Juergen Teller: Calves and Thighs

Foremost among a generation of photographers operating between fashion photography and art photography, Juergen Teller (born 1964) brings his energized, life-loving brashness to family photographs, self-portraits and fashion shoots. Teller often provokes his subjects to extremes of expression, as critic Adrian Searle records in this, Teller’s newest monograph: I kept wondering when he was going to get round to taking my photograph. The tension was unbearable. I felt like a girl on an unsuccessful date. The next thing I know he’s almost climbing over the table to get at me. There’s a camera in my face and he’s shooting picture after picture after picture, looming closer with each shot… There’s a gleam in his eye and a smile and there’s something relentless about his advances. Teller applies this lust for encounter and complete involvement to the production of his books, and the beautifully printed Calves and Thighs is no exception: I consider this catalogue a piece of my work, he writes, having carefully determined the photographs (all new work), the authors and the design. Alongside Teller’s latest photographs, collaborators, friends and admirers such as Nobuyoshi Araki, Sadie Coles, Roni Horn, Marc Jacobs, Karl Lagerfeld, Helmut Lang, Charlotte Rampling, Adrian Searle, Gerhard Steidl, Neville Wakefield, Vivienne Westwood and Raquel Zimmermann pose questions to Teller about his process, his career and his life.