Sensational photography by Curtis Knapp

Until late last evening, I wouldn't have known Curtis Knapp from a knapsack.

But after spending some time on his website, that's no longer the case.

He now lives in the U.S. and teaches photography at the Smithsonian; for many years he's been a premier portrait photographer, both here and in Tokyo.

Early in his career, he lived in Athens, Georgia, where he photographed the B-52s, then helped them get their first gigs in New York.

He shot Madonna's first ever magazine cover (for Island magazine), as well as REM's first record cover, "Chronic Town."

For years he was a regular contributor to Andy Warhol's Interview magazine.

The pictures illustrating this post were taken of Warhol at work in his legendary New York studio, "The Factory."

Knapp's website is a model of what an artist's site should be like: no Flash, eye-pleasing, informative, easy to navigate.