Ray K. Metzker

Overview

Ray K. Metzker was born in 1931 in Milwaukee. Photography became his passion after his mother gave him his first camera when he was 12. In 1953, he graduated from Beloit College in Wisconsin with a fine art degree. He earned a Master’s degree in 1959 at the Institute of Design, Chicago (which at that time was being referred to as the New Bauhaus and was considered one of the most important photography programs in the U.S.), where he studied with Harry Callahan and Aaron Siskind. He taught for many years at the Philadelphia College of Art and also at the University of New Mexico. The Museum of Modern Art in New York gave him his first solo exhibition in 1967.

In his over-60-year career, Metzker had more than 50 solo exhibitions at major museums around the world and was the recipient of numerous awards including a Guggenheim Fellowship, two National Endowment for the Arts Fellowships, and a Royal Photographic Society’s Centenary Medal and Honorary Fellowship.

His work is in the collections of more than 40 institutions and is the subject of more than 10 monographs. Among the institutions holding his work in the their collections are the Museum of Modern Art, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; National Gallery of Art, National Museum of American Art – Smithsonian, Washington D.C.; Los Angeles County Museum, J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles; Art Institute of Chicago; Nelson Atkins Museum, Kansas City; Cleveland Museum of Art; Philadelphia Museum of Art; Musee d’Elysee, Lausanne; and Albertina, Vienna.

Works

Video

Les formes de l'eau | Exposition collective
Rencontre avec Éric Rémy, commissaire de l'exposition 27 June 2023

Read more

Biography

Expositions personnelles (sélection)
2019    Ray K. Metzker, Black and Light, Howard Greenberg Gallery, New York
2017   Ray K. Metzker, Abstractions, Les Douches la Galerie, Paris
2016   Ray K. Metzker: Stripteases + Penn Center Pieces, Laurence Miller Gallery, New York
2015   Ray Metzker, The Poet of Light, Laurence Miller Gallery, New York
2013   The Photographs of Ray K. Metzker, J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles
2007   Ray K. Metzker : Notes de lumière, Musée de l’Élysée, Lausanne
2006   Ray K. Metzker, Galerie Françoise Paviot, Paris
2003   My Philadelphia!, Locks Gallery, Philadelphie
2000   Urban Shadows, Stephen Daiter Gallery, Chicago
   Voyage of Discovery: The landscape Photographs of Ray Metzker, Philadelphia Museum of Art
1997   Ray K. Metzker, Galerie Françoise Paviot, Paris
1995   Anticipating the Composites, Laurence Miller Gallery, New York
1992   Shadai Gallery, Tokyo/ Turner, Krull Gallery, Los Angeles
1991   A New Leaf: Photographs by Ray Metzker, The Art Institute of Chicago.
1990   Composites, Laurence Miller Gallery, New York
1988   Earthly Delights, Laurence Miller Gallery, New York
1986   Unknow Territory, Photographs by Ray K. Metzker, Smithsonian Institute, Washington DC
1984   Unknown Territory, Photographs by Ray K. Metzker, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston
1983   Ray K. Metzker: Photographs, Multiple means, Multiple Ends, Carl Solway Gallery
   City Whispers, Catskill Center of Photography, Woodstock, New York
   Ray Metzker Photographs, Edwynn Houk Gallery, Chicago
1979   Ray K. Metzker: Multiple Concerns, Galerie Delpire, Paris
1978   Ray K. Metzker: Multiple Concerns, International Center of Photography, New York
   Pictus Interruptus, Locks Gallery, Philadelphie.
1976   Ray K. Metzker, The picture Gallery, Zurich
1974   New Mexico, Dayton College of Art, Ohio
1968   Ray K. Metzker and Paul Caponigro, Photographer’s Gallery, New York.
1964-65 Composites, MoMa, New York
1959   My camera and I in the Loop, The Art Institute of Chicago
Expositions collectives (sélection)
2017   Black Chicago, Les Douches la Galerie, Paris
2016   Lux: The radiant sea, Yancey Richardson Gallery, New York
   Make Light Of It, Pace/MacGil Gallery, New York
   Small Things Considered II, Laurence Miller Gallery, New York
2015   Black & White, Albertina Museum, Vienna
   New York, Les Douches la Galerie, Paris
2014   Thirty Years Thirth-one Photographers, Laurence Miller Gallery, New York
2009   Masters of Photography, Gallery Fifty One, Antwerp, Belgium
2007   Past present future I, Laurence Miller Gallery, New York
2006   Summer vacation: Photographs from the collection, Philadelphia Museum of Art
2004   Photography: Inaugural Installation, MoMa, New York
2000   MoMA2000: Making Choices-Seeing Double, MoMa, New York
1999   Le siècle du corps, Photographies 1900-2000, Musée de l?Élysée, Lausanne
1993   Multiple Images: Photographs Since 1965 from the collection, MoMa, New York
1990   Photography until now, MoMa, New York
1983   Big pictures by Contemporary Photographers, MoMa, New York
1980-81 Absage ab das Einzelbild, Museum Folkwang, Essen, Allemagne
   Erweiterte Fotografie, Wiener Secession, Autriche
1979   Contemporary American Photographers: Curator’s Choice Venezia ‘79, Venise, Italie
1976   New Exposures, Museum of Fine Arts, Chicago
1973   Landscape/Cityscape, A selection of Twentieth-Century American Photographs, MET, New York
1970   New Phtography, USA, MoMa, New York
1968   Photography as Printmaking, MoMa, New York
   Photography and the City, Smithsonian Insitution, Washington DC
1967   The persistence of Vision, George Eastman House, Rochester, New York
1963   Photography 63/An International Exhibition, George Eastman House, Rochester, New York
1960-61 The Sense of Abstraction in Contemporary Photography, MoMa, New York
1959   Photography in the Fine Arts I, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
   Photographs from the Museum Collection, MoMa, New York
Publications
2008   Ray K. Metzker : Notes de lumière, Musée de l’Élysée de Lausanne
2000   Turner Evan, Ray K. Metzker, Landscapes, New York, Aperture
1999   Miller Laurence, Ray K. Metzker, City Stills, Munich, Prestel
1990   Ray K. Metzker: Composites, New York, Laurence Miller Gallery
1988   Ray K. Metzker: Earthly Delight, New York, Laurence Miller Gallery
1984   Tucker Anne, Unknow Territory: Photographs by Ray K. Metzker, New York, Aperture/           Houston, The Museum of Fine Arts
1979   Ray K. Metzker: Sand Creatures, Millerton, New York, Aperture, 1979.
Récompenses
2000   Royal Photographic Society’s Centenary Medal and Honorary Fellowship
1989   Bernheim Fellowship at the Bernheim Arboretum and Research Forest, Clermont,            Kentucky.
1988   National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship
1975   National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship
1966   Guggenheim Fellowship, John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation

Bibliography

2018   Ray K. Metzker Unknown, Only Photography, Berlin
2012   The Photographs of Ray K. Metzker, Keith Davis, Yale University Press
2009   Ray K Metzker, Automagic, Only Photography, Berlin
2008   Ray K. Metzker : Notes de lumière, Musée de l’Élysée de Lausanne
2000   Ray K. Metzker, Landscapes, Evan Turner, New York, Aperture
1999   Ray K. Metzker, City Stills, Laurence Miller, Munich, Prestel
1990   Ray K. Metzker: Composites, New York, Laurence Miller Gallery
1988   Ray K. Metzker: Earthly Delight, New York, Laurence Miller Gallery
1984   Unknow Territory: Photographs by Ray K. Metzker, Anne Tucker, New York, Aperture/Houston, The Museum of Fine Arts
1979   Ray K. Metzker: Sand Creatures, Millerton, New York, Aperture, 1979.