. It was published in German in 1810 and in English in 1840. ...

'', and premiered at the AIPAD photography show in New York and participated in the Frieze VIP program. Since 2016 his Deterioration Series has been exhibited in Brussels, Paris, New York, Florence and Miami. In May 2017, Farber released a collection of provocative nudes spanning over 30 years entitled "UNSEEN / Midnight Studio" at WhiteBox NYC.

Style

Farber has been described as a master of the nude and the "romantic mood." His visual sensibilities were influenced by "the directional light of the Dutch- and Flemish-school painters, and also by the soft focus of some

impressionist Impressionism was a 19th-century art movement characterized by relatively small, thin, yet visible brush strokes, open composition, emphasis on accurate depiction of light in its changing qualities (often accentuating the effects of the passage ...

painters." His early female nudes and still lives were often shot in locations in nature and pay direct homage to the Old Masters’ sense of color and texture while also employing his own custom filtering techniques. The "Farber" look is often characterized by discreet, elegant and architectural compositions of the female form and described as sensual, romantic, painterly, and moody while employing soft focus and grainy film texture. Farber now primarily shoots digitally, often achieving a filmic, grainy texture through digital film ‘noise’. His look is established with the camera and avoids

Photoshop Adobe Photoshop is a raster graphics editor developed and published by Adobe Inc. for Windows and macOS. It was originally created in 1988 by Thomas and John Knoll. Since then, the software has become the industry standard not only in raster ...

digital manipulation.

Solo exhibitions

* 1972: Newark Library, Newark, NJ * 1976: Nikon House, New York, NY * 1976: 11 E. 57th St. "Color photographs of landscapes and still lives" New York, NY * 1978: 11 E. 57th St. "Color prints after the Old Masters" New York, NY * 1979: Images Gallery of Contemporary Photography, New York, NY * 1980: Dyansen Gallery, New York, NY * 1981: Gallery One, San Francisco, CA * 1994: Hankyu Gallery, Tokyo, Japan * 2000: Cornell Museum, Delray Beach, FL * 2001: Duggal Gallery, New York, NY * 2001: Modern Books "Natural Beauty: Farber Nudes" Palo Alto, NY * 2002: Artspace Gallery, Calgary, Canada * 2004: Timothy Yarger Fine Art "Natural Beauty: Farber Nudes" Beverly Hills, CA * 2005: Kensington-Lott Fine Art, Grand Cayman, British West Indies * 2006: Timothy Yarger Fine Art "Romantic Moods" Beverly Hills, CA * 2008: HW Gallery, Naples, FL * 2009: Gallery 27 Brooks Institute, Santa Barbara, CA * 2011: Frost Art Museum "My Eyes Have Seen" Miami, FL * 2011: Artisan Works "Perspectives" Rochester, NY * 2011: BEL'RP "BEL'ART" Paris, France * 2013: Altamira Fine Art Gallery "American Moods" Jackson Hole, WY * 2013: Dubrovnick Museum of Modern Art "Journey Through Moods: Robert Farber Photographs" Dubrovnick, Croatia * 2013: Borgo San Marco "Mostra Fotografica" Puglia, Italy * 2014: Gallery 3w57 "Farberesque: From Pensive to Provocative" New York, NY * 2015: Galeria Trópica "Classic Fashion" Rio de Janeiro, Brazil * 2017: Holden Luntz "Under the bright lights: fashionable moments" Palm Beach, FL * 2017: WhiteBox "UNSEEN / Midnight Studio" New York, NY * 2017: CUBE "European Preview: The Deterioration Series" Brussels, Belgium * 2017: Jacob Javits "Capturing Beauty" New York, NY * 2017: Galerie Mark Hachem "Provocative Moods" Paris, France * 2018: GWS Wickbold Gallery "40 Anos de Fotografía" São Paulo, Brazil * 2018: Space15Twenty "From Sensitive to Sensuous" Los Angeles, CA * 2018: Eduardo Secci Contemporary "Transformation" Florence, Italy * 2022: Online exhibition "Women as Art" YouTube

Books

* ''Images of Women'' – Amphoto, 1976 (revised in 1979). * ''Professional Fashion Photography'' – Amphoto 1978 (revised in 1983). * ''Moods'' – Amphoto, 1980. * ''The Fashion Photographer'' – Amphoto, 1981 (revised in 1984). * ''Farber Nudes'' – Amphoto, 1983. * ''By The Sea'' – Melrose Square, 1987 (revised in 1994). * ''Classic Farber Nudes: 20 Years of Photography'' – Amphoto, 1991. * ''Natural Beauty: Farber Nudes'' – Merrell, 2001. * ''American Mood'' – Merrell, 2004. * ''Nuesto Mexico/Our Mexico'' – Limited edition of 100, 2011. * ''Colour'' – 21st Editions, Limited edition of 18, 2017.

Collections

* ''Contemporary American Erotic Photography'' Melrose LA, 1984. * ''How to Photograph Women'' Dixons World of Photography, 1984. * ''Graphis Nudes: Issue No. 1'' Graphis, Inc., 1993. * ''NUDES 2" (Graphis Nudes) (v. 2)'' Graphis, Inc., 1997. * ''Curve: The Female Nude Now'' Universe, 2003. * ''The World's Top Photographers: Nudes'' Rotovision, 2005, 2007. * ''Paris Photo by Karl Lagerfeld'' Steidl, 2017.

Awards

* 1988 – Art Director's Award for Color Photography – ''By The Sea'' * 1987 – Photographer of the Year – PMA (Photographic Manufacturers Association) * 1995 – International Award – American Society of Photographers, Professional Photography Association

References

External links

Robert Farber official site

Dubrovnik retrospective exhibition catalogue
* Farber on Vimeo an
Instagram
{{DEFAULTSORT:Farber, Robert Living people 1944 births Photographers from New York (state) 20th-century American artists Fashion photographers Nude photography