Duane Michals
Duane Michals
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Full Name and Common Aliases
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Duane Michals was born on December 18, 1935, in McKeesport, Pennsylvania.
Birth and Death Dates
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December 18, 1935 - present (no death date provided)
Nationality and Profession(s)
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American photographer and filmmaker
Early Life and Background
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Growing up in a working-class family in Pennsylvania, Duane Michals was exposed to art from an early age. His mother encouraged his creative pursuits, and he began taking photography classes at the McKeesport High School. After serving in the US Army during the Korean War, Michals moved to New York City in 1958 to pursue a career in photography.
Major Accomplishments
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Michals' innovative approach to photography led him to create some of the most iconic and thought-provoking works of the 20th century. He is credited with creating the first "photographic essay" in 1960, which told a story through a sequence of photographs. This technique would later become a staple of photojournalism.
Michals' photographs often explored themes of love, death, and the human condition. His work was featured in numerous exhibitions worldwide, including solo shows at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) and the Whitney Museum of American Art. He received grants from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Guggenheim Foundation.
Notable Works or Actions
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"Love No. 28" (1969): A photograph that explores the theme of love through a series of images featuring Michals' mother.
"The Hunters in the Snow" (1972): A still-life photograph of three hunters trapped in a snowstorm, which was inspired by Pieter Bruegel's painting "The Hunters in the Snow."
* "The Lovers: A Study of Love and Death" (1995): A 30-foot-long photograph featuring two lovers embracing amidst a backdrop of skulls.
Impact and Legacy
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Duane Michals' innovative approach to photography has had a lasting impact on the medium. His work continues to inspire photographers, artists, and filmmakers worldwide. Michals' use of storytelling through images paved the way for photojournalism and documentary photography. He has also influenced generations of photographers with his experimental style.
Why They Are Widely Quoted or Remembered
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Michals is widely quoted and remembered for his thought-provoking photographs that explore the human condition. His innovative approach to photography, use of storytelling through images, and exploration of themes such as love and death have made him a legendary figure in the world of art and photography.
Quotes by Duane Michals
Duane Michals's insights on:
Photography is essentially an act of recognition by street photographers, not an act of invention. Photographers might respond to an old man’s face, or an Arbus freak, or the way light hits a building – and then they move on. Whereas in all the other art forms, take William Blake, everything that came to that paper never existed before. It’s the idea of alchemy, of making something from nothing.
One of the marvelous things about film is that if you expose it long enough you’re going to get a picture.
I write in order to express what the photo itself cannot say. A photograph of my father doesn’t tell me what I thought of him, which for me is much more important than what the man looked like.
Photography is very presumptuous. Photographers are always photographing other people’s lives – something they know nothing about – and drawing great inferences into it.
I already know what things look like – I don’t want description. People believe in appearances, and I don’t believe in appearances at all.
Art is not fashionable. That’s why fashion and art are two different things. Fashion can never be art because fashion deals with whim, what is temporary, what changes, what is transient, what is now and not now. Art has to deal with issues that are timeless, that never change.
I think photographers are too polite. There is not enough anger in photography; it’s pretty much trivialized.
I never photograph sunsets and I never photograph moonrises. I’m not interested in what things look like.