Photography: Duane michals

1. Duane Michals was born on the 18th February 1932 in America. He grew up in
McKeesport in Pennsylvania. In 1953 he studied and got a B.A. at the University
of Denver. He then went to study at the Parsons School of Design but didn’t
finish his time there. Michals has been with his partner for 48 years (in 2008)
but even though he hasn’t been involved in any civil rights, his photography has
addressed gay themes.

2. Duane Michals Work
• Michals discovered his photography interest when he
was on holiday in the USSR in 1958. The pictures he took
on his trip made up his first exhibition in 1963 which was
at the Underground Gallery in New York City.
• Michals worked in commercial photography for a while
after university. He worked for Esquire and
Mademoiselle (magazines) and he covered the filming of
The Great Gatsby for Vogue (1974).
• He didn’t have his own studio/work place so he took
portraits of people in their own environment, which was
different to the usual method of other photographers at
the time.
• In 1968, the government of Mexico hired him to
photograph the Olympics, which were shown at the
Museum of Modern Art in NYC in 1970.

3. Imagery
• Duane Michals never particularly
based his photographs on
anything towards the beginning of
his career. He mostly went for jobs
rather than art.
• His photographs were fashion
based while working for Vogue
and other magazines.
• He also took portraits of people in
their normal surroundings.

4. Bibliography
• http://www.kochgallery.com/artists/contemporary/Michals/index.html
• http://pdngallery.com/20years/20mostinfluential/michals.html
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duane_Michals
• http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_QkKVXRezcIY/SOKr8uG51_I/AAAAAAAABx0/cafWzxn
gaw4/s400/artwork_images_969_125447_duane-michals.jpg