Nadav Kander The Meeting

"It's no mystery why he is regularly hired by the New York Times Magazine … Kander strives to reveal something in his subjects that has not been seen before, and to humanize rather than flatter or ingratiate." –Los Angeles Review of Books

Regardless of his sitter―whether family member or influential celebrity―the portraiture of London-based photographer Nadav Kander (born 1961) shows what makes that particular individual human. His aim is to move beyond capturing an accurate likeness―to access the emotions within, the uncertainty, the shadow as much as the light, the complex sense of self that otherwise lays hidden. “Revealed and concealed, beauty and destruction, ease and disease, shame and shameless,” explains Kander, “These paradoxes are essential to all my work and represent what is common to all my varied subject matter.” This collection, the first book dedicated to his portraiture, shows the range and nuance of Kander’s work. His enigmatic depictions of actors, artists, musicians, authors, sports icons and political leaders―from Barack Obama, John le Carré and Alexander McQueen to Tracey Emin, Robert Plant and Prince Charles―are layered and penetrating, revealing unexpected moments of reverie and vulnerability.

Born in 1961, Nadav Kander lives and works in London. His work is held in collections including the National Portrait Gallery, London; the Museum of Contemporary Photography, Chicago; and the Statoil Collection, Norway. His exhibitions include those at the Museum of Photographic Arts, San Diego; the Museum of Applied Arts, Cologne; and Somerset House, London.