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Mitch Epstein (born 1952, Holyoke, Massachusetts) is a photographer who helped pioneer fine-art color photography in the 1970s, along with William Eggleston, Joel Meyerowitz and Stephen Shore. Epstein’s work investigates the politics of human intimacy and how intimacy interacts with the world at large, while also examining how corporate and governmental power is changing the landscape in which we live.
His photographs are in numerous major museum collections, including New York’s Museum of Modern Art, Metropolitan Museum of Art, and Whitney Museum of American Art; The J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles; the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art; and the Tate Modern in London. In 2013, the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis commissioned and premiered a theatrical rendition of Epstein’s American Power photographic series. This seminal series examines energy usage and excess in the United States. Epstein plays with the definition of American power, probing not just corporate power but the powers of sexuality and consumption. A collaboration between Epstein and cellist Eric Friedlander, the performance combined original live music, storytelling, video, and projected photographs and archival material. Epstein and Friedlander also performed at the Wexner Center for the Arts, Ohio (2014), and the Victoria and Albert Museum, London (2015).
Epstein’s fourteen books include Property Rights (Steidl, spring 2021), Sunshine Hotel (Steidl/PPP Editions, fall 2019); Rocks and Clouds (Steidl 2017); New York Arbor (Steidl 2013); Berlin (Steidl/The American Academy in Berlin 2011); American Power (Steidl 2009); Mitch Epstein: Work (Steidl 2006); Recreation: American Photographs 1973-1988 (Steidl 2005); and Family Business (Steidl 2003), winner of the 2004 Kraszna-Krausz Photography Book Award.
In 2020, Mitch Epstein was inducted as an Academician to the National Academy of Design. In 2011, Epstein won the Prix Pictet for American Power. Among his other awards are the Berlin Prize in Arts and Letters from the American Academy in Berlin (2008), and a Guggenheim Fellowship (2003).
Epstein has worked as a director, cinematographer, and production designer on several films, including Dad, Mississippi Masala, and Salaam Bombay!. He lives with his family in New York City.
Born 1952 in Holyoke, Massachusetts, USA.
Lives and works in New York, USA.
Union College, New York
Rhode Island School of Design, Rhode Island
The Cooper Union, New York
Lecturer for Photography, Harvard University, Cambridge
Professor for Photography, Bard College, School of the Arts
Guest lecturer, Graduate Photography Program, School of Visual Arts
National Academy of Design Inductee
Pollock-Krasner Foundation Grant
Winner, Prix Pictet Photography Prize
Gold Medal, Deutscher Fotobuchpreis (American Power)
Open Society Institute Documentary Photography Grant
Fellowship at the American Academy, Berlin, Germany
Kraszna-Krausz Photography Book Award (Family Business)
John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation Fellowship
American Institute of Graphic Artists, 50 Best Books of the Year
Camera Works, Inc. Artist Grant
Pinewood Foundation Artist Grant
New York State Council for the Arts
National Endowment for the Arts, Individual Grant
Yancey Richardson Gallery, New York, NY, USA
Recreation, Yancey Richardson Gallery, New York City, USA
Mitch Epstein. Silver + Chrome, Galerie Thomas Zander, Cologne, Germany
Mitch Epstein. En Inde 1978-1989, Les Rencontres de la Photographie, Arles, France
Mitch Epstein. Property Rights, Amon Carter Museum of American Art, Fort Worth, Texas
Mitch Epstein. American Power, Moscow Multimedia Art Museum, Moscow, Russia
Mitch Epstein. In Time, Museum Helmond/Kunsthal Helmond, Netherlands
Mitch Epstein. Property Rights, Galerie Thomas Zander, Cologne, Germany
Mitch Epstein. Property Rights, Sikkema Jenkins & Co., New York
Mitch Epstein. New York Arbor, Musée de la Photographie André Villers, Mougins, France
Mitch Epstein. Free of Charge, Andreas Murkudis, Berlin, Germany
Mitch Epstein. Rocks, Clouds and a Tree, Galerie Thomas Zander, Cologne, Germany
Mitch Epstein. New York Arbor, Fondation A Stichting, Brussels, Belgium
Mitch Epstein. New York Arbor, Galerie Thomas Zander, Cologne, Germany
Mitch Epstein, Open Eye Gallery, Liverpool, UK
Mitch Epstein. American Power, Fondation Henri Cartier-Bresson, Paris, France
Mitch Epstein. State of the Union, Kunstmuseum Bonn, Bonn, Germany
Mitch Epstein. Vietnam, Brancolini Grimaldi Arte Conte, Rome, Italy
Mitch Epstein, Fotografiemuseum, Amsterdam, Netherlands
Mitch Epstein, Sikkema, Jenkins & Co., New York
Mitch Epstein. Work, Galerie Thomas Zander, Cologne, Germany
Mitch Epstein, Brent Sikkema, New York
Mitch Epstein, Yancey Richardson, New York
Mitch Epstein, PhotoEspana, Madrid, Spain
Mitch Epstein, Brancolini Grimaldi Arte, Florence, Italy
Mitch Epstein, Jackson Fine Art, Atlanta, Georgia
Mitch Epstein, Power House, Memphis, Tennessee
Mitch Epstein, Brent Sikkema, New York
Mitch Epstein, Rose Gallery, Santa Monica, California
Mitch Epstein, Brent Sikkema, New York
Mitch Epstein, Center for Documentary Studies, Durham, North Carolina
Mitch Epstein, Rose Gallery, Santa Monica, California
Mitch Epstein, Julie Saul Gallery, New York
Mitch Epstein, Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, Ohio
Mitch Epstein, Fogg Art Museum, Cambridge, Massachusetts
Mitch Epstein, Santa Barbara Museum of Art, Santa Barbara, California
Mitch Epstein, Julie Saul Gallery, New York
Mitch Epstein, Light Gallery, New York
Mitch Epstein, Light Gallery, New York
When Images Learn to Speak: Conceptualized Documentary Photography from Astrid Ullens de Schooten Whettnall’s Collection, Les Rencontres d’Arles, Arles, France
Fragile Beauty: Photographs from the Sir Elton John and David Furnish Collection, Victoria & Albert Museum, South Kensington, London, UK
Transform! Designing the Future of Energy, Vitra Design Museum, Weil am Rhein, Germany
Sea Change: Photographs from the Collection, SFMOMA, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, CA, USA
A Long Arc: Photography and the American South since 1845, High Museum of Art, Atlanta, Georgia, USA
Intimate Strangers, Yancey Richardson, New York, USA
People Watching: Contemporary Photography Since 1965, Bowdoin College Museum of Art, Bowdoin, Maine, USA
This is New York: 100 Years of the City in Art and Pop Culture, Museum of the City of New York, NY, USA
Civilization: The Way We Live Now, Saatchi Gallery, London, UK
Civilization: The Way We Live Now, Musei San Domenico, Forlì, Italy
On The Line: Documents of Risk and Faith, Contemporary Arts Center, Cincinnati, USA
Singing in Unison: Artists Need to Create On the Same Scale That Society Hast he Capacity to Destroy, Miguel Abreu Gallery, New York, USA
Through the Looking Glass, Yancey Richardson Gallery, New York, USA
In The Shadow of Trees, PhotoBrussels Festival 06, Hangar Photo Art Center, Belgium
Celebrating the City: Recent Photography Acquisitions from the Joy of Giving Something Foundation, The Museum of the City of New York, USA
American Photography, Albertina, Vienna, Austria
In Conversation with Walker Evans: Four Photographers, Art Museum of West Virginia University, Morgantown, West Virginia
Civilization: The Way We Live, Musée des Civilisations de l’Europe et de la Méditerranée (MUCEM), Marseille, France
Ansel Adams in Our Time, Crystal Bridges Museum of Art, Bentonville, Arkansas
Civilization: The Way We Live Now, Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki, Auckland, New Zealand
Southbound. Photographs of and about the New South, LSU Museum of Art, Baton Rogue, Louisiana
BOOKS. An exhibition of books about art and art about books, Galerie Thomas Zander, Cologne, Germany
Emotion and Structure, Galerie Thomas Zander, Cologne, Germany
Civilization: The Way We Live Now, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, Australia
Cars: Accelerating the Modern World, Victoria and Albert Museum, London, UK
Civilization: The Way We Live Now, Ullens Center for Contemporary Art, Beijing, China
Ansel Adams in Our Time, The Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Massachusetts
Civilization: The Way We Live Now, National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Seoul, South Korea
Southbound: Photographs of and about the New South, Halsey Institute of Contemporary Art, Charleston, South Carolina
No Time, McEvoy Foundation for the Arts, San Francisco, California
Streetwise, Galerie Thomas Zander, Cologne, Germany
Photography from the Walther Collection, FOTO/INDUSTRIA Biennial, Pinacoteca Nazionale, Bologna, Italy
Illuminating India: Photography 1857-2017, Science Museum, London, UK
Telling Tales: Contemporary Narrative Photography, McNay Art Museum San Antonio, Texas
Summer Exhibition 2016, Royal Academy of Arts, London, UK
Celebrating Photography at the National Gallery of Art: Recent Gifts, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Museum of Stones, The Noguchi Museum, Queens, New York
Pair(s), Maison Particulière Art Center, Brussels, Belgium
Eyes Wide Open! 100 Jahre Leica Fotografie, Haus der Fotografie, Deichtorhallen Hamburg, Germany
Prix Pictet: A Retrospective at Les Recontres d’Arles, France
Color! American Photography Transformed at Amon Carter Museum of American Art, Washington, D.C.
Musée Nicéphore Niépce, Chalon sur Saone, France
A Democracy of Images – Photographs from the Smithsonian American Art Museum, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, D.C.
EXPO 1: New York at MoMA/PS1 Queens, New York
Le radici dello sguardo at il Filatoio di Caraglio, Italy
Infinite Balance, Museum of Photographic Arts, San Diego
Out of Focus, Saatchi Gallery, London, UK
The New York Times Magazine Photographs, Fotografiemuseum, Amsterdam, Netherlands
Appropriated Landscapes, The Walther Collection, Neu-Ulm, Germany
The Unseen Eye, George Eastman House, Rochester, New York
The Altered Landscape: Photographs of a Changing Environment, Nevada Museum of Art, Reno, Nevada
Infinite Balance: Artists and the Environment, Museum of Photographic Arts, San Diego
Growth. Prix Pictet, Arteversum, Düsseldorf, Germany (travelling exhibition)
New Documentary Forms, Tate Modern, London, UK
Hyper Real – Kunst und Amerika um 1970, Ludwig Forum für Internationale Kunst, Aachen, Germany
Mannerism and Modernism: The Kasper Collection of Drawings and Photographs, The Morgan Library and Museum, New York
Starburst: Color Photography in America 1970-1980, Cincinnati Art Museum, Cincinnati, Ohio
Exposed: Voyeurism, Surveillance and the Camera, Tate Modern, London, UK (travelling exhibition)
American Documents, FotoMuseum, Antwerp, Belgium
Arbeitswelten, Art Foyer DZ Bank, Frankfurt/Main, Germany
Intersections: Atlanta Collects Photography, High Museum of Art, Atlanta, Georgia
Where We Live: Photographs of America from the Berman Collection, J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles, California
Ecotopia: The Second Triennial of Photography and Video, International Center of Photography, New York
Cities in Transition, Public Art Project with Chuck Close and Dayanita Singh, Commissioned by United Technologies Corporation, Boston (Downtown Crossing subway station), Hartford (Bushnell Park), New York (Madison Square Park)
The photograph ‘Hadrian’s Villa, Rome, Italy, 1982’, Museum of Modern Art, New York
iCI, Shoot the Family, Traveling exhibition curated by Ralph Rugoff. Western Gallery, Western Washington University, Bellingham, Washington
Garry Winogrand and the American Street Photographers, Fotografiemuseum, Amsterdam, Netherlands
The Open Book, Hasselblad Center, Goteborg, Sweden
Seventies Color Photography, Kennedy/Boesky Photographs, New York
NY after NY, Musée de L’Elysee, Lausanne, Switzerland
Sense of Space, Noorderlicht, Groningen, Netherlands
Overnight to Many Cities, 303 Gallery
Walkabout, New York Historical Society
Blind Spot #17, Mass College of Art
New York Now, Museum of the City of New York, New York
California – Eggleston and the Color Tradition, J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles, California
Brent Sikkema, New York
Dad, Production and Regie, Short Cut
Mississippi Masala, Production, Design and Camera, Movie
Salaam Bombay!, Production, Design and Camera, Movie
India Cabaret, Camera, Dokumentary
So Far From India, Director of Photography, Documentary
Mitch Epstein. Silver + Chrome, Steidl Verlag, Göttingen, Germany
Mitch Epstein. In India, Steidl Publishers, Göttingen, Germany
Mitch Epstein. Property Rights, Steidl Publishers, Göttingen, Germany
Mitch Epstein. Sunshine Hotel, Steidl Publishers, Göttingen, Germany
Mitch Epstein. Rocks and Clouds, Steidl Publishers, Göttingen, Germany
Mitch Epstein. New York Arbor, Steidl Publishers, Göttingen, Germany
Mitch Epstein. Berlin, Steidl Publishers, Göttingen, Germany
Mitch Epstein. State of the Union, Hatje Cantz Verlag, Berlin/Ostfildern/Stuttgart, Germany
Exposed: Voyeurism, Surviellance and the Camera, Tate Publishing
Starbust: Color Photography in America 1970-1980, Hatje Cantz
Mitch Epstein. American Power, Steidl Publishers, Göttingen, Germany
Mitch Epstein. WORK, Steidl Publishers, Göttingen, Germany
Where we live: Photographs of America from the Berman Collection, The J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles, California
Mitch Epstein. Recreation: American Photographs 1973-1988, Steidl Publishers, Göttingen, Germany
Mitch Epstein. Family Business, Steidl Publishers, Göttingen, Germany
Visions from America, Photographs from the Whitney Museum of American Art 1940-2001, Prestel Verlag, Munich, Germany
Mitch Epstein. The City, powerHouse Books, New York
Vietnam: A Book of Changes, W.W. Norton/DoubleTake
Fire Water Wind, Tenrikyo Doyusha
In Pursuit of India, Aperture, New York
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
Museum of Modern Art, New York
Whitney Museum of American Art, New York
Tate Modern, London, UK
Saatchi Gallery, London, UK
International Center of Photography, New York
J. Paul Getty Museum at the Getty Center, Los Angeles, California
Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, California
San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, California
The Victoria and Albert Museum, London, UK
The Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois
Museum of Contemporary Photography, Chicago, Illinois
Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Texas
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Massachusetts
Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Baltimore Museum of Art, Baltimore, Maryland
New Orleans Museum of Art, New Orleans, Louisiana
Bibliotheque Nationale, Paris, France
Metropolitan Museum of Photography, Tokyo, Japan
Museum of Contemporary Art, Mexico City, Mexico
Australian National Gallery, Canberra, Australia
Brooklyn Museum of Art, Brooklyn, New York
Nevada Museum of Art, Reno, Nevada
Santa Barbara Museum of Art, Santa Barbara, California
Colby College Museum of Art, Waterville, Memphis
St. Louis Museum of Art, St Louis, Missouri
The Walther Collection, Ulm, Germany
Deutsche Börse Group, Frankfurt/Main, Germany
Vassar College Art Museum, Poughkeepsie, New York
Gilman Paper Collection, New York
LaSalle Bank Photography Collection, Chicago, Illinois
Museum of Contemporary Photography, Chicago, Illinois
Nelson Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, Missouri
Equitable Life Assurance Society, New York
Henry Art Gallery, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington
Chase Manhattan Art Program, New York
Citibank, New York
Morgan Guaranty, New York
Goldman Sachs, New York
KMS Fine Art Group, Baar, Switzerland
Zander Galerie
Schönhauser Straße 8
50968 Cologne
Germany
Zander Galerie
6 Rue Jacob
75006 Paris
France
