Peter Berlin

Self Portrait on the Subway

c. 1970s

Peter Berlin is a relative of the celebrated fashion photographer George Hoyningen-Huene. Raised in Germany, Berlin received post-secondary education as a photo-technician, and in his early 20s worked as a celebrity portraitist for German television. However, it was around this time that he curiously began designing and sewing his own skin-tight clothing, which he would wear as he cruised the parks and train stations in Berlin, Rome, Paris, New York and San Francisco.

After several long-term stays on the east coast of the United States, Berlin eventually moved to San Francisco in 1969 and became a fixture on the steep streets with his signature look and perpetual posing. He soon began producing films and starred in the now iconic Nights in Black Leather (1973), co-directed by Richard Abel. Berlin then produced, directed and starred in That Boy the following year, and made four shorter films through the mid- to late-1970s, while publishing and selling his photographic self-portraits.

Peter Berlin was the subject of several Robert Mapplethorpe photographs, three drawings by Tom of Finland, and at least one portrait by Andy Warhol, attesting to his worldwide celebrity.