Karsten Thormaehlen

Karsten Thormaehlen (born 28 July 1965) is a German photographer, editor and creative director. He lives and works in Wiesbaden, Germany.

Early life and education
Thormaehlen grew up in Bad Kreuznach and Bingen am Rhein. After a commercial apprenticeship and civilian service he studied Philosophy, Art History, Political science and Graphic Design in Mainz and Wiesbaden, where he graduated with honors in 1993.

Photography
Between 1994 and 1998 he worked as an art director and photographer for a German owner-managed advertising agency in New York City, where he developed advertising campaigns and directed TV commercials.

Thormaehlen's freelance portrait projects include Jahrhundertmensch (2008), Happy at Hundred (2011), Aging Gracefully (2017) and Silver Heroes (2009). They have been published as books and have been exhibited in Germany, Austria, Switzerland and Japan. Thormaehlen's works "Erika E., born in 1910", and "Susannah M. Jones, at age 116", were chosen for the exhibitions by the National Portrait Gallery in London as part of the 2011 and 2016 Taylor Wessing Photographic Portrait Prizes. His work has been included in The Guardian.

He works as a commercial photographer, taking portraits. Since 2010, he has worked as an assistant professor, lecturer and guest speaker at various universities, academies and photo festivals, including RheinMain University, the Academy of Visual Arts Frankfurt and Fürstenecker Fototage.

In 2021, his first solo exhibition Not Another Second was shown at the art gallery of The Watermark at Brooklyn Heights and will tour to Los Angeles, Napa, California and Tucson, Arizona in 2021.

Family
Thormaehlen was born into a family with many influential personalities of Germany's 20th century art scene. His great-grandfather Emil Thormaehlen (1859–1941) was an architect and principal of the arts and crafts schools Magdeburg and Cologne. He was also co-founder of Deutscher Werkbund. One of his two sons, Ludwig Thormaehlen (1889–1956), was a professor of Art History, a sculptor and between 1914 and 1933 a curator at the Alte Nationalgalerie Berlin. Among other artists he was friends with Edvard Munch and Erich Heckel, a member of the expressionist artist's group Brücke. His great-great aunt Alexe Altenkirch (1871–1943) was a painter and graphic designer at Zanders Papers. She had been photographed by August Sander for his famous series People of the 20th Century.

Solo exhibitions

 * 2009: Karsten Thormaehlen: Silver Heroes, Frankfurt City Public Health Department, Frankfurt, Germany
 * 2010: Karsten Thormaehlen: Jahrhundertmensch, MMK 3, Museum für Moderne Kunst Frankfurt, Germany
 * 2014: Karsten Thormaehlen: Pioniere der Zukunft, University of Zurich, Schlieren, Switzerland
 * 2014: Karsten Thormaehlen: Aktiv in die Zukunft, DOSB Deutscher Olympischer Sportbund, Dominikanerkloster, Frankfurt, Germany
 * 2015: Karsten Thormaehlen: Happy at Hundred, Toranomon Hills, Tokyo, Japan, 16–18 April 2015
 * 2021: Karsten Thormaehlen: Not Another Second, The Watermark at Brooklyn Heights, January 2021
 * 2023: Karsten Thormaehlen: Not Another Second, The Watermark at Westwood Village, January 2023

Group exhibitions

 * 2004: Im Rausch der Dinge, Fotomuseum Winterthur, Winterthur, Switzerland
 * 2005: The Nature of Skin, Kunsthaus Hamburg, Barlach Halle K, Hamburg, Germany
 * 2011: Taylor Wessing Photographic Portrait Prize, National Portrait Gallery, London
 * 2016: Taylor Wessing Photographic Portrait Prize, National Portrait Gallery, London
 * 2018: Pink is the New Grey, Weltkulturenmuseum, Frankfurt, Germany

Publications

 * 100 Jahre Lebensglück. Munich: Knesebeck, 2017. ISBN 978-3-95-728072-5.
 * Aging Gracefully. San Francisco: Chronicle, 2017. ISBN 978-1-45-214533-4.
 * Silver Heroes. Heidelberg: Kehrer, 2012. ISBN 978-3-86-828303-7.
 * Happy at Hundred. Heidelberg: Kehrer, 2011. ISBN 978-3-86-828243-6.
 * Jahrhundertmensch. Frankfurt, 2008. ISBN 978-3-00-025096-5.
 * Rome. Kempen, Germany: teNeues, 2004. ISBN 978-3-8238-4578-2.
 * Not Another Second – LGBT+ Seniors Share Their Stories, ed. by Ines Newby and June Hussey, Tucson, Arizona: Watermark Retirement Communities, 2021. ISBN 978-0-5788-0580-1..
 * Young at Heart, ed. by Christine von Arnim, Göttingen, Germany: Steidl, 2021. ISBN 978-3-96999-029-2.

Awards

 * 2013: Nominated, Deutscher Alterspreis
 * 2015: Silver winner, Clio Awards, Public Service, Print category, for a photograph from his centenarians series used in advertising New Zealand Breast Cancer Foundation / Skinfoods
 * 2016: Design and Art Direction (D&AD) London
 * 2016: Shortlisted, Taylor Wessing Photographic Portrait Prize, London, for a photograph from his centenarians series
 * 2017: Bronze in Portraiture/Personality, Px3 Prix de la Photographie Paris, for a photograph from his centenarians series
 * 2021: Shortlisted, Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity, Health and Wellness category