Cause of death Road accident Children 1 Name Chris Wangenheim | Years active 1965–1981 Role Photographer Spouse(s) Regine Jaffey (?-1981) | |
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Full Name Christoph von Wangenheim Died March 9, 1981, Saint Martin (Island) Parents Konrad Freiherr von Wangenheim | ||
Christoph von Wangenheim (21 February 1942 – 9 March 1981) was a German fashion photographer of the late 1960s through the early 1980s.
Early life and career
Wangenheim was born in Berlin, during the Second World War, 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. In 1944, while serving on the Eastern Front, his father was taken prisoner and held in a POW camp located in the Soviet Union. He remained imprisoned for almost ten years and was found hanged days before his intended release.
After studying architecture for a period of time, Wagenheim 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. Wangenheim is also well known for his advertisements for Christian Dior, Calvin Klein, and Revlon.
Supermodel Gia Carangi did her first major fashion shoot with him in October 1978. He 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.
On 9 March 1981, Wangenheim was killed in a single car crash while on holiday in Saint Martin. At the time of his death, he was in the process of divorcing the former model Regine Jaffry, with whom he had one child.
As of September 2015, a book on Wangenheim's work and life by Roger Padilha and Mauricio Padilha was planned entitled Gloss: The Work of Chris von Wangenheim , to be published by Rizzoli, with a forward by the photographer Steven Klein.