Reconnu comme un des pionniers de la photographie conceptuelle, Kenneth Josephson a su développer une œuvre à la fois complexe et ludique autour et sur le médium photographique sans jamais être rébarbatif ou austère. Jouant sur les concepts de vérités et d’illusions propres aux arts visuels, il n’a cessé d’interroger les modes de construction d’une image tout au long de sa carrière, avec toujours beaucoup d’esprit et d’humour. Dans sa pratique, il fait appel à un éventail de techniques, de la photographie directe, aux expositions multiples, aux collages, en passant par l’utilisation de trompe-l’œil et l’introduction d’image dans l’image.
Né à Détroit en 1932, Kenneth Josephson étudie la photographie au Rochester Institute of Technology auprès de Minor White et Beaumont Newhall. En 1958, il part à Chicago pour poursuivre ses études à l’Institute of Design de Chicago. Ses professeurs, Aaron Siskind et Harry Callahan, auront une influence considérable sur son oeuvre. À l’ID, il côtoie Joseph D. Jachna, Ray K. Metzker, George Nan, Joseph Sterling et Charles Swedlund qui sont alors étudiants. En 1960, Josephson obtient son diplôme de master avec son mémoire “Exploration de l’Image Multiple”. Il enseigne à l’école de l’Art Institute de Chicago de 1960 à 1997 où il forme plusieurs générations de photographes. Il est aussi cofondateur de la Society for Photographic Education en 1963. Durant sa carrière, il obtient de prestigieuses bourses, comme celle de la John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation (1972), ou encore du National Endowment for the Arts (1975 et 1979).
Son œuvre a fait l’objet de nombreuses expositions à Chicago, où il vit et travaille, comme à l’international. Il est d’abord exposé par John Szarkowski dans l’exposition “The Photographer’s Eye” en 1964 au Museum of Modern Art de New York. L’exposition voyagera dans près de quarante lieux à travers le monde. Son travail est par la suite présenté dans le cadre de nombreuses expositions monographiques, comme au Whitney Museum of America à New York, à la Photographer’s Gallery à Londres, au Fotoforum de Kassel, au Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago. Ses oeuvres font parties du Museum of Modern Art, du Metropolitan Museum of Art, du Whitney Museum of American Art à New York ; du San Francisco Museum of Modern Art ; du J. Paul Getty Museum à Los Angeles ; de l’Art Institute de Chicago ; du Smithsonian American Art Museum de Washington, D.C. et de la Bibliothèque Nationale de France, parmi d’autres. Ses ouvrages monographiques incluent Kenneth Josephson: A Retrospective (Art Institute of Chicago, 1999), Kenneth Josephson: Selected Photographs (Only Photographs, 2013), and Kenneth Josephson: The Light of Coincidence (University of Texas Press, 2016).
COLLECTIONS
Son travail est présent dans les collections du Art Institute of Chicago ; Ackland Art Museum, Chapel Hill ; Amon Carter Museum, Fort Worth ; Bibliothèque nationale de France, Paris ; Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh ; Center for Creative Photography, Tucson ; Cincinnati Art Museum ; Cleveland Museum of Art ; Denver Art Museum ; Fogg Art Museum, Cambridge ; Fotografiska Museet, Stockholm ; George Eastman House, Rochester ; Institut d’art Contemporain Villeurbanne ; Hallmark Collections, Kansas City ; Harry Ransom Center, Austin ; J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles ; Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) ; Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York ; Milwaukee Art Museum ; Minneapolis Institute of Arts ; MIT List Visual Arts Center, Cambridge ; Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago ; Museum of Fine Arts, Boston ; Museum of Fine Arts, Houston ; Museum of Modern Art, New York ; National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa ; Nelson Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City ; The New York Public Library ; Princeton University Art Museum ; Santa Barbara Museum of Art ; Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, D.C ; San Francisco Museum of Modern Art ; Spencer Museum of Art, Kansas ; University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Photography ; Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, entre autres.
BOURSES ET PRIX
John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation
National Endowment for the Arts
Ruttenberg Arts Foundation
EXPOSITIONS
Expositions personnelles
2018 Picture Fiction: Kenneth Josephson and Contemporary Photography, Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago
2016 The Light of Coincidence, Stephen Daiter Gallery
The Light of Coincidence, Denver Art Museum, Denver
2013 Been There, Done That. The Early Explorations of Kenneth Josephson, Stephen Daiter Gallery, Chicago
2010 Glitterman Gallery, New York
2009 “Kenneth Josephson,” Robert Koch Gallery, San Francisco, CA
2008 “Kenneth Josephson: The First Fifty Years,” Steven Daiter Gallery, Chicago
“Postcard Visits, “ Yancey Richardson Gallery, New York
2004 “Kenneth Josephson: Landscapes 1995-2003,” Rhonna Hoffman Gallery, Chicago
2002 Yancey Richardson Gallery, New York
2001 Yancey Richardson Gallery, New York
Retrospective Exhibition, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York
Land/Cityscape, Allen Priebe Gallery, University of Wisconsin
1999 Retrospective Exhibition, The Art Institute of Chicago Rhona Hoffman Gallery, Chicago
1983 Retrospective Exhibition, Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago
Delpire Galerie, Paris
Photographer’s Gallery, London
Fotoforum, Kassel, Germany
291 Gallery, Milan
1971 The Art Institute of Chicago
Expositions de groupe
2020 Photo London Digital, Yancey Richardson, London
2019 Black and White Photography, OSART GALLERY, Milan
Sleep with the Fishes, Robert Mann Gallery, New York
Jack Dykinga: The Grand Canyon National Park (1919-2019), Etherton Gallery, Tucson
2018 Interventions, Yancey Richardson Gallery, New York
From the Archive: Masters of 20th Century American Photography, Etherton Gallery, Tucson
Picture Fiction: Kenneth Josephson and Contemporary Photography, MCA Chicago, Chicago
2017 The 25th Anniversary Show, Scott Nichols Gallery, Sonoma
2016 A Matter of Memory: Photography as Object in the Digital Age, George Eastman Museum, Rochester
LUX: The Radiant Sea, Yancey Richardson Gallery, New York
2015 The Road, Robert Koch Gallery, San Francisco
The City Lost & Found: Capturing New York, Chicago, and Los Angeles, 1960-1980, Princeton University Art Museum, Princeton
2014 “The Thing Itself”, Yancey Richardson Gallery, New York
2013 “Been There, Done That,” Stephen Daiter Gallery, Chicago
“Beyond Here Lies Nothin,’” Stephen Daiter Gallery, Chicago
2012 “Located Place: Perception of Space in 20th Century Photography,” Figge Art Museum, Davenport
“The Photographs of Ray K. Metzker and the Institute of Design,” J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles
2011 “Fabricated Realities,” Robert Koch Gallery, San Francisco
“Recent Photography Acquisitions,” The Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, DC
“Public Works – MoCP – The Museum of Contemporary Photography, Chicago
2010 “After a Fashion: Classic, Humorous, Subversive…” Steven Daiter Gallery, Chicago
“Passing the Torch: The Chicago Students of Callahan and Siskind,” Steven Daiter Gallery, Chicago
“Incognito: The Hidden Self-Portrait,” Yancey Richardson Gallery, New York
2009 “Art 40 Basel: Hall2, Book U4 of Messe Basel in the City of Basel” Steven Daiter Gallery
“Highlights from the Photography Collection: Portfolios,” Samuel P. Harm Museum of Art, Gainsville
“Remember? Photographs before Digitization – Picker Art Gallery at Colgate University, Hamilton
“Reality Revisted,” Moderna Museet, Stockholm
2008 “Contemporary Abstractions,” Yancey Richardson Gallery, New York
“A Mind at Play,” The Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago
“Presumed Innocence: Photographic Perspectives of Children – DeCordova SculpturePark and Museum, Lincoln
2007 “Summer Reading,” Bernard Toale Gallery, Boston
“Commemorating 30 Years Part III: 1991-1997,” Rhonna Hoffman Gallery, Chicago
“Highlights from the Photography Collection, “ Samuel P. Harn Museum of Art, Gainsville
“Photography As The: Eye Gym,” AR Contemporary Gallery, Milan
2006 “Photographs by the Score: Personal Visions Twenty-Some Years Apart,” Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago
“Domestic Viewpoints,” Rockford Art Museum, Rockford
“In Sight – Resent Additions to the Permanent Collection,” The Museum of Contemporary Photography, Chicago
2005 “The Last Great Maxwell Street Picture Show,” Stephen Daiter Gallery, Chicago
“View: Photographing the Museum,” Yancey Richardson Gallery, New York
2004 “Ansel Adams and the Development of Photography in America,” Sheldon Art Galleries, St. Louis
2003 “Content – Rem Koolhaas and OMA-AMO – Bauten, Projekte und Konzepte seit 1996,” Neue Nationalgalerie, Berlin
“Vigovisions, 1986-2000,” MARCO Museo de Arte Contemporanea de Vigo, Vigo
2002 “The New Bauhaus,” Bruce Silverstein Gallery, New York
“Visions from America,” Whitney Museum of Art, New York
“Overtaken by Design,” Stephen Daiter Gallery, Chicago
“Taken by Design,” Art Institute of Chicago 1998 “VIII Fotobienal 98,” Vigo
1983 “Looking at Women,” Artemesia Gallery “Work by Former Students of Aaron Siskind,” Center for Creative Photography, Tucson
“Harry Callahan and His Students: A Study in Influence,” Georgia State University, Atlanta
“Coast to Coast; Recent Works,” Houston Center for Photography
1964 “The Photographer’s Eye” Museum of Modern Art, New York
BIBLIOGRAPHIE
Lynne Warren, The light of coincidence : the photographs of Kenneth Josephson, University of Texas Press, Austin, 2016.
The bread book / Kenneth Josephson, University of Texas Press, Austin, 2016.
Lisa Hostetler, William T. Green, A matter of memory : photography as object in the digital age, George Eastman Museum, Rochester, New York, 2016.
Kenneth Josephson : selected photographs, Only Photography, Berlin, 2013.
Matthew, Stephen Daiter Gallery, Chicago, 2012.
Kenneth Josephson: The First Fifty Years, Stephen Daiter Gallery, Chicago, 2008.
John Goodman, Minor Impact : sixteen photographers influenced by Minor White, Howard Greenberg Gallery, New York, 2008.
The revision of vision : photographs from the Institute of Design during the Harry Callahan-Aaron Siskind years, Stephen Daiter Gallery, Chicago, 2010.
Gilles Mora, The last photographic heroes : la photographie américaine de 1958 à 1981, Seuil, Paris, 2007.
David Travis, Keith F. Davis, Elizabeth Siegel, Taken by design: photographs of the Institute of Design : 1939-1971, Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, 2002.
Kenneth Josephson: A Retrospective, The Art Institute of Chicago, 1999.
David Travis, Together again : Ishimoto, Jachna, Josephson, Metzker, Sterling, Swedlund : featuring new work by students of Harry Callahan, 1948-1961, Institute of Design, Gallery 312, Chicago, 1996.
Kenneth Josephson, Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, 1983.
Subjective vision : the Lucinda W. Bunnen collection of photographs, High Museum of Art, Atlanta, Ga., 1983.
Aaron Siskind, Diana L. Johnson, Spaces, Museum of Art, Rhode Island School of Design, Providence, 1978.
The Photographer and the City, Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, Chicago, IL, 1977.
Photographs by Kenneth Josephson: Exhibition Catalog, the Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, 1971.
Five photography students from the Institute of Design, Illinois Institute of Technology : Ken Josephson, Joseph Sterling, Charles Swedlund, Ray K. Metzker, Joseph Jachna, Aperture, Rochester, N.Y., 1961.