From Bonnie Schiffman’s biography on her web site:
Over the past three decades, Bonnie Schiffman has photographed hundreds of celebrities, from George Burns to Jerry Seinfeld, Julia Child to Joni Mitchell, Muhammad Ali to Warren Buffet—all of whom have appeared in the most important American and international magazines. The energy and spontaneity that Bonnie brings to her work give rise to her unique images; we get a new, direct, and honest perspective on her subjects, often characterized by a lightness of touch that is the apparent result of spontaneous interaction between photographer and subject.
Lauri Kratochvil, former photo director for Rolling Stone and InStyle magazines, said it best: “Bonnie doesn’t put herself in the picture. She lets people do what they do so you don’t get the celebrity, you get the person.”
Now, Bonnie has collected on her website a series of portraits whose importance lies in the way they capture her signature style of photography and collectively enhance and expand the chronicles of American cultural history.
_______________________________________
Earlier this year the AP/RC received twelve prints of Bonnie Schiffman’s 1980’s celebrity photographs as a donation from the artist and as part of the Museum Project organized by Robert Von Sternberg.
More than half of the people in Schiffman’s images are no longer living, adding, perhaps, a layer of nostalgia to this selection of images.
Artist Printmaker/Photographer Research Collection ● AP/RC ● Art Division of the Museum of Texas Tech University 