RALPH GIBSON
Ralph Gibson is an American photographer mostly known for his photographic books. He lives and works in New York and he has recently been awarded with the Legion d’Honneur, by the president of the French Government.
He studied photography during the US Navy years and then at the San Francisco Art Institute. He began his career as assistant of Dorothea Lange (1960-1962) and as a camera operator with Robert Frank (1967-1969) in New York. After his short cooperation with Magnum agency, Gibson opened his own studio and his publishing house called Lustrum that by now has produced more than 40 monographs. In the ’70s he created his new artistic research that lead to some important publications such as “The Somnambulist” (1970) and “Déjà-vu” (1973) and “Days at Sea”.
Known for his images with graphic and mysterious tones, Gibson focuses usually on fragments and details of objects or reality, enhancing the aesthetic value of these elements of everyday life.
As he explains “ What I would like to do is to make my perception of anything, the subject of the shot itself… very humble objects. I would like to use photography as a medium to monumentalize all the shapes and the fragments less meaningful”.
Untitled (Leda)
1974
vintage gelatin silver print
cm 20 x 30 ca. / inches 8 x 12 ca.
cm 40 x 50 ca. / inches 16 x 20 ca.
pigment print
cm 150 x 110 ca. / inches 59 x 39 ca.
Mary Hellen, Hand
1969
vintage gelatin silver print
cm 31.5 x 21 ca. / inches 12 x 8 ca.
pigment print
cm 150 x 110 ca. / inches 59 x 39 ca.
Baby’s hand and guitar
1960-1961
vintage gelatin silver print
cm 31.5 x 21 ca. / inches 12 x 8 ca.
Untitled from the series “Somnambulist”
1969
vintage gelatin silver print
cm 21 x 31.5 ca. / inches 8 x 12 ca.
pigment print
cm 110 x 150 ca. / inches 39 x 59 ca.
Untitled from the series “Somnambulist”
1968
vintage gelatin silver print
cm 21 x 31.5 ca. / inches 8 x 12 ca.
Untitled from the series “Infanta”
2012
pigment print
cm 150 x 110 ca. / inches 59 x 39 ca.
Untitled from the series “Déjà-vu”
1972
vintage gelatin silver print
cm 21 x 31.5 ca. / inches 8 x 12 ca.
Untitled
1970
vintage gelatin silver print
cm 21 x 31.5 ca. / inches 8 x 12 ca.
Untitled from the series “Infanta”
1980
pigment print
cm 110 x 150 ca. / inches 39 x 59 ca.
Sheila in the car from the series “Somnambulist”
1970
vintage gelatin silver print
cm 31.5 x 21 ca. / inches12 x 8 ca.
Untitled (Nude on the rock) from the series “Chiaroscuro”
1982
vintage gelatin silver print
cm 31 x 20.5 ca. / inches 12 x 8 ca.
pigment print
cm 150 x 110 ca. / inches 59 x 39 ca.
Untitled from the series “Déjà-vu”
1972
vintage gelatin silver print
cm 21 x 31.5 ca. / inches 8 x 12 ca.
pigment print
cm 150 x 110 ca. / inches 59 x 39 ca.
Untitled
1969
vintage gelatin silver print
cm 21 x 31.5 ca. / inches 8 x 12 ca.
Untitled from the series “New York”
1968
vintage gelatin silver print
cm 21 x 31.5 ca. / inches 8 x 12 ca.
Untitled from the series “Dejà-vu”
1972
vintage gelatin silver print
cm 21 x 31.5 ca. / inches 8 x 12 ca.
Untitled from the series “Somnambulist”
1969
vintage gelatin silver print
cm 31.5 x 21 ca. / inches 12 x 8 ca.
Untitled
1972
vintage gelatin silver print
cm 31.5 x 21 ca. / inches 12 x 8 ca.
Waiter Shots (Capri)
1974
vintage gelatin silver print
cm 21 x 31.5 ca. / inches 8 x 12 ca.
Untitled
1972
vintage gelatin silver print
cm 21 x 31.5 ca. / inches 8 x 12 ca.
Untitled from the series “Infanta”
1988
vintage gelatin silver print
cm 21 x 31.5 ca. / inches 8 x 12 ca.
Untitled from the series “Infanta”
1988
vintage gelatin silver print
cm 21 x 31.5 ca. / inches 8 x 12 ca.
White Nude
1974
vintage gelatin silver print
cm 21 x 31.5 ca. / inches 8 x 12 ca.
Untitled from the series “Quadrants”
1975
vintage gelatin silver print
cm 21 x 31.5 ca. / inches 8 x 12 ca.
Woman with statue
1974
vintage gelatin silver print
cm 21 x 31.5 ca. / inches 8 x 12 ca.
Untitled
1969
vintage gelatin silver print
cm 21 x 31.5 ca. / inches 8 x 12 ca.
Untitled
1970
vintage gelatin silver print
cm 21 x 31.5 ca. / inches 8 x 12 ca.
Untitled
1969
vintage gelatin silver print
cm 21 x 31.5 ca. / inches 8 x 12 ca.
Untitled
1970
vintage gelatin silver print
cm 21 x 31.5 ca. / inches 8 x 12 ca.
Untitled
1980
vintage gelatin silver print
cm 21 x 31.5 ca. / inches 8 x 12 ca.
Untitled
1971
vintage gelatin silver print
cm 27 x 35 ca. / inches 10 x 14 ca.
Woman with cigarette from Days at sea
1974
pigment print
cm 110 x 150 ca. / inches 39 x 59 ca.
Ralph Gibson, SELF-EXPOSURE an unauthorized autobiography, Heni Publishing, 2018.
Self Exposure is the unauthorized autobiograpy of celebrated American photographer Ralph Gibson. Writing in candid prose, Gibson gives a richly personal account of his life and work.
RALPH GIBSON, L’anticlassico 2015
“I have made photographs for many years and for many reasons. Naturally as my life has unfolded those reasons led to other reasons and one series of images would follow another. Time, for this photographer, passed as quickly as the click of a shutter”. More…
