Christopher Thomas

  • Selected Works

    Bittersweet

    “This series is about feelings, sad ones, happy ones and everything in between. It is about joy and fear, it is melancholic and warm, it is about gain and loss, it is about the beginning and the end of life and the whole time in between.” – Christopher Thomas

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    Passion, 2010

    From a vow made in 1633, every ten years, the inhabitants of Oberammergau, a small town in Bavaria, put on a show recounting the sufferings, the death and the resurrection of Jesus.

    In 2010, Christopher Thomas decided to photograph these scenes of the Passion. He focused on the expression of the deepest human feelings, hope, suffering, astonishment, horror, joy. The photographs do not represent overall scenes. They are portraits of individuals, those amateurs who embody the protagonists of history: merchants, soldiers, the apostles, Mary, Jesus.
    The shots took place during the rehearsals. The choice of colors - subtle shades of brown, gray, on dark backgrounds, reinforces the expressive power of the images.
    The images refer to the works of great European painters like Holbein the Elder, Caravaggio, Zurbaran, Rembrandt ...

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    Lost in L.A., 2015-2017

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    Venice in solitude, 2012

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    New York Sleeps, 2001-2009

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    Paris, City of Light, 2014

    The complete series of 100 images can be seen in the book "Paris City of Lights", Prestel Editions, 2014.

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    Series
  • Biography

    Biography

    Germany , 1961

    Christopher Thomas was born in Munich in 1961 and graduated from the Bayerische Staatslehranstalt für Photographie. He has received a number of international awards as a commercial photographer.

    In the 1990s, Thomas also worked as a photographer for aid organizations such as Nepra e. V. and DAHW (German Leprosy and Tuberculosis Relief Organization) on numerous trips to Nepal, India, and Ethiopia, for which he received the World Press Award and the Epica Award (both 1995) as well as the Gold Medal (1995) at the New York Festival. Between 2012 and 2016 he accompanied an international group of female plastic surgeons on their travels to India and Bangladesh documenting their work.

    As an artist, Christopher Thomas has established a reputation above all through his city portraits. His series Munich Elegies was published in 2005 by Schirmer / Mosel Verlag. This was followed in 2009 by the series New York Sleeps published by Prestel Verlag.

    In 2010 Christopher Thomas photographed amateur actors and actresses during rehearsals for the Passion Play in Oberammergau. The result was a series of fifty-six portraits, reminiscent of paintings by Old Masters, which evoke the spirit of the Passion Play. These portraits were published in a book titled Passion by Prestel Verlag in the same year. They have been exhibited worlwide, most recently in the German Parliament.

    Works by Christopher Thomas can be seen worldwide in renowned photo galleries and at trade fairs, but also in large private and institutional collections such as the François Pinault Collection, the Nicola Erni Collection, the Sir Elton John Photo Collection, the Art Collection of the German Bundestag and many others.

    Exhibitions:

    2017
    Lost in L.A., HIGHLIGHTS Art Fair Munich
    Lost in L.A., Hamiltons Gallery, London
    New York Sleeps, Venice in Solitude, Paris . City of Light, Engadin, Flo Peters Gallery, Hamburg

    2016
    Engadin, Art Genève, Geneva
    Engadin, Bernheimer Fine Art, Lucerne
    Passion, St. Matthäus Church, Berlin
    Passion, Herrenclub, Munich
    Vom Allmächtigen zum Leibhaftigen – Religous works from the SØR Rusche Collection Oelde/Berlin, Kunsthaus Apolda Avantgarde

    2015
    Engadin, Evangelische Dorfkirche, St. Moritz
    Wahrheiten (Truths) – Contemporary Art in Dialog with Old Masters, Works from the SØR Rusche Collection Oelde/Berlin, Museum Abtei Liesborn
    Paris City of Light, Paris Photo Fair, Bernheimer Fine Art Photography, Munich
    The Human Face: Christopher Thomas in the Company of Old Masters, Colnaghi Old Masters, London
    Views of Paris, group exhibition including “Sacre Cœr III”, Kunstmuseum Picasso Münster

    2014
    Paris City of Light, Steven Kasher Gallery, New York
    Paris City of Light, Bernheimer Fine Art Photography, Munich
    City portraits: Munich, New York, Venice, Paris, Bernheimer Fine Art, Lucerne
    Passion, Museum Kirche zum Heiligen Kreuz, Zitta

    2013
    seelenblicke, KunstKulturKirche, Frankfurt
    New York Sleeps, Photolux Festival, Lucca
    Leitzachtal 2012, Tannerhof, Bayrischzell
    City Portraits, Elipsis Gallery, Istanbul
    Burnt Women, Bernheimer Fine Art Photography
    Passion Inri, Sankt Rochus Church, Düsseldorf

    2012
    Venice, in Solitude, Hamiltons Gallery, London
    Venice, in Solitude, Bernheimer Fine Art Photography, Munich
    Venice, in Solitude, Fifty One Fine Art Photography, Antwerp
    Passion, Galerie Photo 12, Paris
    New York Sleeps, Helsinki Photography Biennial
    New York Sleeps, Museum im Kleihues-Bau, Stuttgart-Kornwestheim
    Venice in Solitude, Steven Kasher Gallery, New York
    Passion, Bayerisches Nationalmuseum, Munich
    New York Sleeps, The Wapping Project Bankside, London

    2011
    New York Sleeps, Fifty One Fine Art Photography, Antwerpen
    Munich . New York . Photographs

    2010
    Bernheimer Fine Art Photography, Schloss Fuschl, Fuschl, Austria
    New York Sleeps . Photographs by Christopher Thomas,
    Bernheimer Fine Art Photography, Munich

    2009
    Christopher Thomas . New York Sleeps, Steven Kasher Gallery, New York
    Munich inspires, Exhibition for the 850th city anniversary,
    Literaturhaus München, Munich

    2008
    Places beyond Turbulence . Photographs by Olaf Otto Becker and
    Christopher Thomas, Credit Suisse AG, Munich

    2007
    Munich Elegies . Photographs by Christopher Thomas, Fotomuseum München
    Christopher Thomas . Munich Elegies. Photographs from 1999–2005

    2006
    Schirmer/Mosel Showroom, Munich

    Museums and collections:

    German Parliament (Deutscher Bundestag)
    SOR Collection
    Credit Suisse
    Elton John Collection
    Francois Pinault Collection
    Nicola Erni Collection
    Bayerisches Nationalmuseum (Bavarian National Museum)
    Fotomuseum München ( Museum for photography Munich)
    Agnelli Collection

    Links
  • Exhibitions

    Exhibitions and Fairs

     

    2023 | Photo Basel 2023 | Volkshaus Basel, Rebgasse 12-14, 4058 Basel, Switzerland

     

    2022 | Bittersweet | Galerie XII Paris

    2022 | Expolaroïd | Galerie XII Paris

     

    2019 | PhotoLA 2019 | The Barker Hangar, Santa Monica

    2019 | Lost in L.A. | Galerie XII Los Angeles

     

    2015 | Fotofever 2015 | CARROUSEL DU LOUVRE

    2015 | Art Elysées 2015 | Stand 114A - in Paris on the Champs-Elysées along the Grand Palais

     

    2014 | Venice in Solitude | Galerie XII Paris

    2014 | Art Elysées 2014 | Pavillons sur l’avenue des Champs-Élysées, Paris 8ème

    2014 | PhotoShanghai 2014 | Shanghai Exhibition Centre

    2014 | Passion | Museum of the Holy Cross Church, Zittau, Germany

     

    2013 | Colour Today! | Bernheimer gallery

    2013 | Fotofever Paris 2013 | Carrousel du Louvre, Paris

    2013 | Fotofever Brussels 2013 | Tour & Taxis, Brussels

    2013 | Passion Inri | Eglise Saint-Roch, Düsseldorf, Allemagne

     

    2012 | Passion | Galerie XII Paris

    Years
  • Press
    Years
  • Bibliography

    Bibliography

    2017 | Lost in L.A.
    Edited and with a preface by Ira Stehmann. Prestel Publishing: Munich London New York, 2017. 144 pages Hardcover Book, 30 x 28 cm
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    2015 | Engadin
    Edited and with a preface by Ira Stehmann. 128 pages with 56 illustrations First edition with 500 copies. Hardcover book, 25 x 32 cm
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    2014 | Paris, City of Lights
    Edited by Ira Stehmann. With a preface by Valéry Giscard d'Estaing, an essay by Ira Stehmann and a postface by Christopher Thomas. Prestel Publishing: Munich London New York, 2014. 160 pages with 80 b/w illustrations Hardcover Book, 30 x 28 cm
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    2012 | Venice in Solitude
    Photographs by Christopher Thomas With poems by Albert Ostermaier. Edited by Ira Stehmann. Prestel Verlag: München London New York, 2012. 160 pages with 80 s/w illustrations
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    2010 | Passion
    Edited by Petra Giloy-Hirtz and Ira Stehmann. With texts by Christian Stückl, Ludwig Mödl, Petra Giloy-Hirtz and Christopher Thomas. Prestel Publishing: Munich London New York, 2010. 128 pages with 56 colour illustrations Hardcover, 28 x 37,5 cm
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    2009 | New York Sleeps
    Edited by Petra Giloy-Hirtz and Ira Stehmann. With texts by Ulrich Pohlmann and Bob Shamis. Prestel Publishing: Munich London New York, 2009. 144 pages with 70 b/w illustrations Hardcover, 30 x 28 cm
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    Years