Ellen von Unwerth (*1954 in Frankfurt) pursued a successful career as a model, until she decided to take up the camera by herself to take portraits of native children in Kenya during a fashion production in 1988. After these photos had been published in the French fashion magazine »Jill«, Ellen von Unwerth decided to change entirely to the field of photography. Soon after, she discovered the 17-year-old Claudia Schiffer and achieved success with her commissioned work by the French magazine »Elle«. Today she ranks among the most successful and most established artists in photographic art. Ellen von Unwerth’s photographs are characterized by a cool eroticism, whereby women are staged intentionally in a playful, witty and ironic way to underline their beauty in many facets.

The photographies by Ellen von Unwerth are published in magazines like »Glamour«, »GQ«, »i-D Magazine«, »Interview Magazine«, »Numero«, »Vanity Fair«, and »Vogue«. Her most famous photobooks are, amongst others, »Snaps« (1994), »Couples« (1998), »Revenge« (2003), »Fräulein« (2009), »The Story of Olga« (2012), and »Heimat« (2017). She lives and works in Paris.