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Ralph Gibson

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Ralph Gibson
(United States, born 1939)
American, b. 1939
Ralph Gibson was born on January 16, 1939 in Los Angeles California. Gibson’s father worked at Warner Brothers studio in Hollywood as an assistant director for 35 years, and Gibson himself even worked as a movie actor for five years while he was in school, appearing in bit parts for Alfred Hitchcock and Nicolas Ray.

His interest in photography originated when he enlisted in the U.S. Navy on his seventeenth birthday and was assigned to the Naval School of Photography. Ironically, his poor performance led to his expulsion. He reinstated, repeated the courses, and graduated, later traveling to the Mediterranean on two cruises where his duties as naval photographer included portraiture, aerial, and documentary work.

Upon discharge, Gibson enrolled in the San Francisco Art Institute in commercial photography. He would later gain assistant positions with Dorethea Lange, from 1961-62, and Robert Frank, from 1967-68. After pursuing free-lance assignments in L.A., Gibson moved to New York and began working on a book. He published The Somnambulist in 1970, the acclaim of which sent him to exhibit, lecture, and travel throughout the U.S. and Europe. Gibson continued publishing and also exhibiting world-wide, but in the interim, he also formed a band in 1976 called Sex and Drugs, which played at artists’ parties in Soho for three years. Gibson has continued working and publishing and in 1988 he received the Leica Medal of Excellence Award for Fine Art Photography.

Ralph Gibson became known primarily for his black and white work, but has also published some series in color. The work is a mixture of the abstract, documentary, and surrealism and is recognized for its use of texture, light, gesture, and abstraction. His work is known for its metaphoric use of recurring objects and symbols such as hands, the female body, walls, and hats, to name a few. Gibson uses primarily close-up images along with light and shadow, an emphasis on the relationships between geometric shapes, and attention to detail in order to create a sense of timelessness and to evoke feelings of awareness and perception rather than to convey information.


Artist Objects

RC2013.001

Arman 2014.008.07

Badi Assad 2008.016.17

Ben Monder 2006.001.14

Ben Monder 2006.001.15

Ben Verdery 2008.016.01

Bergamo 1998.260

Bergamo 1998.261

Bergamo 1998.262

Bergamo 1998.286

Bergamo 1999.043

Bergamo 1999.052

Bern Nix 2010.008

Bernar Venet 2014.008.06

Bill Frisell 2006.001.02

Bill Frisell 2008.016.02

Brandon Ross 2006.001.10

Bryan Hunt 2014.008.03

Capri 1999.031

Dan Minasi 2008.016.18

Dave Tronzo 2008.016.15

Deja-vu 1997.013

Elliot Sharp 2008.016.14

Eric Fishl 2014.008.04

Frisell 2006.001.05

G.E. Smith 2006.001.13

Gary Stephan 2014.008.11

Hand on Hat 1997.005.04

Hand/Piano 1997.013.08

Henry Kaiser 2008.016.19

IDF; Caesarea 2020.005.05

In Situ 1998.274

James Nares 2014.008.13

Jeff Richman 2006.001.01

Jim Hall 2006.001.07

Jim Hall 2010.005

John McEnroe 2014.008.05

John Scofield 2006.001.03

Larry Clark 2014.008.14

Leo Castelli 2014.008.02

Leo Castelli 2014.008.09

Les Paul 2008.016.04

Lou Reed 2010.010

Marc Ducret 2008.016.11

Marc Ribot 2006.001.04

Milano 1998.281

Milano 1998.295

Nels Cline 2008.016.16

New York 1998.282

New York 1998.290

New York 1999.059

Pat Martino 2006.001.11

Riberac 1998.294

Riberac 1999.042

Riberac 1999.048

Riberac 1999.049

Riberac 1999.050

Richard Price 2014.008.10

Roma 1998.285

Rome 1998.273

Rome 1998.283

Rome 1999.030

Rome 1999.045

Rome 1999.053

Sailor 1997.013.07

Seattle 1998.266

Sheryl Bailey 2008.016.06

Untitled [64] 2021.009.07

V 1999.038

Wayne Kranz 2008.016.13


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