Claudio Edinger

Claudio Edinger is a Brazilian photographer born in Rio de Janeiro in 1952.

Claudio Edinger was born in Rio de Janeiro in May 1952 and before his second birthday his family moved to São Paulo.

He has said that in his mind he has often thought his soul was in São Paulo and his heart in Rio.

This love of both places, he believes, shows in his photographs of both cities.

Edinger may well be the contemporary master of the photographic series.

Taking his cue from Tolstoy's phrase, "without knowing who I am, life is impossible", Edinger, from the beginning of his career, has used his camera as a research tool trying to explore his chosen subject matter in great detail, often to its depths.

It is research that is often highly charged emotionally both to Edinger and to the viewer of his photographs.

In 1975 he had his first individual exhibition, at the São Paulo Museum of Art, with photographs of the Martinelli Building, a vertical slum in downtown São Paulo.

Edinger's first series of photographs began in 1975 when he chose to explore the Martinelli Building in São Paulo, his home city.

At one time the Martinelli was the tallest and most exclusive apartment building in São Paulo.

When Edinger began his (photographic) essay on the Building, it had been reduced to a vertical slum.

One can say that by exploring a subject in depth, Edinger had set the template of his aesthetic that the camera can be used to explore in depth which has resulted in over thirteen books dealing with specific subjects.

He lived in New York from 1976 to 1996.

Edinger studied economics at Mackenzie University in São Paulo, Brazil.

At the same time, in the beginning of the Seventies, he began taking photographs.

In 1977 he studied with Philippe Halsman (1906–1979), the great master portraitist.

In 1978 after two years photographing the Hassidic Jews in Brooklyn, Edinger had an individual exhibit "Hassidic Jews” at the International Center of Photography in New York. From 1979 to 1994 Edinger taught classes at Parson's/New School for Social Research and at the International Center of Photography (1992–1994).

During the time Claudio lived in New York City, he published three books: Chelsea Hotel –1983, Venice Beach –1985 both by Abbeville Press, (both received the Leica Medal of Excellence), and The Making of Ironweed, published by Viking Penguin, about the film directed by Hector Babenco, written by William Kennedy, with Meryl Streep and Jack Nicholson.

In 1986 Claudio started photographing for a book about India.

In 1989 and 1990 Claudio photographed the Juqueri Psychiatric Hospital, in São Paulo, where he lived for two weeks.

Edinger received the Ernst Haas Award in 1990 for this work.

From 1991 to 1996, Claudio photographed carnaval in Brazil's five different regions: Rio de Janeiro, Salvador, Recife/Olinda, São Paulo, and Paraty.

Between 1994 and 1996, Claudio photographed the old part of Havana, Cuba.

The following year he moved to New York City and lived there until 1996.

Throughout the 20 years he spent in the United States, Edinger developed personal photographic essays.

He also worked as a freelance photographer for Brazilian and North American newspapers and magazines such as Veja, Time, Newsweek, Life, Rolling Stone, Vanity Fair, The New York Times Magazine, among many others.

When he returned to Brazil in 1996, Edinger published Carnaval, by DBA, DAP and Dewi Lewis (England).

Madness was published by DBA, DAP and by Dewi Lewis Publishing in 1997.

Old Havana was published in 1997 by Dewi Lewis, Edition Stemmle, DBA and DAP.

That same year the book was named by American Photo as one of the best books of the year.

In 1999 Carnaval won the Higashikawa Prize in Japan.

In 1999, the book Vitória, city of the islands, about the capital of the Espirito Santo State in Brazil, was published by Abooks.

In 2000 Edinger published Cityscapes, with photographs of New York.

Claudio began working with a large format, 4x5 camera, in 2000, to photograph the city where he was born, Rio de Janeiro.

In 2001, Portraits, a collection of photos done for his books and for magazines.

Both books were published by DBA.

Rio was published in 2003 by DBA.

It was named one of the best books of the year by Photo District News.

In 2006 the book Flesh and Spirit, an anthology of 30 years of his work, was published by Umbrage and DBA.

His book: São Paulo: minha estranha cidade linda also done with a large format camera, came out in March 2009, published by DBA and has received the Porto Seguro Award in Brazil.