Peter Lindbergh, renowned fashion and portrait photographer, has died aged 74

Renowned fashion and portrait photographer Peter Lindbergh has died aged 74, as announced by a post on his Instagram account this morning. He died on 3 September 2019.

Lindbergh most recently shot the cover of British Vogue’s September issue, guest-edited by Meghan Markle, where he captured 15 cover stars who “are redefining our world for the better” including Greta Thunberg, Jacinda Ardern, Jane Fonda and Salma Hayek Pinault. It was his first cover for the title since September 1992. Markle has responded to the news of his death by posting a photo of herself with Lindbergh on one of the shoots, and a statement honouring his work and anti-Photoshop ethos. “His work is revered globally for capturing the essence of a subject and promoting healthy ideals of beauty, eschewing Photoshopping, and preferring natural beauty with minimal makeup,” she says.

Lindbergh was born in 1944 in Poland, studied at Berlin’s Academy of Fine Arts in the 1960s and assisted German photographer Hans Lux for two years before opening his own studio in 1973.

One of the most notable moments of Lindbergh’s career came in January 1990 when he photographed Linda Evangelista, Naomi Campbell, Cindy Crawford, Christy Turlington and Tatjana Patitz together for the first time for British Vogue. Because of this shoot, he is widely credited with launching the phenomenon of the supermodel.

Lindbergh is also known for his Pirelli calendars, of which he photographed four in 1996, 2002, 2017 and the 50th-anniversary edition in 2014 with Patrick Demarchelier.

The photographer’s work has appeared in Vogue, Vanity Fair, Harper’s Bazaar and The New Yorker, and is in the permanent collections of many international museums. He also directed a number of critically acclaimed films and documentaries, including Inner Voices, which won the Best Documentary prize at the Toronto International Film Festival in 2000.

The Instagram post announcing his death states he is survived by his wife Petra, his first wife Astrid, his four sons Benjamin, Jérémy, Simon, Joseph and seven grandchildren, and finally: “He leaves a big void.”