Christopher Thomas

Christopher Thomas, born in 1961 in Munich and a graduate from the Bayerische Staatslehranstalt für Photographie, has received a number of international awards as a commercial photographer. His photo reportages have appeared in magazines such as Geo, Süddeutsche Zeitung Magazin, Stern and Merian. In the 1990s Christopher Thomas also worked as a photographer for aid organisations such as Nepra e. V. and DAHW (German leprosy and tuberculosis aid organisation) on numerous trips to Nepal, India and Ethiopia for which he received the World Press Award and the Epica Award (both 1995) and the Gold Medal (1995) at the New York Festival. Between 2012 and 2016 he accompanied an international group of female plastic surgeons on their trips to India and Bangladesh documenting their work. As an artist, Christopher Thomas has established a reputation above all through his city portraits. The first of his cityscapes was Münchner Elegienwhich as exhibited at the Münchner Stadtmuseum in 2005 (published by Schirmer / Mosel, 2005). This was followed by the series New York Sleepsthat he worked on between 2001 and 2009. The companion publication, New YorkSleepswas published by Prestel in 2009 (7th edition 2016) and was awarded the Deutscher Fotobuchpreis (German Photobook Prize). In 2010 Christopher Thomas photographed amateur actors during rehearsals for the Passion Play in Oberammergau. The result was a cycle of 56 portraits reminiscent of paintings by Old Masters that exude the spirit of the Play. The volume Passionwas published by Prestel at the same time. Christopher Thomas received several awards for this cycle such as the Silver Medal of the Art Directors Club of Germany (2011) and the German Design Award (2013). The Bavarian National Museum in Munich exhibited a wide selection of photos from this cycle from October 2011 to April 2012 in its magnificent Gothic Hall. The following two volumes of photographs were also published by Prestel Verlag: Venice in Solitude(2012) and Paris - City of Light(2014). The book Engadinwas presented in conjunction with two exhibitions in St. Moritz in 2015. In 2016 the publication Female,dedicated to the international aid organisation WomenforWomen, came out featuring burned and acid attacked women. His book Leitzachtal,in cooperation with Gerhard Polt, was launched in 2017 as well as his latest cityscape Lost in L.A. (Prestel Verlag). Works by Christopher Thomas can be seen around the world in wellknown photography galleries and at trade fairs, as well as in major private and institutional collections such as the Francois Pinault Collection, the Sir Elton John Photography Collection and the German Bundestag Art Collection among many others.