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Anton Corbijn

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Anton Corbijn
Corbijn at the 2007 Toronto International Film Festival
Born (1955-05-20) 20 May 1955 (age 69)
Strijen, Netherlands
Occupation(s)Photographer, director
Websitewww.corbijn.co.uk

Anton Corbijn (Dutch pronunciation: [kɔrˈbɛin]) (born 20 May 1955) is a photographer and director from Strijen, the Netherlands. He is widely acknowledged by the music industry, mainly for being the creative director of the visual output of prominent bands like Depeche Mode and U2[2][3], having handled the principal promotion and sleeve photography for both for more than a decade.[4] Some of his works include music videos for Depeche Mode's "Enjoy the Silence" (1990) and Nirvana's "Heart-Shaped Box" (1993), as well as directing the Ian Curtis biopic Control.[5]


Career

Corbijn started his career of music photographer when he saw the Dutch musician Herman Brood playing at a cafe in Groningen (the Netherlands) around 1975. He made a lot of photos of the 'rising star' Herman Brood & His Wild Romance. Because of the pictures taken by Corbijn, Brood's fame rose quickly, and as a result Corbijn's own exposure increased. Till his death in 2001 he stayed the 'home-photographer' of Herman Brood. In 1998, he brought Bono and Herman together to start a working on a project which was never finished because of the early death of Brood.

He made photo's of: David Bowie, Miles Davis, Björk, Captain Beefheart, Robert de Niro, Stephen Hawking, Elvis Costello, Clint Eastwood and Herbert Grönemeyer.

He also designed album covers for U2 (e.g. The Joshua Tree and Achtung Baby, but also for the single The Saints Are Coming together with Green Day), Depeche Mode, Nick Cave, Metallica, Therapy?, The Rolling Stones, R.E.M. and The Bee Gees. Anton Corbijn also made the album cover for "These are the days" of the Danish band Saybia and the dutch band Moke.

Corbijn decided to move into directing music videos, more or less by accident. [citation needed] Palais Schaumburg asked him to direct a video, which he reluctantly accepted. After seeing Video, Propaganda insisted that Corbijn would direct Dr. Mabuse. After that, David Sylvian, Simple Minds, Echo & the Bunnymen and Golden Earring asked for his services. Front 242 was presented Corbijn's artwork and accepted shooting a video with him, which resulted in a very strange version of "Headhunter" (which he understood as "Egg Hunter") due to Corbijn's rather limited knowledge of the English language at the time.[6] Nevertheless, it became a milestone in Corbijn's career.

In 1994, after directing various music videos, Corbijn directed a short film about Captain Beefheart for the BBC called Some Yoyo Stuff.

In 2005, Palm Pictures released a DVD collection of Corbijn's music video output as part of the Director's Label series. As well as a 56-page booklet, the DVD also includes outtakes, shorts and documentaries as well as commentaries on various videos from the artists themselves.

On 17 May 2007, Corbijn's first feature film Control about the life of Joy Division frontman Ian Curtis premiered to rave reviews at the Cannes Film Festival.[7][8] The film is based on Deborah Curtis's book Touching From A Distance about her late husband and the new biography Torn Apart by Lindsay Reade (Tony Wilson's ex-wife) and Mick Middles. Although shown outside the Palme d'Or competition, Control was the big winner of the Director's Fortnight winning the CICAE Art & Essai prize for best film, the "Regards Jeunes" Prize award for best first or second directed feature film and the Europa Cinemas Label prize for best European film in the sidebar.[9]

Author William Gibson refers to a fictitious portrait by Corbijn of the character Hollis Henry in his 2007 novel Spook Country.[10]

In 2008, Corbijn also directed the Coldplay music video, "Viva la Vida", which can be found on the album Viva La Vida or Death and All His Friends.

Books by Corbijn

  • Famouz (1989)
  • Strangers (1990)
  • Allegro (1991)
  • Grönemeyer, Photographien von Anton Corbijn (1993)
  • Star Trak (1996)
  • 33 Still Lives (1999)
  • Stripping Girls (2000, with Marlene Dumas)
  • Werk (2000)
  • A. Somebody, Strijen, Holland (2002)
  • Everybody Hurts (2003)
  • U2 & I (2005)
  • In Control (2008)

References

  1. ^ "Q & A: Anton Corbijn" CNN.com, 3 October 2006 (Retrieved: 9 July 2009)
  2. ^ Pitman, Joanna; "The silent partner" TimesOnline.co.uk, 14 February 2005 (Retrieved: 9 July 2009)
  3. ^ Mackintosh, Hamish; "Talk Time: Anton Corbijn" Guardian.co.uk, 31 March 2005 (Retrieved: 9 July 2009)
  4. ^ "U2 & I" — audio interview with Anton Corbijn RadioPapesse.org (Retrieved: 9 July 2009)
  5. ^ Zacharek, Stephanie; "Closer to Joy" Salon.com, 10 October 2007 (Retrieved: 9 July 2009)
  6. ^ "An egg or a head ? Anton Corbijn did not really know." Side-line.com, 28 December 2006 (Retrieved: 9 July 2009)
  7. ^ Sandhu, Sukhdev; "Film review: Ian Curtis biopic, Control" Telegraph.co.uk, 5 October 2007 (Retrieved: 9 July 2009)
  8. ^ Robb, Stephen; "Critics applaud Joy Division film" BBC.co.uk (News), 17 May 2007 (Retrieved: 9 July 2009)
  9. ^ Crerar, Simon; "Joy Division film wins five awards" TimesOnline.co.uk, 29 November 2007 (Retrieved: 9 July 2009)
  10. ^ Giese, Rachel; "Present tense" CBC.ca, 2 October 2007 (Retrieved: 9 July 2009)
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