Richard Misrach’s life is a testament to fine art and reportage (and protest) photography; and he’s still only 60. You may have missed my earlier OEN articles featuring Misrach. They are here and here and here.
Biography:
Born July 11, 1949, in Los Angeles, California; Received a BA in Psychology in 1971 from the University of California at Berkeley; presently living and working in Berkeley, California.
Chronology:
1963: Attends University High School, Los Angles, California. Interests include surfing and skiing.
1968: While majoring in psychology at the University of California, Berkeley, begins to show interest in fine art photography; Photographs some of the anti-war protests.
1969: Takes a class with aerial photographer William Garnett 1972: Continues to study photography independently, after being rejected from San Francisco State graduate program.
1973: Wins National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship for Telegraph Avenue documentary;
First group show, Places, at the San Francisco Art Institute.
1974: Publishes Telegraph 3 A.M.: The Street People of Telegraph Avenue, Berkeley(Cornucopia Press) which receives a Western Book Award.
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Street Musicians, Berkeley, CA (1974)
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1975: Begins experimenting with night desert imagery.
1976: Ferguson Grant, Friends of Photography, Carmel, California.
1977: National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship; John Szarkowski, photography curator at the Museum of Modern Art, purchases several of Misrach’s photographs for the upcoming group exhibition, Mirrors and Windows.
1978: Bell corporation commission for book and exhibition, American Images: New Work by Twenty Contemporary Photographers.
1979: John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Fellowship; Travels to Italy and Greece, taking night pictures of ancient Greek ruins.
1981: Marries Debra Bloomfield; A.I.G.A. Graphic Arts Award (for design of "Hawaii" poster).
1982: A fire at The Design Conspiracy photo lab in Oakland, California destroys nearly 4,000 negatives, which included early work for the 1983 Desert Canto XIII: The Inhabitants and Desert Canto XIV:The Visitors series.
1983: During a trip to Tucson, Arizona, Misrach becomes aware of the large military presence in the desert lands of Western United States.
1984: Contemporary Arts Forum Commission, "Focus, Santa Barbara"; National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship; Teaches at the University of California, Berkeley, California.
1985: Begins Desert Cantos VII: Desert Seas.
1986: Establishes the Northern California Headquarters for Nuclear Disarmament, a hotline for information on anti-nuclear activities and news; Teaches at the University of California, Santa Barbara, California.
1987: Philadelphia Museum of Art Commission; Refuses to participate in a centennial project for the city of Birmingham, Alabama after learning that all fellow participants are white males.
1988: DIA Art Foundation commission (to photograph Michael Heizer’s "The City"); International Center for Photography Infinity Award for Outstanding Publication of 1987 (Desert Cantos, University of New Mexico Press); TIME Magazine Cover Commission (July 4, 1988); New York Foundation for the Arts Commission, Paper for the Orcas Conference/Creative Support for the Creative Artist (November 1988); "Bucks and Ethics.”
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Princesses Against Plutonium in Utah (1988)
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1989: Silver Medal Award at the International Book Design Exhibition for Desert Cantos, Leipzig, Germany; Marries journalist Myriam Weisang.
1990:
Teaches at California Institute for the Arts (Cal Arts), Valencia, California.
1991: Eureka Fellowship, Fleishhacker Foundation, San Francisco, California; Media Alliance Meritorious Award for Bravo 20: The Bombing of the American West; PEN Literary Award for Bravo 20: The Bombing of the American West.
1992: National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship; Koret Israel Prize; Denver Art Museum Commission for the "Landscape as Metaphor" Exhibition.
1994: Distinguished Career in Photography Award, Los Angeles Center for Photographic Studies.
1995: BBC-2 airs a documentary titled, "Dead West: The War on the American Desert," created by Bandung Limited.
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"Eat My Fallout," at Wendover Air Force Base, Utah (1988)
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1996: Golden Light Award, Best Retrospective Book for Crimes and Splendors, Maine Photographic Workshops; Mid-career retrospective for cantos series opens at The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Texas and tours around the country.
1998: Commission, “Picturing the South”, High Museum of Art, Atlanta, Georgia; Commission, Center for Creative Photography, Tucson, Arizona.
1999: Commission, “The Last Best Place”, The Nature Conservancy.
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Hazardous Waste Containment Site, Dow Chemical Corporation, Mississippi River, Plaquemine, Louisiana (1998)
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2000: Photo-eye Books Best Contemporary Monograph for 2000, runner-up, for The Sky Book.
2001: Knight Purchase Award for Photographic Media, Akron Art Museum, Akron, Ohio.
2002: Environmental Messenger of the Year Award, Environmental Grantmakers' Association, New York, New York (first annual award); Kulturpreis for Lifetime Achievement in Photography, German Society of Photography.
2008: Lucie Award for Outstanding Achievement in Fine Arts Photography.
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And, six reportage or protest photographs, including one of a collage of Andy Warhol:
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On a Museum Wall in Phoenix, Arizona (1993)
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And
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A Drive-In, in Las Vegas (1987)
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Desert Fire (1985)
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And
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World's Fastest Mobile Home (96mph), Bonneville Salt Flats, Utah (1992)
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And
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Environmental Protection Battleground Point #41 (1999)
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And
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Playboy #38 (Warhol) (1990)
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(Courtesy of Frankel Gallery, Pace/MacGill Gallery, and Marc Selwyn Fine Art. Also courtesy of artnet’s Artist Works Catalogues. At its AWC, there is this: “artnet offers these catalogues free to the public as an educational resource. Simply click on an individual artist's image to begin, and check back often to browse new catalogues.”)
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