Schatz, Howard 1940-

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Schatz, Howard 1940-

PERSONAL:

Born 1940; married; wife's name Beverly Ornstein; children: two daughters.

ADDRESSES:

Office—Schatz/Ornstein Studio, 435 W. Broadway, New York, NY 10012.

CAREER:

Writer, photographer, physician, educator, and retinal surgeon. Photographs are exhibited in museum collections and photography galleries around the world. University of California, San Francisco, Medical Center, former professor.

WRITINGS:

MEDICAL TEXTS

(With others) Interpretation of Fundus Fluorescein Angiography, C.V. Mosby (St. Louis, MO), 1978.

(Editor, with Lawrence A. Yannuzzi and Kurt A. Gitter) The Macula: A Comprehensive Text and Atlas, Williams & Wilkins (Baltimore, MD), 1979.

Essential Fluorescein Angiography: A Compendium of 100 Classic Cases, Pacific Medical Press (San Anselmo, CA), 1983.

PHOTOGRAPHY

Seeing Red: The Rapture of Redheads, Pomegranate Artbooks (Petaluma, CA), 1993.

Homeless: Portraits of Americans in Hard Times, design by Milton Glaser, foreword by Owen Edwards, afterword by Marilyn Winkleby, Chronicle Books (San Francisco, CA), 1993.

Gifted Woman, Pacific Photographic Press (San Francisco, CA), 1993.

Newborn, Chronicle Books (San Francisco, CA), 1996.

Waterdance, Graphis U.S. (New York, NY), 1996.

Body Type, Stewart, Tabori & Chang (New York, NY), 1996.

Passion and Line: The Dance Photography of Howard Schatz, Graphis (New York, NY), 1997.

Pool Light, Graphis Press (New York, NY), 1998.

The Virtuoso, Stewart, Tabori & Chang (New York, NY), 1999.

Body Knots, foreword by Owen Edwards, Rizzoli (New York, NY), 2000.

Nude Body Nude, foreword by Owen Edwards, HarperCollins (New York, NY), 2000.

Athlete, foreword by George Vecsey, afterword by Ira Berkow, HarperCollins (New York, NY), 2002.

Rare Creatures, Wonderland Press (New York, NY), 2002.

Botanica, Bulfinch Press (New York, NY), 2005.

(And director) In Character: Actors Acting, foreword by Roger Ebert, Bulfinch Press (New York, NY), 2006.

Contributor to periodicals, including Sports Illustrated, Time, Vogue, Vogue Italia, New Yorker, Stern, Life, Photo France, Photo Italia, American Photo, Entertainment Weekly, Elle, Harper's Bazaar, Forbes, U.S. News, Dance, and the New York Times Magazine.

SIDELIGHTS:

Howard Schatz is a prominent photographer and author whose works are consistently seen in some of the world's best-known and most prestigious magazines and periodicals. His photographic works are frequently collected into exhibits at galleries and museums around the world, and his sometimes remarkable visuals are assembled in a number of collections and books. Schatz did not begin his professional life as a photographer. Originally a physician and retinal surgeon who taught at the University of California, San Francisco, Medical Center, Schatz first came to photography as a hobby, pursuing it without background or formal training. "I just did it. I made lots of mistakes; as many as I can think of. I wanted to learn black-and-white photography and portrait photography and set myself to making these portraits," he remarked to Jane Gottlieb in the Photo District News. As Schatz learned more about the art and honed his skills, demand for his photographs increased. His first book, Seeing Red: The Rapture of Redheads, contained photographs celebrating the personalities and beauty of redheads. The book garnered attention from an art director at Clairol, Schatz told Gottlieb, which led to commercial work for the company. From there, Schatz's commercial and artistic career blossomed into a dedicated, full-time pursuit. In addition to his considerable magazine work, Schatz has created photographs and images for several prominent corporations, including DuPont, Kodak, Kellogg's, Epson, and Hasselblad, an upscale camera manufacturer. Schatz works with his wife, Beverly Ornstein, who serves as a senior editor for the creative projects and business manager for the couple's thriving photography business.

Schatz's work often focuses on the human body, particularly the finely crafted bodies of dancers, models, and athletes. However, he has also turned his attention and his incisive lens to subjects of more somber and realistic topics in books such as Homeless: Portraits of Americans in Hard Times. The book is "fairly dripping with nobility. But the mood is brave, heartening, beneficent," commented a reviewer in Publishers Weekly. Schatz's intent was to approach the issue of homelessness head-on, looking directly into the face of those who experience it daily. "Most of the people who are homeless were really, really unlucky and didn't choose it and didn't like it," Schatz remarked to Gottlieb. Schatz includes interview excerpts with the subjects of his photographs, revealing that the homeless are as diverse a group as any other. In this collection of photographs, he manages to "bring out an etched beauty in faces" that most would avoid or simply ignore, the Publishers Weekly contributor stated.

Waterdance explores a recurring theme in Schatz's work, that of the sculpted and toned human body in weightless, effortless movement through water, enhanced by billowing cloth, flowing hair, and glossy reflections. The 176 full-page color photographs in this book "generate pleasure of the kind you get from watching fireworks," observed Gretchen Garner in Booklist. Similar photographic effects can be found in Pool Light, consisting of photos of dancers and models, many nude, moving in intimate connection with water. Working in a custom-built, chemical-free pool, Schatz would stay underwater as long as his models did, breaking for the surface and a gulp of air on their schedule. "In water, a dancer can make a leap that lasts thirty seconds," Schatz told Gottlieb. "The motion is extremely slow and mystical and silent." Schatz's "underwater images are languid and elusive," remarked a biographer on the Photography West Gallery Web site, and the models' elegant poses "draw the viewer into a dreamlike world."

Athlete is Schatz's exploration in images of the wide range and breadth of body types found in sports and other forms of athletic endeavor. His portraits include runners, wrestlers, gymnasts, sumo wrestlers, boxers, swimmers, shot-putters, basketball players, and more. Schatz covers athletes in all their forms, from the bulk of the professional weightlifter to the chiseled form of the long-distance runner. He "manages to show the astonishing range of human body types that can achieve greatness in sports," commented Amby Burfoot in Runner's World.

With In Character: Actors Acting, Schatz focused his attention on a number of prominent actors, challenging them to stretch the boundaries of their profession using only the expressions on their faces. Schatz would give each actor a short line of direction or instruction, and the performer would then shift into character, acting out the scenario while Schatz photographed every movement and nuance of expression. Ellen Burstyn, for example, was asked to portray "a woman scorned," noted a Publishers Weekly reviewer, while a California Literary Review contributor noted that David Carradine portrayed "a senator, greeting a big campaign donor you secretly can't stand." Other notables in the book include Robert Vaughn, Chevy Chase, Danny Glover, and James Earl Jones. The Publishers Weekly contributor called Schatz's collection of portraits "a vital, thrilling window into the breadth of an actor's range."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Booklist, October 15, 1995, Gretchen Garner, review of Waterdance, p. 379.

Creative Review, August, 2000, review of Body Knots, p. 77.

Entertainment Weekly, May 17, 1996, Alexandra Jacobs, review of Newborn, p. 56; March 24, 2006, Gilbert Cruz, "Scene Stealing," review of In Character: Actors Acting, p. 74.

Library Journal, March 1, 1998, Carolyn M. Mulac, review of Passion and Line: The Dance Photography of Howard Schatz, p. 91.

Life, November, 1997, Kenneth Miller, "Camera at Work," review of Passion and Line, p. 113.

Petersen's Photographic, September, 1993, review of Seeing Red: The Rapture of Redheads, p. 8; May, 2001, "Howard Schatz," profile of Howard Schatz, p. 56; April, 2005, "In Character Exhibit in Los Angeles," p. 12.

Photo District News, November, 2003, review of Athlete, p. S43; March, 2005, Jane Gottlieb, "Sharpening His Eye," profile of Howard Schatz, p. 102.

Publishers Weekly, September 6, 1993, review of Homeless: Portraits of Americans in Hard Times, p. 88; March 6, 2006, review of In Character, p. 64.

Runner's World, January, 2003, Amby Burfoot, "A is for Athlete," review of Athlete, p. 16.

Sports Illustrated, October 14, 2002, "Leading Off," review of Athlete, p. 10.

Sports Illustrated Women, November 1, 2002, "Gymcats, Henderson, Nevada," review of Athlete, p. 18.

Variety, Diane Garrett, review of In Character, p. 51.

Whole Earth Review, summer, 1994, Mollie Rights, review of Homeless, p. 72.