Hannes Schmid

Hannes Schmid (born October 13, 1946 in Zurich ) is a Swiss photo artist who has worked for a long time as an advertising and fashion photographer. Schmid started his career with travel reports, but he became known as the photographer of cowboy photos for Marlboro advertising campaigns, which can now also be found in the collections of large art museums.

Between 1978 and 1984 Schmid accompanied over 250 rock bands and their stars. Over 70,000 photos were taken in this way. The large-format photographs were shown in various exhibitions, and in 2009 a representative publication was published by Edition Patrick Frey in Zurich.

In addition to commercial commissions, Hannes Schmid also repeatedly carried out free artistic projects such as Maha Kumbh Mela / Human Currents, For Gods Only, Thaipusam, etc. In recent times, he has also been making use of his cowboy photographs and using them as templates for photorealistic paintings, that he brings to the canvas. He decided to do this after seeing some of his "Marlboro" pictures in an exhibition at the Venice Biennale in 2003 (he transferred the exploitation rights to the advertising agency, but he retained the actual copyright ). They were authorized by US artist Richard Prince , who photographed them, as his own works without permission. Instead of going through grueling legal proceedings in the USA because of these easily reproducible photos, he saw a more original and sensible way to recreate them as oil paintings on canvas meticulously with only small alienations (e.g. leaving out the cigarette). In doing so, he creates unmistakable originals.

Exhibitions (selection)

• 2014 Today Art Museum, Beijing, China: MOMENTOUS ;
• 2013 Kunstmuseum Bern: "Hannes Schmid - Real Stories"
• 2011 Edwynn Houk Gallery , Zurich: Hannes Schmid - Myth of the West ; Bank Julius Baer, ​​Zurich: Hannes Schmid - Work in Progress
• 2010 Swiss Photo Foundation , Winterthur: Hannes Schmid - Never Look Back ; Bank Julius Baer, ​​Zurich: For Gods Only
• 2009 Gallery Nicola von Senger , Zurich: Hannes Schmid - Rockstars
• 2008 Mitchell Algus Gallery, New York: Men and Machismo ; Cultural Center, Zermatt: Star Portraits: Divas + Heroes ; Petit Palais, Montreux: Star Portraits: Divas + Heroes

Awards

• Delphic Art Movie Award 2011. Special Prize “Protection of Intangible Heritage” for the short film For Gods Only
• Looking Back: The White Columns Annual 2008, selected by Jay Sanders
• Life Magazine: Best Fashion Picture of the Year 1992
• Fashion photography for magazines and fashion designer labels; Best Fashion Photographer 1988

Collections

• Department of Culture of the Canton of Zurich
• Swiss Photo Foundation , Winterthur
• Julius Baer Art Collection , Switzerland
• Museum Folkwang Collection , Essen

Web links

• Website by Hannes Schmid
• Schmid, Hannes. In: Sikart

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Immersion in other worlds, 3sat, October 20, 2009
2. ↑ The secret hope of the magical moment, Hannes Schmid, SWR1
3. ↑ When artists use other artists unabashedly, Tages-Anzeiger, June 14, 2010
4. ↑ Hannes Schmid - MOMENTOUS
5. ↑ Hannes Schmid - Myth of the West ( Memento of the original from June 5, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
6. ^ Hannes Schmid - Never Look Back
7. ↑ Hannes Schmid - Rockstars ( Memento of the original from January 5, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.