Duane Michals nasce nel 1932 a McKeesport, PA, United States, 1932.

Vive e lavora a New York. 

Nel 1958 mentre è in vacanza presso l’ex Unione Sovietica scopre il suo interesse per la fotografia. Egli descrive il suo talento fotografico come quello di un autodidatta.

È noto per due importanti innovazioni nell’ambito della fotografia degli anni ‘60 e ‘70. In primo luogo egli racconta una storia attraverso le sue foto come si può evincere dal suo libro intitolato Sequences. In secondo luogo, talvolta, scrive vicino alle sue fotografie per dare alcune informazioni che l’immagine da sola non dà.

Per alcuni anni, Michals ha lavorato come fotografo, scattando per Esquire e Mademoiselle e ha curato anche la fotografia del film Il Grande Gatsby per Vogue. Non ha mai avuto uno studio. Michals è stato anche assunto dal governo messicano per fotografare le Olimpiadi Estive del 1968.

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Quando la sua opera cominciò a ricevere sempre maggiori riconoscimenti istituzionali ufficiali

da alcuni grandi Musei internazionali come, fra gli altri, il Museo Reina Sofia di Madrid

(nel 1998) e il Carnegie Museum of Art (nel 2015), Michals cominciò ad essere riconosciuto universalmente come un grande storyteller. Le sue sequenze di immagini, spesso accompagnate da testi a margine delle fotografie, esaltavano i soggetti, la loro personalità, con un tono narrativo capace di sondarne gli aspetti psichici più profondi.

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MOSTRE PERSONALI

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1963

Underground Gallery,NewYork,NY

1965

Underground Gallery, New York, NY

1968

Underground Gallery, New York, NY 

Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, IL

1970

The Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY

1971

The George Eastman House, Rochester, NY

1972

Museum of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM 

San Francisco Art Institute, San Francisco, CA

1973

Galerie Delpire, Paris, France 

International Cultural Center, Antwerp, Belgium 

Kolnischer Kunstverein, Cologne, Germany

1974

Frankfurter Kunstverein, Frankfurt, Germany 

Galerie 291, Milan, Italy

Documenta

Torino, Italy School of Visual Arts, New York, NY Light Gallery, New York, NY

1975

Light Gallery, New York, 

NY Broxton Gallery, Los Angeles, CA

1976

Jacques Bosser, Paris, France 

Sidney Janis Gallery, New York, NY

Galerie Die Brucke, Vienna, Austria 

Texas Center for Photographic Studies, Dallas, TX 

Contemporary Arts Center, Cincinnati, OH 

Ohio State University, Columbus, OH 

Felix Handschin Galerie, Basel, Switzerland 

Douglas Drake Gallery, Kansas City, KS

1977

Galerie Breiting, Berlin, Germany 

Paul Maenz, Cologne, Germany

G. Ray Hawkins Gallery, Los Angeles, CA 

Philadelphia College of Art, Philadelphia, PA 

Focus Gallery, San Francisco, CA

1978

Douglas Drake Gallery, Kansas City, KS 

The Collection at 24, Miami, FL

Camera Obscura, Stockholm, Sweden 

Galerie Fiolet, Amsterdam, Netherlands 

Galerie Wilde, Cologne, Germany 

Akron Art Institute, Akron, OH

Sidney Janis Gallery, New York, NY 

Galerie L'Oeil 2000, Chateauroux, France

1979

La Remise du Parc, Paris, France 

Canon Photo Gallery, Geneva, Switzerland 

The Collection at 24, Miami, FL 

Art Gallery, University of Denver, CO 

Galerie Wilde, Cologne, Germany 

Galerie Nouvelles Images, The Hague, Netherlands 

Nova Gallery, Vancouver, British Columbia

1980

Carl Solway Gallery, Cincinnati, OH 

Galerie Nouvelles Images, The Hague, Netherlands 

Susan Spiritus Gallery, Seattle, WA 

Art Gallery, University of Pittsburgh, PA 

Silver Image Gallery, Seattle, WA 

Museum of Modern Art, Bogota, Colombia 

Sidney Janis Gallery, New York, NY

1981

Galerie Fiolet, Amsterdam, Netherlands 

Gemeentemuseum, Apeldoorn, Netherlands

Halstead Gallery, Birmingham, MI 

Swarthmore College, Swarthmore, PA 

Atlanta Gallery of Photography, Atlanta, GA

Huntsville Museum of Art, Huntsville, AL 

Work Galerie, Zurich, Switzerland 

Colorado Photo Arts Center, Denver, CO 

Philadelphia College of Art, Philadelphia, PA 

Centres Culturel Graslin, Nantes, France

1982

Columbia Museum of Art & Science, Columbia, SC 

University of Rhode Island, Providence, RI

Art 45, Montreal, Canada 

Photogalerie, The Compagnie, Hamburg, Germany 

La Remise du Parc, Paris, France Art Gallery

University of Pittsburgh, PA 

Musee d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, France

1983 G

Galerie Watari, Tokyo, Japan 

Miami University, Oxford, OH

Greenville County Museum of Art, Greenville, SC 

Rising Sun Media Art Center, Santa Fe, NM 

Douglas Drake Gallery, Kansas City, KS 

L'Espace Nicois d'Art et de Culture, Nice, France 

Sidney Janis Gallery, New York, NY

1984

Wellesley College Art Gallery, Wellesley, MA 

Galerie Wilde, Cologne, Germany

Rochester Institute of Technology, Rochester, NY 

The Light Factory, Charlotte, NC 

G.H. Dalsheimer, Baltimore, MD

"Duane Michals - Photographs/Sequences/Texts 1985-1984,"Museum of Modern Art, Oxford, England; traveled to: Institute of Contemporary Art, London; Watershed, Bristol; John Hansard Gallery,University of Southampton; Bluecohe Gallery, Liverpool; Open Eye Gallery, Liverpool

1985

Sidney Janis Gallery, New York, NY

Clara M. Eagle Gallery, Murray State University, Murray, KY 

Adam Brown, Amsterdam, Holland

Institute of Contemporary Arts, London, UK

1986 S

tudio 8 Gallery, Kalispell, MO 

Dickinson College, Carlisle, PA

Samia Saouma, Paris, France

1987

Sidney Janis Gallery, New York, NY 

Southeast Center for Photographic Studies, Dayton Beach Community College, FL 

George Ciscle Gallery, Baltimore, MD 

Art Center College of Design, Pasadena, CA; traveled to: Brooks Institute of Photographic Art and Science, Santa Barbara, CA, and Meadows Museum and Gallery, Dallas, TX, in conjunction with the Eastman Kodak Reedy Memorial Lectures

1988

Fay Gold Gallery, Atlanta, GA 

Allen Street Gallery, Dallas, TX

"Someone Left a Message for You: Photographs by Duane Michals," Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, IL

Maine Photographic Workshops, Rockport, ME "Duane Michals: Two Photographers," Blatent

Image/Silver Eye, Pittsburgh, PA

Galerie Fiolet, Amsterdam, Holland 

Ugo Ferranti, Rome, Italy 

Forum Gallery, Tarragona, Spain 

"Duane Michals Photographies," FRAC Aquitaine, Bordeaux, 

France Artoteque de Caen, Caen, 

France Oregon Art Institute, Portland, OR

1989

"Duane Michals Photographien 1958-1988," Museum fur Kunst und Gewerbe Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany; traveled to: Museum de Beikerd, Breda, Holland; Chateau d'Eau, Toulouse, France; Musee de l'Elysee, Lausanne, Switzerland; Museum of Photography, Antwerp, Belgium Photographic Image Gallery, Portland, OR Southern Alleghenies Museum of Art, Loretto, PA Art Kane Photo Workshop, Cape May, NJ

"Upside Down, Inside Out and Backwards," Sidney Janis Gallery, New York, NY

Galerie John A. Schweitzer, Montreal, Canada

"Duane Michals: Portraits," Salt Lake Art Center, Salt Lake City, UT 

Samia Saouma, Paris, France 

Spectrum Gallery, Light Impressions, Rochester, NY

1990

Modern Art Center, Calouse Gulbenkian Foundation, Lisbon, Portugal

A Gallery for Fine Photography, New Orleans, LA 

Cumberland Gallery, Nashville, TN 

Andrew Smith Gallery, Santa Fe, NM 

Fahey/Klein Gallery, Los Angeles, CA

Fay Gold Gallery, Atlanta, GA 

Vrais Reves, Lyon, France Institut de la Communication, Universite Lumiere, Lyon, France 

"The Duane Michals Show," Museum of Photographic Arts, San Diego, CA; traveled to: Honolulu Academy of Arts, Honolulu, HI; San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco, CA; International Museum of Photography at the George Eastman House, Rochester, NY; Museum of Contemporary Photography, Columbia College, Chicago, IL; Milwaukee Art Museum, Milwaukee, WI; Boca Raton Museum of Art, Boca Raton, FL; International Center of Photography, New York, NY; North Dakota Museum of Art, Grand Forks, ND

"Duane Michals: Portraits," Butler Institute of Parco Gallery, Tokyo, Japan

1991

Galerie Bodo Niemann, Berlin, Germany 

Aspen Art Museum, Aspen, CO

"Poetry and Tales," Sidney Janis Gallery, New York, NY 

Robert Koch Gallery, San Francisco, CA 

Photograum Fleetinsel, Hamburg, Germany 

Busche Galerie, Cologne, Germany

1992

Lynn Goode Gallery, Houston, TX 

Elke Droscher, Fotoram Fleetinsel, Berlin, Germany 

Espace Photographique de Paris, Paris, France 

Portfolio Gallery, Edinburgh, Scotland 

"Paris Stories and Other Follies," Sidney Janis Gallery, New York, NY 

Montgomery Glasoe Fine Art, Minneapolis, MN 

Beam Gallery, Tokyo, Japan

International Center of Photography, New York,NY

1993

Ehlers Caudill Gallery, Chicago, IL 

Fahey/Klein Gallery, Los Angeles, CA

Irish Gallery of Photography, Dublin, Ireland 

Temple Bar Gallery, Dublin, Ireland 

Galeria USVU, Bratislava, Slovakia 

Sala Parpallo, Valencia, Spain

University of North Florida, Jacksonville, FL

1994

Lynn Goode Gallery, Houston, TX 

"Duane Michals," Louisiana Museum, Humlebaek, Denmark 

"Questions Without Answers," Sidney Janis Gallery, NewYork, NY

1995

"Duane Michals," Right Gallery, Kamakura, Japan 

"Questions Without Answers," Hamiltons, London, England;

Traveled to: Robert Koch Gallery, San Francisco, CA; Hartwick College, Oneonta, NY; Noordelijk, Groningen, NL

"Duane Michals," Photographic Center, Atlanta, GA "Duane Michals," Braunschweig Photomuseum, Braunschweig, Germany

1996

"Duane Michals: Photographs," Miami-Dade Community College, 

Kendall Campus Art Gallery, Miami, FL

"Questions Without Answers," Lynn Goode Gallery, Houston, TX

1997

"Salute, Walt Whitman," Sidney Janis Gallery, New York, NY; traveled to: Fahey/Klein Gallery, Los Angeles, CA

1998

Centro de Arte, Reina Sofia, Madrid, Spain

"Fiction/Fact: The Photographic Work of Duane Michals," Picotte Gallery, The College of Saint Rose, Albany, NY 

"Duane Michals Words and Images," Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, Canada (catalogue) Fotografisk Center, Copenhagen, Denmark 

"Apropos de Walt Whitman," FNAC, Etoile, Paris, France 

"Salute Walt Whitman," Silver Eye, Pittsburgh, PA; traveled to: Irving Galleries, Palm Beach, FL University of Kentucky Art Museum, Lexington, KY 

"The Journey of the Spirit After Death, Duane Michals," Sprengel Museum & Jurgen Wilde Collection, Hanover, Germany (catalogue)

ASU Art Museum, Arizona State University Art Museum Tempe, AZ

1999

Center For Photographic Art, Sunset Cultural Center, Carmel, CA

Odakyu Museum, Tokyo, Japan 

"Duane Michals, Il Grande Poeta Americano della Fotografia," Fondazione Italiana per La Fotografia, Turin, Italy 

"Salute, Walt Whitman," Galleria Photology, Milano, Italy; 

National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa; traveled to: Hamiltons Gallery, London, England

2000

Pace/MacGill Gallery, New York, NY 

Palm Beach Photographic Center, Palm Beach, FL 

Daimaru, Osaka, Japan 

School of Visual Arts, New York, NY 

Galerie-Kunsthandel Clara Sels, Dusseldorf, Germany 

Valla Dolid Fundacion Municipal de Cultura, Spain

FFI-Fotografie International,Frankfurt

2001

"Who Is Sidney Sherman?," Pace/MacGill Gallery, NY 

Galleria dell'Arte Contemporanea, Mestre, Italy 

Max Estrella, Madrid, Spain 

"Duane Michals: The Photographer as Magician," 

Emerson Gallery, Hamilton Gallery, Clinton, NY

2002

Galerie Thierry Marlat, Paris, France 

SpazioFoto Credito Artigiano, Florence, Italy 

Galleria Carla Sozzani, Milan, Italy

"Artist’s Portraits 1950-1980," Sprengel Museum, Hannover, Germany

Galerie Clara Maria Sels, Dusseldorf, Germany 

University of Massachusetts, Dartmouth

Photology, Milan, Italy 

University Art Gallery- University of Massachusetts Dartmouth, New Bedford, MA

2004

Bratislava Month of Photography Festival, Galéria mesta Bratislavy, Bratislava, Slovakia 

"The House I Once Called Home," Pace/MacGill Gallery, New York

2005

“The Adventures of Constantine Cavafy” and “Ukiyo-e: Pictures from the Floating World” November 17 – January 7; Pace/MacGill Gallery “Quantum and Metafisica” September 15 – November 15;Galerie Clara Sels, Dusseldorf, Germany

2006

“Photography and Reality” January 20 – April 16; Mead Art Museum at Amherst College, Amherst, MA

“Sleeping and Dreaming” Musee d’art contemporain de Bordeaux, Bordeaux, France

“Playing Hide and Seek” Galerie Carla Sozzani, Milan, Italy

“New York, New York: Fifty Years of Art, Architecture, Film, Music and Video” The Grimaldi Forum, Monaco

“Duane Michals: Photographs from the 1970s”, Smith College Museum of Art, Northampton, MA, February 11-April 23

“The Adventures of Constantine Cavafy & Japonisme: Photographs from the Floating World”, Robert Klein Gallery, Boston, November 9–December 30,

2007

“Duane Michals: Photography Beyond Photography”, Nohra Haime Gallery, New York, September 18-October 20

2008

“The Facts of Life”, Equality Forum 2008, Sol Mednick Gallery, The University of the Arts, Philadelphia, PA,

April 11–May 2, 2008 “Duane Michals”, Galerie Clara Maria Sels, April 12-May 30 “Time is Not Now”, April 18-June 8, Thessaloniki Museum of

Photography, Thessaloniki, Greece “Duane Michals: 1958-2008”, Centro Internazionale di

Fotografia Scavi Scaligeri, Verona, Italy, June 21 – September

2009

“Duane Michals: 1958-to the present”, Charleroi, Belgium. June – September 2009.

“The Once and Always Now”, Rencontres d’Arles, Arles,

France. July – September, 2009 “Duane Michals: Photographs from the Floating World”,

Pace/MacGill Gallery, New York, NY

December 4, 2008 – January 10, 2009 

2010

“Duane Michals: 1958-to the present” Preus Museum – Horten,

Norway. January 17- April 11, 2010 “Duane Michals: 1958-to the present” Museet for Fotokunst,

Odense, Denmark, May 6 – August 15, 2010 “Duane Michals” Galerie Vrais Reves, Lyon, France

September 10 – November 13, 2010 “Dr. Duanus” Nederlands Fotomuseum, Rotterdam

September 18, 2010 – February 1, 2011 “Duane Michals: Histoires photographiques” Musee des

Moulages, Lyon, France

November 4 – December 18, 2010 “Duane Michals” Galerie Thierry Marlat, Paris, France

October 26 – November 18, 2010

2011

“Dr. Duanus” Nederlands Fotomuseum, Rotterdam September 18, 2010 – February 1, 2011

“Life and Death by Duane Michals”, Florida Museum of Photographic Arts, Tampa, FL Sept 8 – Nov 6, 2011

2013

Macgill Gallery, New York,NY

DC Moore Gallery,New York, NY

Galerie Clara Maria Seis, Dusseldorf

2015

Storyteller: The Photographs of Duane Michals, DC Moore Gallery, , New York US

The Portraitist, Duane Michals, DC Moore Gallery, New York US

Storyteller, The Photographs of Duane Michals, Carnegie Museum of Art, New York US

2016

Sequences, Tintypes and Talking Pictures, Carl Solway Gallery, Cincinnati, US

Duane Michals, Selected Work, Jackson Fine ArtUS

Sequences and Talking Pictures, DC Moore Gallery, New York, US

Storyteller: The photographs of Duane Michals, Peabody Essex Museum, US

2017

Cultural Award of the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Photographie, Kulturpreis der Deutschen Gesellschaft für Photographie, SK Stiftung Kultur, DE

Retrospectiva, Fundacion Mapfre ES

Duane Michals, Carl Solway Gallery US

Sequences, Tintypes and Talking Pictures

2018

Duane Michals, Museo Ettore Fico, Torino IT

Duane Michals, Centro Jose Guerrero, Granada, ES

Duane Michals, produced by FUNDACIÓN MAPFRE, Barcellona, ES

Duane Michals: The Portraitist, Crocker Art Museum, Sacramento, CA

2019

Mischievous Eye, DC Moore Gallery, New York US

The Portraitist, Fenimore Art Museum US

The Portraitist, Snap Orlando US

2020

Illusions of the Photographer, Duane Michals at the Morgan, New York US

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MOSTRE COLLETTIVE

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1966

Toward a Social Landscape, George Eastman House, Rochester, NY. Photographs by Michals, Bruce Davidson, Lee Friedlander, Danny Lyon, and Garry Winogrand. Curated by Nathan Lyons.

1999

Cosmos, Musée de Beaux-Arts de Montréal

The Century of the Body: Photoworks 1900–2000, Musée de l'Élysée, Lausanne

From Camouflage to Free Style, Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris

2004

The Ecstasy of Things, Fotomuseum Winterthur, Switzerland

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