1. Biography
Albrecht Tubke, born July 16th
1971 is a German photographer that specialises in
portraiture. Tubke studied at the Leipzig Academy of Visual Arts, where he received his
diploma in 1997; Tubke took his studies further in London at the Guildhall University where
he graduated in 2001.
Tubke’s inspiration comes from the human form/being; he likes to explore the different
ways of life. On the other hand his inferences come from two things, his family and the
photographers he likes; Tubke comes from a family of painters, growing up with paintings all
around him has made making pictures important to him. Tubke said in an interview that he
“adores the work of August Sander, Diane Arbus and Richard Avedon”; he likes the
simplicity of how they are shooting portraits, straight photography with a big interest in
peoples lives without any intellectual disturbance but nevertheless very sophisticated.
These elements had a huge impact on the way Tubke works, shoots and lives.
When Tubke finished his studies, he went out and began to photograph people he
encountered in the cities of Europe and the USA; he became part of a long tradition of
documentary portraiture. Tubke admired portrait photographers such as Diane Arbus and
August Sander which influenced him to take the photographs he does. In 2000, whilst
studying, Tubke completed his first series of photographs that he named “Dalliendorf”.
Dalliendorf is a small village in the north eastern part of Germany where Tubke lived for 10
years, he returned to portray the individuals he grew up with and the way they live their
lifestyle.
The same year he graduated, Tubke successfully completed a series of photographs called
“Citizens”; the methodology of portraiture photography was the same as “Dalliendorf” but
this time he was confronting strangers instead of familiar figures. “Citizens” got Tubke out
there in the real world where he took careful notation of the styles, attitude and persona of
everyone he shot; this acted as a seminal recording project for his later work such as
“Pulica” 2004, “Donna” 2008 and “Personae (Made In Italy)” (2009-2010).
