After studying at the Essener Folkwang school under Otto Steinert, Rautert worked for ZEIT and GEO magazine in the 70s. From 1993 to 2007 he held a professorship at the School of Visual Arts in Leipzig, Germany. In his series he shows the changes in the world of work or religious groups like the Hutterer and the Amish or creates portraits of artists as Andy Warhol, Gerhard Richter and Joseph Beuys.