(detail) Michel Comte, Sharon Stone, Esquire, 1996, C-Print. © Michel Comte
Comte tells us who the stars are, what they look like, what they feel and what they think.
Michel Comte, born in Switzerland in 1954, is one of the most important photographers of the big stars. For many years, he portrayed the leading personalities in fashion, sport, music and art. Since the early 1990s, his work has been regularly published in the popular magazines Elle, Esquire, Interview, Mademoiselle, Marie Claire, Vanity Fair, Vogue, L'Uomo Vogue and the New York Times Magazine.
One of the first models is Veruschka, who is kissed by a large snake. He has produced entire series with Carla Bruni, Gisele Bündchen, Naomi Campbell, Helena Christensen, Cindy Crawford, Sophie Marceau, Sharon Stone and Uma Thurman. Comte also works for fashion companies including Chanel, Dolce & Gabbana, Gianfranco Ferré, Givenchy, Gucci, Estée Lauder and Versace.
The work of the great fashion photographer, who now works as a visual artist, began in 1980 when pictures for Chloé appeared in French Vogue. He had already photographed "fashion" in Andy Warhol's Paris flat in 1978 and owed the contact to Warhol's Parisian friend, the art mediator Robert William Burke.
The following 1990s, which form the focus of Comte's work, paved the way for the photographer's international success. He travelled back and forth between Los Angeles, New York, London and Paris. He stayed in the most expensive hotels, where he also worked. He meets Bill and Hillary Clinton, Placido Domingo and Luciano Pavarotti, Rod Stewart and Robbie Williams like no other.
Many of his photographs fill magazines with accompanying texts. Comte tells us who the stars are, what they look like, what they feel and what they think. He is the social media man of his time. Long before digitalisation, his snapshots were published weekly or monthly in magazines around the world. Every year, Stern asked him for revealing swimwear pages. He photographed both indoors and outdoors for adult magazines such as GQ, Playboy and Upstreet .
Editions Comte in Paris is the exclusive distributor of Comte's photographic work from the period up to 2007, when he sold his work and his copyright in order to be free as a visual artist and occasional commissioned photographer.