Ralph Gibson

2007 Honoree / Achievement In Fine Art

Ralph Gibson studied photograpy while in the US Navy and then at the San Francisco Art Institute. He began his professional career as an assistant to Dorothgea Lane and went on to work with Robert Frank on two films. Gibson has maintained a lifelong fascination with books and book-making.

Since the appearance in 1970 of THE SOMNAMBULIST, his work has been steadily impelled towards the printed page. To date he has produced over 40 monographs , his most current being “The WOunded Nurse”to be published by Chronicle Books in 2008.

His photographs are included in over one hundred and fifty museum collections around the wrold, and have appeared in hundreds of exhibitions.Gibson’s awards include fellowships from the John Simon Guggenheim Foundation and the National Endowment for the Arts, as well as the Leica Medal of Exellence and the Silver Plumb Award from the Landmarks Preservation Committee. He is an Commandeur de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres of France, and holds honorary doctorates from the University of Maryland and Ohio Wesleyan University.

He has worked exclusively with the Leica for over 45 years.