Peter Lindbergh: Untold Stories accompanies the exhibition he curated just before his death

In the two years before acclaimed photographer Peter Lindbergh died in September 2019, aged 74, he curated his first exhibition for Düsseldorf’s Kunstapalast. Surveying his 40-year career working with some of the most recognisable faces and glossy magazines in fashion, the show features images from the early 1980s to today.

As a companion publication to the show, Taschen has published a tome compiling 150 of Lindbergh’s photographs and text exploring his process of building the show, including an interview with the photographer about his curatorial experience, alongside personal sketches and notes made while planning. Now, following his death, the show and book have become his swan song, a poignant retrospective of his impact on the field and his intimately personal view on his own work. It seems the process made the renowned creative see his own photographs from a new perspective, as he commented at the time: “When I saw my photos on the wall in the exhibition model for the first time, it gave me a fright, but also in a good way. It was overwhelming to be thus confronted with who I am.”

Sultry, dramatic and impeccably chic, the compilation of mostly black-and-white photographs charts his aesthetic as it progressed, and offers a way to see many of his unpublished pieces, as well as others that only previously existed on the pages of magazines. From portraits of Linda Evangelista and Uma Thurman, to a tribute from personal friend Wim Wenders, it provides hefty evidence of his influence on the cultural sphere and makes for a lasting tribute to Lindbergh and his vision.

Peter Lindbergh: Untold Stories opens at Kunstapalast, Düsseldorf until 1 June 2020. The accompanying book by Peter Lindbergh, Felix Krämer and Wim Wenders is published by Taschen.