MICHEL COMTE MICHEL COMTE AND MILK, A COLLABORATION 1996-2016

Exhibition that celebrates the twenty year collaboration between MILK and legendary photographer in time for the twentieth anniversary of MILK as a creative hub of photography.

This week marks the 20th anniversary of Milk Studios. After two decades of creativity, we’re finally leaving adolescence behind, and we’re doing it in a big way. To celebrate this occasion, the Milk Gallery is exhibiting works from one of the very best Milk collaborators: legendary Swiss photographer Michel Comte. As one of the most important photographers in the fashion industry, Comte has shot prolifically for magazines including Vogue and its various international editions, Vanity Fair, and Interview. He’s captured the portraits of everyone from Naomi Campbellto Sharon Stone, and last year he released his first feature film, The Girl From Nagasaki.

Comte has lived such a fascinating life that we thought it would be best if he told you about it himself. Read on to learn about Michel’s history with the Swiss Air Force, his big break with Karl Lagerfeld, and his long, close collaboration with Milk.

Comte on his youth: 

I grew up outside of Zurich, in the countryside. I was obsessed with horses – that was my main passion. I come from a family of adventurers. My grandfather was thefounder of Swiss Air. He learned how to fly in 1909 in Paris. One other man, Oscar Bider, brought an airplane to France, and that became the Swiss Airforce. He was a very eccentric man, and he was very close to people that we read about, like Winston Churchill and Howard Hughes.

Most of my friends were older, and British or French, so I wanted to leave and go to school abroad. I ended up in a very strict English school where we had to wear tails. That was my very first experience abroad—it was England in the late ‘60s, and London at that time was… it was the time of Blow Up, and British Vogue was the fashion bible of the time. David Bailey was dominating the pages, and my dream was to assist him. He said I could, but then my father brought me back to Switzerland to continue my education. I wanted to become a doctor. I then moved into the art world and learned art restoration. I started collaborating with Andy Warhol and Yves Klein, and through strange coincidence that lead me to becoming a photographer.

Comte on his career beginnings:

I always tell people, when you start, don’t try to please. Your vision has to be very defined. By coincidence, I met Karl Lagerfeld at a dinner. He needed a photographer because he worked with Helmut [Newton], but for some reason the camera jammed and there were no pictures. And those pictures that were published; that was a Chloécampaign.

For anyone who steps into this crazy fashion world, I think there’s nothing better than a background in art. It was the ‘70s, and land art was prominent. I went to Michael Heiser’s double negative when it was built, and now we just produced the filmTroublemakers by James Crump, and that kind of connected all the dots. People likeWalter de Maria, James Turrell and Michael Heiser dominated the land art scene, while in New York and Paris and Germany we had everyone from Yves Klein toJoseph Beuys, so it was an incredible time. We even used to visit Francis Bacon’s studio in London.

I had a very early success. My first magazines were Italian Vogue, American Vogue, andInterview. We stayed loyal, that group of people, and we still collaborate. I met Franca Sozzani at the beginning of my career, and we still talk almost every three days. And now her son is a great photographer, and a friend of mine.

When I started working, I was like a white sheet of paper. I knew nothing. I learned how to use a camera from the great Life magazine books, On Photography. One of them was Irving Penn in the studio, and there was [Henri] Cartier-Bresson. I learned how to build a lab from the Time-Life books. I processed and developed everything. The first two years I did hair and makeup myself. It was a very different time, you know? It was a real labor of love.