Biography

Peter Knapp studied graphic design in the famous Kunstgewerbeschule in Zurich, he left Switzerland in 1952 and studied at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris. His skills as a graphic designer and his research into typography, quickly attracted attention. 

At age 25, he landed a position as artistic director of the famous Les Galeries Lafayette. In 1959, Hélène Lazareff, the founder of Elle magazine, hired him as the artistic director of the magazine Elle.

Knapp left the magazine in 1966, and returned in 1974. The strength of his fashion photographs for designers such as Courrèges, Ungaro, Lagerfeld, Yves Saint-Laurent, Montana, and Mugler relied upon the quality of his personal interaction with his models. Whether it is painting, filmmaking, graphic design, or photography, Knapp's taste for experimentation has always been pronounced. 

He was innovative exhibiting his photographs ; Knapp was one of the first artists to display large color photographs in galleries, at a time when most photographers were working in the more traditional format of black and white.
Knapp also loved the medium of film, and in 1966, he embarked on a series of short films devoted to fashion for the television program Dim, Dam, Do.
After his lengthy collaboration with Elle and other magazines such as Stern, Vogue and the Sunday Times Magazine, he gradually focused more on his personal work retaining an interest in graphic design.

Today, Peter Knapp still travels the world bursting with ideas, creative energy and activities.

Favorite pictures