Karsten Thormaehlen
Karsten Thormaehlen is a German photographer, editor and creative director. He lives and works in Wiesbaden, Germany.
Karsten Thormaehlen
Karsten Thormaehlen · CC BY-SA 3.0
- Name
- Karsten Thormaehlen
- Birthplace
- Bad Kreuznach, Rhineland-Palatinate, West Germany
- Education
- Fachhochschule Wiesbaden (now RheinMain University of Applied Sciences), 1988–1993, Wiesbaden, Germany
- Occupation
- portrait photographer, still life photographer, Creative director
- Known for
- Portraits of Centenarians
- Spouse
- Michaela Thormaehlen (2000–present)
- Born
- 1965 · Bad Kreuznach.
- Nationality
- Germany
- Languages
- German
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Karsten Thormaehlen is a German photographer, editor and creative director. He lives and works in Wiesbaden, Germany.
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wikidata · Q91627 · wikipedia · Karsten Thormaehlen
In this article
Key facts
Key facts
• Name — Karsten Thormaehlen • Birthplace — Bad Kreuznach, Rhineland-Palatinate, West Germany • Education — Fachhochschule Wiesbaden (now RheinMain University of Applied Sciences), 1988–1993, Wiesbaden, Germany • Occupation — portrait photographer, still life photographer, Creative director • Years Active — 1985–present • Known for — Portraits of Centenarians • Style — Purism, beauty of aging, Documentary photography • Spouse — Michaela Thormaehlen (2000–present) • Website — www.karstenthormaehlen.com
Early life and education
Early life and education
Thormaehlen grew up in Bad Kreuznach and Bingen am Rhein, Germany. After a commercial apprenticeship and civilian service he studied philosophy, art history, political science and graphic design in Mainz and Wiesbaden, where he graduated with honors in 1993.
Solo exhibitions
Solo exhibitions
• 2009: Karsten Thormaehlen: Silver Heroes, Frankfurt City Public Health Department, Frankfurt am Main, Germany • 2010: Karsten Thormaehlen: Jahrhundertmensch, Zollamtsaal, Haus am Dom, Frankfurt am Main, Germany • 2014: Karsten Thormaehlen: Pioniere der Zukunft, University of Zurich, Zurich-Schlieren, Switzerland • 2014: Karsten Thormaehlen: Aktiv in die Zukunft, DOSB Deutscher Olympischer Sportbund, Dominikanerkloster, Frankfurt am Main, Germany • 2015: Karsten Thormaehlen: Happy at Hundred, Toranomon Hills, Tokyo, Japan, 16–18 April 2015 • 2021: Karsten Thormaehlen: Not Another Second, The Watermark at Brooklyn Heights, Brooklyn, New York, January 2021 • 2023: Karsten Thormaehlen: Not Another Second, The Watermark at Westwood Village, Los Angeles, California, January 2023
Group exhibitions
Group exhibitions
• 2004: Im Rausch der Dinge, Fotomuseum Winterthur, Winterthur, Switzerland • 2005: The Nature of Skin, Kunsthaus Hamburg, Barlach Halle K, Hamburg, Germany • 2011: Taylor Wessing Photographic Portrait Prize, National Portrait Gallery, London • 2016: Taylor Wessing Photographic Portrait Prize, National Portrait Gallery, London • 2018: Pink is the New Grey, Weltkulturenmuseum, Frankfurt, Germany
Life and career
Dated record
Life and career
The full dated record · 1 entries
1965
Karsten Thormaehlen born at Bad Kreuznach.
Places
Named by the record
Places
Only places the record itself states, plotted where the house gazetteer settles their coordinates. Nothing is inferred from a name or a nationality.
Wiesbaden
Residences
Bad Kreuznach.
Birth place
Publications
• Rome. Kempen, Germany: teNeues, 2004.. • Jahrhundertmensch. Frankfurt am Main, 2008.. • Happy at Hundred. Heidelberg: Kehrer, 2011.. • Silver Heroes. Heidelberg: Kehrer, 2012.. • Aging Gracefully. San Francisco: Chronicle, 2017.. • Not Another Second – LGBT+ Seniors Share Their Stories, ed. by Ines Newby and June Hussey, Tucson, Arizona: Watermark Retirement Communities, 2021.. • Young at Heart, ed. by Christine von Arnim, Göttingen, Germany: Steidl, 2022.. • 100 Jahre Lebensglück. Munich: Knesebeck, 2025..
Photography
Thormaehlen's projects include portraying people over the age of 100 years and senior athletes. His work includes Jahrhundertmensch (2008), Happy at Hundred (2011), Aging Gracefully (2017) and Silver Heroes (2009). They have been published as books and exhibited. His work has received awards from the Art Directors Club, Tokyo Type Directors Club, Cannes Lions, Clio Awards, D&AD, New York Festivals, Lucie Awards, Portrait of Humanity and Portrait of Britain. His works "Erika E., born in 1910", and "Susannah M. Jones, at age 116", were included in exhibitions at the National Portrait Gallery in London as part of the 2011 and 2016 Taylor Wessing Photographic Portrait Prizes. His work has been included in The Atlantic, Buzz Feed, The Guardian, Harvard Business Review, The Japan Times, Kinfolk, The New York Times, Smithsonian Magazine. and Harvard Business Review. His series Silver Heroes inspired the World Health Organization to launch its first global campaign against agism in 2012. In 2021, portraits from his series Aging Gracefully were displayed as part of the London Design Museum's exhibition New Old – Designing for our future selves at the Pratt Manhattan Gallery in New York City and his first solo exhibition Not Another Second was shown in 2021 and 2023 at the art galleries of The Watermark at Brooklyn Heights and The Watermark at Westwood Village. Thormaehlen works as a commercial photographer, specialising in architecture, still life and portrait photography.
Primary material
Documents and archives
reference work
- “Karsten Thormaehlen”, English Wikipedia, consulted as further reading
Reputable secondary · Wikipedia
authority record
- Wikidata, structured authority record Q91627: Karsten Thormaehlen
General reference · Wikidata
Awards
• 2013: Nominated, Deutscher Alterspreis • 2015: Silver winner, Clio Awards, Public Service, Print category, for a photograph from his centenarians series used in advertising New Zealand Breast Cancer Foundation / Skinfoods • 2016: Shortlisted, Taylor Wessing Photographic Portrait Prize, London, for a photograph from his centenarians series • 2017: Bronze in Portraiture/Personality, Px3 Prix de la Photographie Paris, for a photograph from his centenarians series • 2021: Shortlisted, Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity, Health and Wellness category
Notes from the source article
Cited by Wikipedia
Notes from the source article
These works are cited by the source article, in its own numbering. They are recorded as its citations, not as sources VALÉORINE has verified.
- 1.Karsten Thormaehlen - Singulart Artist. www.singulart.com.
- 2.Freier Fotograf Karsten Thormaehlen. berufsfotografen.com.
- 3.Jahrhundertmensch – Ausstellung mit Tiefencharakter. Bundeszentrale für Politische Bildung (bpb).
- 4.https://portal.dnb.de/opac/showFullRecord?currentResultId=%22Karsten%22+and+%22Thormaehlen%22%26any¤tPosition=10
- 5.Aging Gracefully: Portraits of People over 100 by.
- 6.Who needs a bus pass? Meet the silver sportsmen and women still going for gold. Independent.co.uk. 13 April 2012.
- 7.ADC Annual Awards - Archive of Winners | The One ClubADC Awards | Awards Archive | 2017 | Design | Posters. www.oneclub.org.
- 8.Brauer, Laura. The Lucie Awards Recap: International Photographer of the Year Has a Tie, and Presentations by Ann Curry, Graham Nash and Fran Drescher. Rangefinder. 28 October 2015.
- 9.https://www.1854.photography/awards/portrait-of-humanity/winners/#winners
- 10.https://www.itsnicethat.com/news/portrait-of-humanity-volume-4-winners-photography-170322
- 11.https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cwywj37egwxo
- 12.Taylor Wessing photographic portrait prize 2016 – in pictures. the Guardian. 16 November 2016.
- 13.Stanley, Caroline. What 100 Years Look Like. The Atlantic. 2 April 2013.
- 14.Rosa, Erin La. Here's What Happiness Looks Like At 100 Years Old. BuzzFeed. 5 April 2013.
- 15.The 100-year-old couple – still married, still going strong. The Guardian. 11 February 2017.
- 16.Dychtwald, Ken. Your Company Needs an Eldercare Policy. Harvard Business Review. 1 July 2025.
- 17.Otake, Tomoko. What comes after 100?. The Japan Times. 12 May 2025.
- 18.Kinfolk Volume 10 (Paperback). Goodreads.
- 19.The Stories of Those Who Lost Decades in the Closet (Published 2021). The New York Times. 20 January 2021.
- 20.What is So Good About Growing Old. Smithsonian Magazine.
- 21.https://hbr.org/2025/07/your-company-needs-an-eldercare-policy
- 22.https://iris.who.int/bitstream/handle/10665/70840/WHO_DCO_WHD_2012.1_eng.pdf;jsessionid=B29876565E17C7282A4AD6ABDFD370A6?sequence=1
- 23.'I refused to let them intimidate me': the untold stories of LGBT+ seniors. TheGuardian.com. 27 January 2021.
- 24.Schulman, Michael. Tallying the Lost Years for L.G.B.T. Seniors. The New Yorker. 1 March 2021.
- 25.This Brooklyn Exhibit Displays the Stories of LGBTQ+ Seniors. 19 January 2021.
- 26.Dambrot, Shana Nys. Ever-Changing World: Arts Calendar January 26 - February 1 - LA Weekly. 26 January 2023.
- 27.Karsten Thormaehlen. 20 March 2024.
- 28.Fotograf: Karsten Thormaehlen. Gerda Spillmann Swiss Cosmetics Deutschland GmbH. 14 October 2015.
- 29.Pioniere der Zukunft - Glücklich altern auf Sardinien. Photography-now.com.
- 30.Aktiv in die Zukunft. DOSB.
- 31.https://www.tokyoartbeat.com/en/events/-/2015%2F4B20
- 32.The Stories of Those Who Lost Decades in the Closet. The New York Times.
- 33.Not Another Second. Time Out New York.
- 34.Watermark showcases LGBTQ+ seniors in photo exhibit. Beverly Press.
- 35.Im Rausch der Dinge - Vom funktionalen Objekt zum Fetisch in Fotografien des 20. Jahrhunderts. Fotostiftung Schweiz.
- 36.Exhibitions & Events. Kunsthaus Hamburg.
- 37.Taylor Wessing Photographic Portrait Prize 2011 Exhibition. Ephotozine.
- 38.Taylor Wessing photographic portrait prize – in pictures. The Guardian. 16 November 2016.
- 39.Frankfurter Weltkulturen Museum sucht Exponate zum Thema Alter. Monopol.
- 40.https://portal.dnb.de/opac/showFullRecord?currentResultId=%22Karsten%22+and+%22Thormaehlen%22%26any¤tPosition=17
- 41.https://photography-now.com/exhibition/57776
- 42.https://www.kehrerverlag.com/de/karsten-thormaehlen-mit-hundert-hat-man-noch-traeume-978-3-86828-243-6
- 43.https://www.kehrerverlag.com/de/karsten-thormaehlen-silver-heroes-978-3-86828-303-7
- 44.Maddie Crum, The Huffington Post, on Thormaehlen's book Aging Gracefully – Portraits of People Over 100 (Chronicle Books, San Francisco 2017)
- 45.What Aging Gracefully Looks Like After 100, Tori Latham, New York Magazine
- 46.Brilliant photo series celebrates the beauty of ageing. 5 April 2017.
- 47.https://www.watermarkcommunities.com/why-watermark/cultural-series/not-another-second/
- 48.https://steidl.de/Kuenstler/Karsten-Thormaehlen-1420415260.html
- 49.100 Jahre Lebensglück: Beeindruckende Biografien voller Kraft und Weisheit – Bewegende Erinnerungen und inspirierende Lebensgeschichten von Hundertjährigen | Knesebeck Verlag. www.knesebeck-verlag.de.
- 50.Diese alten Athleten brechen Rekorde!. Bild.de. 22 October 2013.
- 51.New Zealand Breast Cancer Foundation & Skinfoods - A cream that gives you wrinkles. Clio Awards.
- 52.1899. px3.fr.
- 53.Breast Cream That Gives You Wrinkles. theinspirationroom.com. 6 October 2015.
- 54.Cannes Lions 2021: Health and Wellness and Pharma Lions shortlist released. 19 June 2021.
References
Citations
References
Each reference names the institution holding it, so a reader may go to the document itself.
reference work
Secondary witnessauthority record
General reference
The Encyclopedia exists whether or not anything is for sale. Corrections are recorded rather than overwritten, and every version of this record is kept. Published 16 August 2026.
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