Arthur Elgort


Arthur Elgort is an American fashion photographer best known for his work with Vogue magazine.

Life and career

Elgort was born in Brooklyn, to Sophie and Harry Elgort, a restaurant owner. He is of Russian-Jewish heritage. Raised in New York City, he attended Stuyvesant High School and Hunter College, where he studied painting.
He lives in New York City with his wife, Grethe Barrett Holby, who is a producer, stage director, choreographer, and dramaturge, and three children, including actor and singer Ansel Elgort.
Elgort began his career working as a photo assistant to Gosta "Gus" Peterson. Elgort's 1971 debut in British Vogue created a sensation in the Fashion Photography world where his soon-to-be iconic "snapshot" style and emphasis on movement and natural light liberated the idea of fashion photography. In September 2008, he told Teen Vogue that he credited Mademoiselle for his big break: "They were really brave and gave me a chance. It was the first time I was shooting a cover instead of a half-page here or there."
He worked for such magazines as International and American Vogue, Glamour, GQ, Rolling Stone, and Teen Vogue, and shooting advertising campaigns with fashion labels as Chanel, Valentino, and Yves Saint Laurent. He still works for fashion publications, as well as working on his most recent 2009 advertising campaigns with Via Spiga and Liz Claiborne with Isaac Mizrahi. His work is exhibited in the permanent collections of the International Center of Photography in New York, in the Victoria and Albert Museum in London and in the Museum of Fine Arts in Houston, Texas.
In 2011, Elgort won the CFDA Board of Directors' Award.

Books

Elgort made several films, including Colorado Cowboy that follows legendary cowboy, Bruce Ford, and which won the award for Best Cinematography at the Sundance Film Festival in 1994.