Bluffer’s Notes
Wolfgang Tillmans
This photographer straddles the worlds of art and fashion with his provocative images
Who is Wolfgang Tillmans? Today, Tillmans is widely regarded as an important figure in contemporary photography, although in his early days some critics attacked his apparently casual and informal style. He became the first photographer to win the Turner Prize (in 2000), although his work caused controversy by including images of a half-naked man urinating on a chair and rats running through a rubbish tip.
What’s his background?
He was born in Remscheid, Germany, in 1968, a city mainly famous for its tool manufacturing industry. As a teenager, he visited Britain as an exchange student and was excited by its fashion and youth culture. His first exhibitions were held in Hamburg in the late 1980s and between 1990 and 1992 he became a student at Bournemouth and Poole College of Art & Design.
When did he get his big break?
Tillmans’ ‘dirty realist’ pictures of the rave scene, parties and gay pride parades were published in style magazines such as
i-D and Interview. He was soon shooting covers and portraits of celebrities including Gilbert & George and Kate Moss.
As his work developed, he increasingly presented it in galleries and museums rather than on magazine pages. However, rather than placing his images in frames, Tillmans preferred his pictures to be simply taped or pinned to the gallery wall.
What set his work apart?
Tillmans rejected all the accepted rules for making professional-looking photographs, and created images which were direct and intimate. “I got rid of everything that’s artistic in portraiture: interesting lighting, recognisably ‘special’ techniques and all the different styles that divide us from the subject,” he said. “I found a way of indirect lighting that looks like the absence of artificial light. That’s often been misunderstood as a lack of formality, and dismissed as the dreaded ‘snapshot aesthetic.’ ”
What else has he photographed?
He has been prolific in his range of subjects including fashion, still-life, portraiture, astro-photography and landscapes. He’s constantly experimenting; for example his ‘Freischwimmer’ series from the 1990s and 2000s are abstract images swirling strands of colour on paper, created by projecting light on photographic paper, without camera or negative. Recent exhibitions include table-based installations which include a mixture of photographs, newspaper cuttings, photocopies and found images.
What’s his best-known picture?
Arguably, his most famous shot is ‘Lutz and Alex Sitting in the Trees’ (1992), which was taken as part of a fashion shoot. It shows two of Tillmans’ friends sitting on tree branches, naked apart from long raincoats; it has been described by The Guardian as “a poetic exploration of nakedness” and “an Adam and Eve for the ecstasy generation.”
Why is he in the news?
In 2015, Tillmans received the Hasselblad Foundation International Award in Photography. Recently he was also awarded the prestigious Royal Photographic Society Centenary Medal, as well as an Honorary Fellowship.
At the age of 47, Tillmans has now been embraced by the photography establishment. That said, this often controversial artist is still very much doing things his own way.