Steven Meisel - Photographer

[saann]

his work is so beautiful

 

[nanker_phledge]

Well, i still wanna see this interview~~~~
And does anyone know anything about him except his photography?And I'd like to see some photos of himself

Ingrid Sischy : ‘So we’re going to talk about your favourite subject …’

Steven Meisel :’The models , yeah…’

I. S : ‘But before we get there , I think we should give a few hints to the reader.When did you notice a model for the first time ?’

S. M : ‘I was thinking about that actually before I called you’

I. S : ‘You mean before you hung up on me’

S. M : (laughs) ‘Well…I think it was firstly in the magazines before it happened in real life’

I. S : ‘You were in high-school ? Or studying fine arts ?’

S.M : ‘Oh no , I was in elementary school . At school ! I was already retiring ! (Both of them laugh) …(Sorry I don’t know anything about the school system in the U.S so I’ll just skip a sentence there ). I was around 10 y old maybe…’

I.S : ‘My God ! I didn’t even know what a model was before I worked for ‘Interview’ ! What was so fascinating to you ?’

S. M : ‘The idea in itself…When I was a kid , I used to draw all the time’

I. S :’What would you draw ?’

S. M : ‘I think that the fascination of beauty started really early . When I was a child , I wouldn’t play with my cubes , I would draw on them. Women mainly …’

I. S : ‘Well , who did you portrait ?’

S. M : ‘The members of my family . And at the same time, at school ,-that happened some time after my cubes- I think I used to take magazines like Vogue, Harper’s Bazaar as sources of inspiration for my drawings. I used to browse them when I was really young. I don’t know if it was for the photos or the beauty of the women , maybe both . I was believing in a dream back then . And it remained…’

I .S : ‘What dream ?’

S. M :’What was emanating from the women from the high_society of that era . The ‘Gloria Guinness ‘ the ‘Babe Paley’ …They would incarnate the beauty and the high society at the same time . They were magnificent.’


I.S : ‘In your real life , who was magnificent ?’

S. M : ‘I thought that my mother was , obviously . Like everybody , probably..’

I.S :’I thought that mine looked like Elizabeth Taylor’



S.M : ‘Me too ! (they laugh) I thought that she was really beautiful . My sister as well later on.’


I.S : ‘Did you study fine arts ?’

S. M : ‘I went to a high-school where we would study art and design , on the 57th street .We would have regular courses and four or five courses about art . ..That was what we would do when we weren’t smoking pot or going to a protest.’ (laughs)

I.S : ‘You were drawing models from magazines or real life ones ?’

S. M : ‘From magazines’


I.S : ‘Do you remember who ?’

S.M : ‘I remember all of them ! I think that , at that time , the stars were Twiggy , Veruschka , Jean Shrimpton . Already in high-school , I was obsessed with it.’


I.S : ‘And later on , you went to Parson , right ? As a fashion illustrator ?’


S. M : ‘Yes. The first year , we were following some really different courses and then you had to choose . I used to like reading Women’s Wear Daily , so I thought ’Ok , I’ll be a fashion illustrator.’


I.S : ‘That seems perfectly logical’


S. M : ‘In fact , I first worked for Halston as an illustrator.’

I.S : ‘And of course, you met the best models there.’

S.M : ‘Yes, but later on’

I.S : ‘How come ?’

S. M : ‘I’m thinking again about these stories from elementary school, of my obsession back then. I think that , from time to time , the magazines would give a model’s name . It was more underground back then , the girls would remain anonymous . Maybe, people in the business would know who Dovima or Jean Patchett and all those girls from the 50’s were. But they weren’t that famous anyway. So from time to time, I would notice a name and would recognize it : ‘Oh yeah , that one was in Vogue’ .That’s how I began to learn some stuff about them . MTV didn’t exist back then , there was no info, nothing , you had to find it all by yourself. I found out that there was something called ‘an agent’, you see ? I was around 12 y old and I had some girlfriends whose voices would make them seem older , so they would call the agencies and would pass as the secretaries , and say : ‘Hello , this is , uh , the secretary of Richard Avedon , we’re going to send you someone to pick up all the photos that you have .’ And I would go there to pick them up ! I don’t know why they would give me all of them , but they would do it ! ‘

I.S : ‘That was your fate ! ‘

S.M : ‘Yes. I don’t know why I would seem ok to them but they would give me this stuff . I finally ended up being caught but that happened later on . Anyway, after I got all these pictures, I still didn’t know who these girls were . In the package I sent you to have a look , there was a head-sheet from 1966.’

I.S : ‘Yes , I’ve seen it’


S. M : ‘That’s something that I have from when I was 12 y old’

I.S : ‘That’s incredible ! There’s also a picture where it’s written ‘First , 12 y old’
, it was a girl in orange with a portfolio .That looked like a Meisel at his start. ‘

S. M : ‘That was during that period when I was hanging around the agencies , around the photographers . I would search in the yellow pages to find Richard Avedon. He was living in the 57th street back then. I tracked down Bert Stern , etc. I knew that if I stayed around the agencies , the photographers I would end up seeing the models. I started to take these little pictures with my Instamatic.’

I.S : ‘I love them , there’s something obsessional about them.’


S. M : ‘Oh , I have tons of them ! That was all I would do .That wasn’t like today , when you go to the Pier 59 , and everybody is in the same building . Each photographer had his own area and all the business was really smaller. I was only a kid who was hanging around it . I would take these pictures with my Instamatic , I would pick up the head-sheets and I was in heaven.’


I.S : ‘The pictures really evocate a story .They look like some pictures by Winogrand .But with bright colours.’

S.M : ‘Yes, I know’ (laughs)

I.S : ‘And the one where it’s written ‘Twiggy and me , 12 y old’ , where the hell did you get that one ?’

S.M : ‘It was crazy . Twiggy was going to New York’

I.S : ‘How did you know that ?’

S.M : ‘That was the kind of thing that I would learn. A girl-friend who was called Karen , faked a crappy English accent , she called the agency and said that she was expected to have lunch with Twiggy but that she couldn’t go and didn’t know where to contact her . The girl from the agency told her where she could find her during that afternoon. So I went to Melvin Sokolsky’s studio , I skipped my courses , I was 12 y old.’


I.S : ‘That’s completely crazy , Steven.’

S.M : ‘I was bonkers . Anyway, I ring at the door and who opens ? Ali McGraw!’


I.S : ‘In a bubble ?’

S.M : (They laugh) No ! She was really unpleasant . At that time, photographers had stylists who would work for them in the studio .Ali’s job was to pick this or that , to work on the style, hair style, the make-up , she wasn’t a model . She opened the door , and said something like ‘Oh these kids , You don’t come inside’. So I waited outside , and a guy came out and told me ‘You want to meet Twiggy ? ‘ , I said ‘Oh yes,yes , yes’ . ‘No problem , we’re doing something for the press , you want to work with us ? See, there’s this kid who comes up , she comes out , she gives him a kiss and an autograph , that kind of stuff .’ So we worked on it , and it came out in the press and that was when I took this picture’.


That was the end of the first part, I’m sorry for the crap translation . I’ll finish it during the rest of this week or tomorrow.

 

[nanker_phledge]

Another picture of him with Naomi , Linda and Christy.

 

[arlekindearrabal]

great interview, please post more!

 

[nanker_phledge]

I.S : ‘What did you do after that ?’

S.M : ‘I kept it ! And then Melvin gave me a photo of her he had taken that day , she signed it . I still have it .’


I.S : ‘When you were 10/12 y old , and you were doing all these things, did you have some friends who were into that kind of stuff as well ?’


S.M : ‘You know Patti Smith…’

I.S : ‘Yes’

S.M : ‘Well her pianist , Richard Sohl , who died , I used to know him since elementary school . I started him off on it , like Karen , both of them would play that game with me . They were having fun , it was amusing , we were completely bonkers anyway.’

I.S : ‘You were still obsessed with it when you went to Parson ?’

S. M : ‘Oh yes yes . But as I told you , at that time, I was already old and weary (they laugh) . I was like ‘Yeah ok , I have to settle down now , and think about a carreer’ . For all the things that I mentioned before, I was really very young. The other thing that I noticed was that all these absolutely stunning women were carrying bags and portfolios. .. And I thought ‘why the hell these goddesses in the streets have a black portfolio ?’ . Back then , models would dress up , they would be wearing big fur coats , certainly not jeans .They were gigantic , they were towering over all these guys in the street , they were incredible. I finally understood that they were models and that these were a make-up bag and a portfolio , they would do their hair and make-up by themselves back then . ‘

I.S : ‘And that was when you decided to drop the pen and take a camera ’

S.M : ‘In fact, I never thought that I could be a photographer . I was at ‘Women’s Wear’ , I was making illustrations, it lasted for about two years . I thought that it wouldn’t lead me anywhere . So I thought, ‘ Ok , I like fashion , models , people who work there , I think I can become a fashion photographer’ . But it really seemed too huge for me , I thought that I would never make it , all these photographers were idols.’

I.S : ‘Give me the names of the ones you were admiring ‘


S.M : ‘All of them ! From Jerry Schatzberg to Irving Penn ! I didn’t have that much self-confidence back then and I didn’t think that photography was my line , I wasn’t really sure of myself . I think that all these stories about gays had something to do with it as well. Back then , all the photographers were hetero . I really thought , ‘God , a homo should work in hair styling , make-up , that kind of stuff’ …But I didn’t want to do this . And I didn’t want to be a fashion stylist either . All I wanted to do was to become a photographer. But I wasn’t really comfortable with my position , I really thought that gays couldn’t make it , that it was out of their reach . Then I said to myself ‘Listen Steven , shut up and go for it ‘.

I.S : ‘And the rest became history ! How did you get your first commands ?’


S. M : ‘When I was working at ‘Women’s Wear’ , I went to Elite . They had what they would call a ‘testing ground’ . Some young models would work with you and would take their photos back . And it was all for free . I don’t know why but two girls who were working there thought I was cool and allowed me to take some pictures . Even though I had nothing to show them , I think I chat them up , and in the end , they let me work with these models. I photographed them in my apartment in Gramercy Park , in the street . I was working on weekdays at Women’s Daily , and with the models during the week end . One of them was Phoebe Cates . Then they took their pictures to ‘Seventeen’ to show their books so they could some work . The people there looked at them and said ‘Oh who took this one ? I liked it ‘ .Then they called Elite who called me to tell me ‘Someone from Seventeen likes your work’ . ‘Oh great !’ . ‘They want your phone number, so they can contact you.’ And people at Seventeen called me to ask me if I wanted to work with them . And I said yes, of course , but only during week ends , because I had a full-time job. I did two or three things with Phoebe Cates , and that was that.’


End of the second part.

I’ll post the rest tonight or tomorrow.

 

[iluvjeisa]

hahaha, he is one of a kind. What a kid he must have been. My God!!!

 

[saann]

Thanks a lot for the article, it was so funny

what a daring kid he was ! =D

 

[nanker_phledge]

Glad you like it . (thanks for the karmas)

Here's the third part :

I.S : ‘ Who was your first model ‘crush’ ?’ (bad translation there , I know)

S. M : ‘Linda Evangelista . Linda and me had an important relationship , even though I had already been working for two years when I started to work with her . But I think she was the first one who made me say ‘Oh my God’.

I.S : ‘Since we’re talking about photos , I must say that yours always seem to reveal your deep relationships with your models . It seems as if a real relationship takes shape , that it can last forever.’

S.M : ‘Most of the time , yes . It sort of evolves during your career , but I guess I can say that you really become obsessive .You fall in love, you become crazy.’


I.S: ‘Because some of them can make some great photos with you ?’

S.M : ‘Yes, absolutely.’

I.S: ‘Your obsession revolves around this , right ?’

S.M : ‘Absolutely. At 75 or 90 % , it doesn’t give anything. It’s the girls who give, work , who love their job , who like to pose as models , who like to create what you are obsessed with . And that’s the funniest thing about it.’

I.S : ‘What was so special about Linda ?’

S.M : ‘Hmm … Firstly she seemed incredibly beautiful to me . Not to say stunning. It was firstly physical. She was shining , she was ‘sparkling’ . She was living for the camera , like me through it , and for her , with her . She loved playing a role. It was like interpreting one . It was really this . She’s done everything. Like Kristen McMenamy. Some of them were legends.’

I.S: ‘When I think about your photos , I think of Linda, Kristen , Stella Tennant …’

S.M : ‘Stella , yes, she still inspires me.’


I.S : ‘You’re right , they were real legends . You can skip their family names , but you still know who we’re talking about . And then there’s this big series of photos inspired by Christy Turlington . What was so special about her ?’



S.M : ‘Firstly, her extraordinary beauty . It starts with allure, the physical aspect. The rest revolves around personality , the spirit , the human qualities .’


I.S : ‘Personality in front of the camera as well as in real life . Because I see you going out with them at parties, and it seems like there are more interesting things happening off-scene than in the pictures . Tell us in a few words how you picture Christy..’

S.M : ‘Delicate , ethereal , but a bit devilish inside . Class. Linda, on her side, is a full-time actress.’ (laughs)

I.S : ‘And Kristen ?’

S.M : ‘That was completely different.’

I.S: ‘The word that I’d choose if the police aimed a gun at me and told me ‘Ingrid , you have to choose one word to describe her’ would be ‘Drama’ .


S.M : ‘Yes , but coming from a ‘little ugly duck’ . So there was that kind of insecurity in her . Whereas the others must have heard that they were beautiful all the time . Kristen , on her side , was probably said that she was ugly the whole time. So , she had something to prove.’

I.S : ‘There’s another one who has that , it’s Karen Elson’

S.M : ‘Oh yes , Karen ! Yes, yes , yes . Oh God, yes.’

I.S : ‘The models who must have suffered from being considered as ‘ugly’ , and who need to show how beautiful they can be , do they represent a part of your motivation ?’

S.M : ‘Absolutely’

I.S : ‘Knowing you , I’m sure it must be exciting to you…’

S.M : ‘Oh yes ! There is an element of rebellion in that , a sort of ‘f*ck you’ attitude , or ‘there’s something incredible , you’ll see , this kid is really one of a kind’ . I remember the day when Karen came into my office. She was a bit bonkers as a kid . She sat there , and it was like watching a film. She would tell all these stories , I really thought that she had something special . It is really interesting now that I got older to see them grow up . I’ve sort of grown up with Linda, Christy and the others , whereas with Karen , I was already ‘famous’ . I saw her becoming a woman .’

 

[testinofan]

Thanks for the amazing interview

 

[saann]

seriously nanker_phledge you are the best !

 

[nanker_phledge]

^ haha , thanks !

Here's the last part :

I.S : ‘Describe me the physical , emotional , or photographic feeling that you get when you say ‘ This one will be one of them.’

S.M : ‘I’m all excited , I’m in love !’

I.S : ‘And when it happens…’

S.M : ‘It lasts…It’s a star . That’s something that everyone tries to understand . Since Liz Taylor –What is it all about ? It’s that type of charisma …And me , how do I feel ? I’m all excited , because it’s someone new I can play with , someone I can work with, and who will worth all the hard work. It’s fascinating. It really makes me happy.’


I.S : ‘There was a lot of them in your case.’

S.M : ‘Yes, a lot.’

I.S : ‘And it goes on ! The following question is : is each era marked by a kind of ‘zeitgeist’ of models of its own ?

S.M : ‘Yeah’

I.S : ‘I find it interesting to know why a certain era creates a certain type of superstars .Of course, it is a reflect of what the culture deeply desires , so we identify it and we offer it to the world . And each era creates different desires.’

S.M : ‘Absolutely’

I.S : ‘The way Christy , Linda and Naomi created the desire for Kate…’

S.M : ‘That’s the big picture of it , the sociological aspect .Yes, of course . And from Kate , it gets to someone else , or maybe it comes back to a more conventional type of beauty . It’s society.’

I.S : ‘How do you choose a new model ? Do they send her to your office ? Or is it someone you’ve seen the photos of or that you’ve seen on a show ? But it’s a stupid question because I’m sure that there’s a million of answers.’

S.M : ‘Yes , indeed , and a million of answers regarding the different eras of my career . Generally , I scrutinize the polaroids they send me , there will always be a little something in one of them. Then I meet the people concerned. Today, I was with Patti Hearst’s daughter –I didn’t know she was her daughter , and anyway it doesn’t really matter to me – I just saw a face that made me go crazy . And it all comes out from a polaroid.’

I.S : ‘From time to time, the fashion world gets obsessed with the ‘real people’ , I’ve noticed that it wasn’t one of your obsessions.’


S.M : ‘No. The most ‘real’ person was Teri Toye . And yet was it really ‘real’ ? I’m not really a fan of that , whatever that might be . I don’t know . For instance, Karen isn’t someone ‘real’ . I don’t really know what people mean by that , actually, it doesn’t mean anything to me.’


I.S : ‘You’re one of the few photographers who seem to be authentically , passionately obsessed with fashion .’

S.M : ‘I totally reckon it . I love design, the clothes , the fashion. I’ve never had any problems with that.’

I.S : ‘If I told you ‘Tomorrow, you can work with anyone you want among the new models , someone that makes you want to wake up and go to work ‘ ?

S.M : ‘Karen still inspires me , just like Stella . And of course, Linda, Christy. But , I’d be more interested by the present . Lily Donaldson … She gave me something. I liked working with Libby Hearst , she also gave me something. I’m sure I’ll forget someone and that will be too bad … Hannelore is still fascinating .Missy too, these days. It’s a very ,very interesting girl . There’s no end of it . You just have to go ahead and create. Elise Crombez ! I love working with Elise ! She’s totally into what she works on , totally inspired , totally marvellous .'

I.S : ‘It’s endless , then?’

S.M : ‘Oh yeah ! They keep coming into my life . Absolutely ! ‘

Phew ! Well , I'm sorry about the translation , it wasn't that great.The interview is illustrated with a few pictures (the first ones he took as a child and the one of Twiggy, I'll scan them whenever I get my new scanner).I hope you enjoyed it .

 

[saann]

This was a great article, once again thank you

I wish I could give you more karma but I have to spread som reputation first, I'm not sure about how you do that

 

[Atelier]

I hope you enjoyed it .

Thanks for this article!

 

[iluvjeisa]

hmm....I like SM but there is something pretty odd about his model selection. It's like he pays more attention to how much fun he has with them rather than what is the end product. I'm sure they're related, ie fun to work with leads to good work in some instances, but it's not always the case. I do like his latest batch of models, Gemma, Lily D and Snejana, that is. And that Lisa Cant cover March 2004, is definitely up there. High up there. One of the very best covers of all time. But I have such a hard time understanding what Amber Valetta or Stella Tennant are about. They must be such hooooots to be around. Still, of course these things are personal, obviously

 

[arlekindearrabal]

^lol... i guess one can never understand the relationship between an artist and his (or her) muses...

 

[iluvjeisa]

^lol... i guess one can never understand the relationship between an artist and his (or her) muses...

No, not since it differs from artist to artist...

 

[testinofan]

Great

 

[HeatherZ]

thank u so much nanker_phledge

 

[foreshoke]

i really love his artworks. sexy yet stylish. but is anybody know where i can found website/blog or everything that contain his all photos incl.the ad campaign???? beside Jozworld.com

thx alot

Meisel rawks!!!

 

[marsnoop2]

I keep reading in places that Steven Meisel shot a GAP campaign in 2000 with Alessandra Ambrosio but I've never seen any pics of it. Have you guys?