01 / Career record
Early life
Paolo Roversi was born on 25 September 1947 in Ravenna, Italy. A family holiday to Spain in 1964 sparked an interest in photography; back home, he built a darkroom in a local cellar with the postman and fellow enthusiast Battista Minguzzi, and found a formative mentor in the photographer Nevio Natali, whose studio became his informal apprenticeship.
02 / Career record
Early career
Roversi’s professional career began in 1970, when the Associated Press hired him for his first assignment: photographing Ezra Pound’s funeral in Venice. That year he also co-founded a portrait studio in Ravenna with Giancarlo Gramantieri. A chance meeting in 1971 with Peter Knapp, the Swiss art director of Elle, led to an invitation to Paris, where Roversi moved permanently in November 1973.
03 / Career record
Building a Paris career
In Paris, Roversi worked initially as a reporter for the Huppert Agency before the British photographer Laurence Sackmann took him on as an assistant in 1974 for nine months of intensive training; Roversi has recalled Sackmann’s advice that "your tripod and your camera must be well-fixed but your eyes and mind should be free." Freelance work for Elle and Dépêche Mode followed, and Marie Claire published his first major fashion story, establishing him professionally.
04 / Career record
A distinctive style
Roversi became a regular contributor to American Vogue, Vogue Italia, W, Vanity Fair, Interview and i-D, and built an advertising portfolio spanning Yohji Yamamoto, Comme des Garçons, Dior, Cerruti, Yves Saint Laurent, Valentino and Alberta Ferretti. He is known for a minimalist, painterly style — "my photography is more subtraction than addition," he has said — and for his continued use of 8x10 Polaroid film, having stockpiled the format before its discontinuation. He remains based in Paris.
05 / At a glance
Quick facts.
- —First assignment, for the Associated Press, was photographing Ezra Pound’s funeral in Venice, 1970
- —Moved to Paris in November 1973 at the invitation of Elle art director Peter Knapp
- —Trained under British photographer Laurence Sackmann before establishing his own practice
- —Regular contributor to American Vogue, Vogue Italia, W, Vanity Fair, Interview and i-D
- —Advertising work for Dior, Yves Saint Laurent, Valentino, Comme des Garçons and Yohji Yamamoto
- —Known for shooting with 8x10 Polaroid film, stockpiling supply ahead of its discontinuation