Untitled, from the Center for Photographic Studies Portfolio I

Maker White, Minor American, b.1908

Date1972

MediumGelatin silver print

Dimensionspaper: 7 7/16 in x 5 15/16 in

Credit LineGift of the David and Reva Logan Foundation

Object number1988:196

About the ArtistI'm always mentally photographing everything as practice. – Minor White

Critic, mentor, teacher, and influential photographer, Minor White is known for his sharply detailed photographs of architectural elements, landscape, and nude figures. His technically perfect prints reflect his engagement with the spiritual in the aesthetic. The contemplative quality of his work is evident in the multiple image Lighthouse and Wood, with its gestural sweeps of painted wood, a small but clearly defined moon, and blurred buildings in the background.

Influenced by close personal relationships with Ansel Adams, Alfred Stieglitz, and Edward Weston, Minor White is best known for sharply focused, tonally beautiful black-and-white prints which function as metaphors. First hired as a creative photographer for the US government's Works Progress Administration, White became a teacher of photography, a curator, and a founding member of the Society for Photographic Education. His works are in the collections of The Art Institute of Chicago; Fogg Art Museum, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts; International Museum of Photography, George Eastman House, Rochester, New York; and the New York Public Library, among many other prestigious institutions. Born in Minneapolis in 1908, White died in 1976; his archive is located at the Princeton University Art Museum, Princeton, New Jersey.