GIBSON, Ralph

About the American photographer, Ralph GIBSON (b. 1939, in Los Angeles)

Ralph GIBSON is an art photographer best known for his photo volumes. His images often incorporate fragments with erotic and mysterious undertones, building narrative meaning through contextualization and surreal juxtaposition. In 1956 he enlisted in the United States Navy and became a Photographers Mate studying photography until 1960. Then he continued his photography studies at the San Francisco Art Institute between (1960-1962). His professional career he started as an assistant to Dorothea LANGE (1961-1962) and went on to work with Robert FRANK on two films (1967-1968). Asked by The New York Times for his main sources of inspiration, he recommended what he considered to be five seminal works: 'Vision of Paris' by Eugéne ATGET, 'American Photographs' by Walker EVANS, 'Decisive Moment' by Henri CARTIER--BRESSON, 'The Americans' by Robert FRANK as well as 'Ballet' by Alexey BRODOVITCH.
In 1969 he went to New York where he formed Lustrum Press to exert control over the reproduction of his work. He has maintained a lifelong fascination with books and book-making since the appearance in 1970 of 'The Somnambulist' towards the printed page. He also published 'Tulsa' by Larry CLARK (1971). To date he has produced over 40 monographs. His photographs are included in over one hundred and fifty museum collections around the world, and have appeared in hundreds of exhibitions. He has worked exclusively with the Leica for almost 50 years.

Photo books by, on the work and with participation of Ralph GIBSON

'Somnabulist' (1970, 1979); 'Deja Vu' (1973); 'Days at Sea' (1974); 'SX-70 Art' (1979); 'Syntax' (1983); 'Tropism' (1987); 'L'Anonyme' (1987); 'Light Years' (1996); 'Deus ex Machina' (1999); 'Ex Libris' (2001); 'Light Strings' (2004); 'Brazil' (2005); 'Refractions' (2005); 'State of the Axe' (2008); 'Nude' (2009, 2012); 'Coda' (2010); 'Diptych' (2011); 'Mask' (2011); 'Quartet' (2012); ''Passe Imparfait' 2012); 'Ralph Gibson' (2013); '50 Years' (2013); 'Mono' (2014); 'Political Abstraction' (2015); 'Self Exposure' (2018); 'The Black Trilogy' (2018); 'Fotografen-Legenden und ihre Kameras' (2019); 'Sacred Land' (2020)

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