Since breaking out as a star in the 1977 bodybuilding documentary pump iron, Arnold Schwarzenegger was an international public figure. His career spanned athletics, theater, politics, and as a Republican he took a perhaps unlikely turn advocating for renewable energy.
Schwarzenegger has racked up countless titles and accolades over those nearly 50 years. He has won Mr. Universe four times. He was Mr. Olympia seven times. He starred in films that collectively grossed around $4 billion worldwide. He was elected Governor of California by wide margins in 2003 and 2006.
NOW, Arnold, a new book from art publisher Taschen celebrates the moving image superstar through the work of the many photographers who have turned their lens to him, including some of the art’s foremost practitioners. Some 10 years in the making, the book covers early bodybuilding shots, movie stills, personal photos from the Hollywood star’s archives and exclusive interviews with the likes of director Ivan Reitman (who directed him in Twins, JuniorAnd kindergarten cop) and bodybuilders like Franco Columbu and Dave Draper.
Inside Arnold. Photo: Courtesy of Taschen.
“I made this book,” says Schwarzenegger in a promotional video, “because there’s no other way to sum up the quality of photography that was done in my lifetime.”
Photos indeed cover a large part of a life. Among the many photos of Annie Leibovitz, we find those of the time when she was on a mission to rolling stone during the making of pump ironin 1975. The following year, when writer Charles Gaines convinced the Whitney Museum of American Art to stage a live exhibition of bodybuilders as “artists living inside their own creations”, the photographer documentary Elliott Erwitt was there to capture a dramatic photo of Schwarzenegger posing in front of a crowd.
Michael Childers, a photo of Schwarzenegger at Muscle Beach, Santa Monica, California, in 1976. Photo: Courtesy of Taschen.
Robert Mapplethorpe’s photos, also from 1976, predate pump iron, and were among the famous photographer’s first sales to private collectors, according to dealer Holly Solomon, quoted in the book. Soon after, Schwarzenegger said everyone wanted to shoot him, and in 1977 he found himself naked at the factory, posing for a Polaroid Warhol.
Fashion photographer Herb Ritts photographed in 1991 rolling stone cover of the actor in his Terminator costume, posing with a smile on the beach. And an 80-year-old Richard Avedon photographed him in 2003, as he approached his first election as governor of California.
The book is available in three editions: one for collector (in an edition of 997), for $1,500, each numbered and signed by Schwarzenegger; the Capitello edition (of 850), including a capital column-shaped book rack, for $3,000; and the Annie Leibovitz Fine Art Edition (of 100), with a framed ChromaLuxe print, numbered and signed by the photographer, for $15,000.
See more photos from the book below.
Max Aguilera-Hellweg, Arnold Schwarzenegger exhibition at California Hall, San Francisco (1975). Photo: Courtesy of Taschen.
Annie Leibovitz for vanity lounge (1990). Photo: Courtesy of Taschen.
Tamotsu Fujii, Arnold Schwarzenegger for Nissin Cup noodles (1989). Photo: Courtesy of Taschen.
Annie Leibovitz for vanity lounge (1997). Photo: Courtesy of Taschen.
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