1947-

Kurt Markus was born and raised in Montana and began his photography career capturing the simple ruggedness of landscape and life in the Western US. Markus has published three books presenting his work on the West and the cowboy life: After Barbed Wire (1985), Buckaroo (1988) and Cowpuncher: Cowboy’in in the Southwest (2000) that were acclaimed for the timeless beauty of their imagery as well as their realism, presenting the cowboy working life far from clichés though sometimes with poetism. Besides his books on cowboy life and the West, he published two other acclaimed photography books: Dreaming Georgia (1990) he made in New Mexico in tribute of painting artist Georgia O’Keefe, Boxers (1998), which presents in black and white pictures of boxers and he contributed to Dune: Edward & Brett Weston (2003), a book reuniting the most stunning dune photographs of the two renowned artists by giving his photographer’s point of view.

A model of versatility, Markus’ photography has been exhibited in numerous galleries internationally. He has shot advertising campaigns for the likes of Calvin Klein, Sony, Armani, Nike, Levi's, and BMW, photographed album covers for Jewel and Tori Amos, and has been the subject of several celebrated and award-winning fine-art books. He has photographed for fashion, culture, and lifestyle magazines like Outside, Vanity Fair, GQ, French and British Vogue, and Sport & Style and has made numerous contributions to travel journals such as Travel & Leisure and Conde Nast Traveler. Markus’ work has even found its place in news-oriented periodicals like The New York Times Magazine.