100 Most Important People

In the mid-nineties I received a thank you note from Sally Mann, written on the back of an 8x10″ contact sheet of her image “Hangnail.” It arrived in a simple paper envelope, without a board to secure it, so the postal worker folded it in half to get it into the mail slot, putting a deep crease down the middle of the photograph. (Nevertheless, I treasured this gift, and eventually hung it on the wall, framed lovingly.)

Mann was thanking me for a print I’d sent to her a couple of years before, which I wrote about in detail on my blog previously. She had submitted the portrait to American Photo Magazine, as they looked to include her in their “100 Most Important People in Photography” piece. I bought the issue when it came out and recently came upon it in my storage space. It was a stunning time capsule of that period in the photo world.

The thing that strikes me most is who is missing, or low on the list; particularly photographers who we now associate with that period. Some photographers I think of as crucial to the nineties include Frank Ockenfels 3, Juergen Teller, Wolfgang Tillmans, Peggy Sirota, and Terry Richardson. And even those who first made their mark in a previous decade, but whose influence continued to loomed large, like Nan Goldin (ranked at 88) and William Eggleston (not included).

I don’t mean this particularly as a criticism of the list, as it reflects the viewpoint of the time and this particular set of editors, but to suggest that those who are “important” and “powerful” now isn’t necessarily a reflection who and what will be relevant longterm.

Here is the full list, in ranking order:
Richard Avedon – Photographer
Annie Leibovitz – Photographer
Maria Morris Hambourg – Curator
Alexander Liberman – Editorial Director
Weston Naef – Curator
Steven Meisel – Photographer
Patrick Demarchelier – Photographer
David and Peter Turnley –Photographers
Irving Penn – Photographer
Cindy Sherman – Artist
Cornell Capa –Museum Director
Pierre Apraxine – Curator
Bruce Weber – Photographer
Herb Ritts – Photographer
Harry Benson – Photojournalist
The Fords – Model Agents
Anne Kennedy/Jim Moffat – Photographers’ Agents
Fabien Baron – Creative Director
Peter MacGill – Gallery Owner
David Fahey – Gallery Owner
James Nachtwey – Photojournalist
Marysa Maslansky – Photographers’ Agent
Mary Ellen Mark – Photographer
Jack Woody – Book Publisher
Laurie Kratochvil – Photo Editor
Calvin Klein – Designer
Hans Kraus – Photography Dealer
Maggie Gross – Advertising Executive
John Casablancas/Monique Pillard – Model Agents
Nicholas Gallaway – Book Publisher
Paul Marciano – Creative Director
Michael Gross – Journalist
Christopher Morris – Photojournalist
Harold Evans – Book Publisher
Eugene Richards – Photojournalist
Joel-Peter Witkin – Photographer
Peter Galassi – Curator
Eliane and Jean-Pierre Laffont – Photo Agency Director
Michael Hoffman – Foundation Director
Kathy Ryan – Photo Editor
Howard Read – Photography Dealer
Michael Stout – Foundation Director
Ralph Lauren – Designer
Harry Lunn – Photography Dealer
William Wegman – Photographer
Beth Gates – Warren – Curator
Rick Wester – Curator
Michel Roux  - Patron
Sante D’Orazio – Photographer
Barbara Kruger – Artist
Daniel Wolf – Dealer
Thomas R. Kennedy – Photography Director
Bill Cunningham – Photographer
Ingrid Sischy – Editor/Critic
David Friend – Photography Editor
Albert Watson – Photographer
Diana Edkins – Corporate Curator
Arthur Elgort – Photographer
Michele Stephenson – Picture Editor
James Colton – Photography Director
Andy Grundberg – Museum Director
Etheleen Staley/Taki Wise – Gallery Owners
Vincent Alabiso – News Photo Manager
Jennifer Colly/Michel Bernard – Agency Directors
Greg Gorman – Photographer
Robert Pledge – Agency Chief
Rick Smolan – Photographer
James Danziger – Gallery Owner
Jule Campbell – Editor
Grace Goddington/Carlyne Cerf De Dudzeele – Photo Editors
Donna Ferrato – Photojournalist
Ron Galella – Photographer
Matthew Rolston – Photographer
Robery Glenn Ketchum – Photographer
Gregory Heisler – Photographer
G.Ray Hawkins – Gallery Owner
Sally Mann – Photographer
M.C. Marden – Photo Editor
Gary Cole – Photography Editor
Joe McNally – Photograper
Paul Gottlieb – Book Publisher
The Supermodels – Muses
Walter Chin – Photographer
Michel Comte – Photographer
Sheila Metzner – Photographer
Robert McNeely – Photographer
Firooz Zahedi – Photographer
Nan Goldin – Photographer
Peter Howe – Photo Editor
Simon Lowinsky – Gallery Owner
Kurt Markus – Photographer
Daniel Roebuck- Photographers’ Agent
Dieter Steiner – Magazine Bureau Chief
Eddie Adams – Photographer/Workshop Director
Fabrizio Ferri – Photographer/Studio Owner
Timothy Greenfield-Sanders – Photographer
Bethann Hardison – Model Agent
Marvin Heiferman/Carole Kismaric – Book and Exhibition Packagers
Vicki Goldberg – Critic
Wayne Maser - Photographer