Chris Stein

Chris Stein is a musician, photographer, and co-founder of Blondie. While helping shape one of the most influential bands to emerge from New York's downtown scene, he also created an extraordinary photographic record of the people and places that defined the era.

Beginning in the late 1960s, Stein photographed friends, musicians, artists, and performers across New York City. As Blondie became central to the emerging punk and new wave movement, his camera remained a constant presence, documenting the creative community from the inside.

His photographs capture Debbie Harry, Andy Warhol, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Joey Ramone, Iggy Pop, William Burroughs, and countless figures connected to the cultural transformation of downtown New York. Rather than working as an outside observer, Stein photographed the world he lived in, producing images that feel immediate, personal, and historically significant.

His work has been exhibited internationally and published in several books, including the acclaimed memoir and photographic volume Negative: Me, Blondie, and the Advent of Punk.

Today, Chris Stein's photographs remain an essential visual record of one of the most influential artistic communities of the twentieth century.