Steven Silverstein’s accomplished career photographing fashion and beauty spanned over four decades. In 2013 he began an exploration of in-camera abstract photographs.
Silverstein studied fine art photography at Art Center College for a year in his native Los Angeles and after apprenticing, supported himself as a photographer for several years before moving to Paris in the 1970s. There, photographer Sarah Moon and and her husband, Robert Delpire, art publisher and former director of Galerie National du Jeu de Paume, saw his conceptual work and made an important introduction to pioneering art director Peter Knapp at French ELLE. It was the start of a long career creating images for the highest levels of international fashion magazines and advertising.
Primarily based in Paris during his fashion career, he was known for conceptual storytelling, lighting, and a graphic simplicity that allows for an instant read, the images often drawing the viewer in for a closer look. In addition to photographing Catherine Deneuve, Carol Bouquet, Charlotte Rampling, Isabelle Adjani, Isabelle Huppert, Charlize Theron, Eva Mendes, Thierry Mugler, Christian Lacroix, Tina Turner, and many other celebrities, he has photographed most of the supermodels and other top models of the era for covers and fashion pages of ELLE, as well as the international editions of Vogue, Marie Claire, Harper’s Bazaar and other publications. Working with the best hair and makeup teams, Silverstein also shot campaigns for global mega-brands including Yves St. Laurent, Chanel, Ungaro, Carolina Herrera, L’Oreal, Maybelline, Max Factor, and Revlon, among dozens of others.
Silverstein’s photography has been exhibited worldwide and published in exhibition books in Paris, New York, Montreal, Seville, Madrid, Turin, Los Angeles, Houston, Austin and Palm Springs, including the Centre Georges Pompidou (Paris), Montreal Museum of Fine Arts (Montreal), Centro Andaluz de Arte Contemporáneo (Seville), La Venaria Reale - Reggia (Turin), CentroCentro (Madrid), and other museums and galleries. Additionally, his work has been published in numerous retrospective books and held in private and corporate collections, and archives.
Media profiles include Nikon Pro Spotlight video, Nikon World magazine, PhotoArt magazine (cover) and Zoom magazine (cover), among others. In addition to guest-lecturing at leading universities and art institutions, he was the creator/co-director of a photography educational program in Paris and Los Angeles.
For more information about his abstract photography, visit his abstract website →