Background

Chris Von Wangenheim was born on February 21, 1942, in Berlin, Germany. He was the son of Konrad Freiherr von Wangenheim, an aristocratic German Cavalry officer who became a well-known horse rider at the 1936 Olympic Games in Berlin, winning a gold medal in Team Eventing.

Education

Chris Von Wangenheim studied architecture at the University of Munich, Germany, in 1961.

Career

After studying architecture for a period of time, Chris Von Wangenheim decided to pursue his interest in photography. In 1965, he moved to New York City where he worked as a photographer's assistant for David Thorpe and James Moore until 1967. He started his own studio the following year and began working for the American edition of Harper's Bazaar, and for the Italian edition of Harper's Bazaar in 1970.

American Vogue became his primary outlet in 1972, but he also worked for its German, French and Italian editions, as well as for Esquire, Playboy, Interview, and Viva magazines. Chris Von Wangenheim is also well known for his advertisements for Christian Dior, Calvin Klein, and Revlon.

On 9 March 1981, Chris Von Wangenheim was killed in a single-car crash while on holiday in Saint Martin.

Works

More photos

• photography

  • Oui, February 1974, "Astral Flash" editorial

    1974

  • Unpublished image, circa 1975

    1975

  • Unpublished image, circa 1978

    1978

  • Revealing is Your Dior

    (Christian Dior Advertisement)

    1978

  • Intriguing is your Dior

    (Christian Dior Advertisement)

    1978

  • Knockout!, Christie Brinkley and unknown model

    (Outtake from Vogue, Feb. 1977)

    1977

  • Fashion

    1978

  • photography

  • Outtake of Grace Jones for Interview Magazine

    1977

  • Outtake of Regine Jaffrey from Vogue October 1975

    1975

Personality

Quotes from others about the person

• In Von Wangenheim's New York Times obituary Alexander Liberman, editorial director of Conde Nast Publications, said the photographer "was able to bring to a picture a European sophistication, and he combined an admirable love of women, a sensuous feeling, with a modem image."

Connections

At the time of his death, Chris Von Wangenheim was in the process of divorcing the former model Regine Jaffry, with whom he had one child.

Father:

Konrad Wangenheim

Konrad Freiherr von Wangenheim was an aristocratic German Cavalry officer who became a well-known horse rider at the 1936 Olympic Games in Berlin, winning a Gold Medal in Team Eventing. In 1944, while serving on the Eastern Front, he was taken prisoner and held in a POW camp located in the Soviet Union. Konrad Freiherr von Wangenheim remained imprisoned for almost ten years and was found hanged days before his intended release.

Spouse:

Regine Jaffry

colleague:

Gia Carangi

Supermodel Gia Carangi did her first major fashion shoot with him in October 1978. Chris Von Wangenheim took the notorious photographs of Carangi standing naked behind a chain-link fence. Carangi became one of Wangenheim's favorite models and worked with him on several fashion photographs throughout her career.

References

• Gloss: The Work of Chris von Wangenheim The first monograph on notorious photographer Chris von Wangenheim, whose shocking work epitomized the glamour and excess of the 1970s and reflected the fashionable underworld living life on the edge.
  2015