KNUT BRY
Art, Fashion & Documentary Photographer, b. 1946, Hovet, Hallingdal, Norway
Profile
Knut Bry is a self-taught Norwegian photographer whose five-decade career spans Paris haute couture, international advertising campaigns, artworks and a long-term humanitarian documentary work. From a cook's apprenticeship in Oslo to the studios of Vogue and Elle in Paris and Milan, Bry built a reputation as an experimental colorist within art and commercial photography before turning his lens toward environmental issues, the refugee camps of Lesvos and the war in Gaza. His work sits in the permanent collections of the Henie-Onstad Art Centre and the Preus Museum, which since 2025 holds his complete photographic archive.
CAREER HIGHLIGHTS
1965 Moved to Oslo; apprenticed as a cook at Hotel Norum, Oslo (five years).
1970 First prize, A-magasinet's colour photography competition, awarded a Pentax Spotmatic; used the accompanying cash prize to buy a 105mm lens.
1972 Approached Italian Vogue's Milan office unannounced and met photographer Oliviero Toscani in his studio.
1973 Drove to Paris in a Morris Mini and approached French Vogue; shortly after modelled in Yves Saint-Laurent's first menswear collection. First photographic assignment, for the magazine 20 Ans.
1975 Settled permanently in Paris and chose photography as his profession; spent three years on staff with art director Peter Knapp at Elle. First advertising commission: Wrangler, shot on location in Marrakesh.
1970s–2000s Worked from studios in Paris and, from around 1984, New York, as a fashion and advertising photographer.
From c. 1987 Regular contributing photographer, Condé Nast Traveler.
1995- Represented by Tinagent, Oslo, Norway
SELECTED PORTRAIT SUBJECTS
Statesmen & public figures:
Jonas Gahr Støre — Prime Minister of Norway
Elie Wiesel — Nobel Peace Prize laureate and human rights advocate
Mikhail Gorbachev — former President of the Soviet Union
Musicians & performers:
Whitney Houston
A-ha
Grace Jones
Mari Boine
Jan Garbarek
Ziggy Marley
Alva Chinn
AWARDS
1986 – Photographer of the Year, United States
1989 – Photographer of the Year, Norway
1993 – The Smoke-Free Prize (Røykfriprisen), Norway
1994 – Fotografiprisen, Norwegian Association of Photographers
2006 – Buskerud County Cultural Prize
SELECTED EXHIBITIONS
1980–83 Early solo exhibitions in Paris and Oslo, including Landscapes at Bill Evans Gallery, Paris, and a joint show with Rolf Aagaard at Riddervolds plass, Oslo
1981 Solo exhibitions, Preus Museum, Norway
1986 «Fashion Portraits», Espace Canon, Paris
1992 «Norilsk Sibiria», Gallery F15, Jeløya, Norway
1992 «Norilsk Sibiria», Norilsk Museum, Russia
1995 «Fossegrimen», Henie Onstad Art Centre, Norway
1996 Solo exhibitions, Preus Museum, Norway
1998 «Lys og refleksjoner», Vigelandsmuseet, Oslo Norway
2001 «Kunst gjennom nåløyet», Henie Onstad Art Centre, Norway
2006 «Alfa Omega», Stenersen Museum, Oslo, Norway1992 «Norilsk Sibiria», Gallery F15, Jeløya, Norway
2017 «Moria/Pikpa» photographs workshop at Tate Modern, London; subsequently shown at Bærum Kunsthall, Oslo Negativ, Oslo Cathedral and St. Olav Domkirke, Stjørdal Museum, and Manshausen.
2026 Solo exhibition, Oslo Negativ — the Munch Hall, the old National Gallery, Oslo, Norway
2026 «Knut Bry a Retrospective” Preus Museum, Norway
PUBLIC & PERMANENT COLLECTIONS
Henie-Onstad Art Centre
Preus Museum — permanent collection; acquired his complete photographic archive in 2024
Nord-Norske Kunstsamlinger (Northern Norway Art Collections)
ENVIRONMENTAL & HUMANITARIAN ENGAGEMENT
1989–90 Campaign photographer, “Stop the Death Clouds from the Soviet Union”, documenting pollution from the Nikel smelter near Kirkenes.
1994 Utrolige Kola, a photographic project on Russia's Kola Peninsula.
Collaborations with Bellona and environmentalist Fredrik Hauge; ongoing engagement on global water scarcity.
2002 Såpe, a project with the Salvation Army in Bangladesh.
2016–present Volunteer photographer on Lesvos, Greece, at the Pikpa and Moria refugee sites — six stays totalling roughly eighteen months.
2022 Arrested and charged with espionage on Lesvos; charges were dropped in May 2025.
2023–present Campaign photographer documenting the situation in Palestine and Gaza.
SELECTED PUBLICATIONS
Utrolige Kola (1994) · Fossegrimen (1995) · Cato mot Sydpolen (1995) · Knut Bry (1996) · Hardingfela (1997) · Lys og refleksjoner (1998) · Såpe (2002) · the Metochi cookbooks (from 2016) · Pikpa (2018) · HÅP (2020) · Moria (2023) — plus contributions to roughly sixty Norwegian book publications in total.