Joel-Peter Witkin was born in Brooklyn, New York in 1939 at the beginning of WWII to Mary and Max Witkin. As he grew, his father would show him photograph of the war in the newspapers. Joel decided then to be a photographer. He has made photographs since he was a child. After high school, Joel worked in photographic studios and laboratories.
Joel enlisted in the army as a photographer when he was 21. His "war" was the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1963 when "a World War III" was in the balance.
After three years of service, Joel received a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the Cooper Union in Sculpture and a Fellowship in Poetry from Columbia University in 1974.
He received a Masters in Arts and a Master of Fine Arts in Photography from the University of New Mexico in 1976 and 1986 respectively.
He has received four National Endowment for the Arts in photography from the United States. He has had over 150 one person exhibitions in galleries and museums. Twenty-five monographs have been published on his work. He is listed in "Who's Who in American Art", "Who's Who in America" and "Who's Who in the World".
Among his honors: He was given the title of Commander of Arts and Letters of France in the year 2000.
Joel lives with his wife Barbara on their small ranch in New Mexico with five horses, four llamas, 150 chickens , three dogs and two cats.
Next is the introduction Joel himself will present to the audience:
I am happy and humbled to be in China and to exhibit and explain my work.
My work is about the condition of man in the world, through the history ,culture and beliefs of Western Man.
I don't make photographs of man in the world the way many photographers do. Instead, I bring the world to a photographic studio and there, through my imagination, create the "worlds" I wish to photograph. I build the sets, find the subjects-then direct the events until I choose the perfect, most meaningful moment: I then take that moment OUT OF TIME and make it permanent as the photographic print which I alone can create.
What that print must reveal are the physical, spiritual and emotional realities of "what it is to be human". That is out truths, fantasies, follies, our morality, our loves, hopes and fears.
But, what that print must contain within it is the metaphysical evidence of its maker's consciousness. All that the artist is, loves, believes in, lives for and needs to share with others. How that happens is the great mystery, the hunger of why art is created.
It can never be explained because artists are born-not made.
They are given a gift-the need to create original visions which inform and illuminate all of us.
1939 Born in Brooklyn, New York
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2015 The Despair of The Soul, OFOTO Gallery, Shanghai, China
Joel-Peter Witkin, AMNUA, Nanjing, China
2012 Enfer ou ciel, Bibliotheque Nationale de France, Paris, France
Oeuvres récentes, Galerie Baudoin Lebon, Paris, France
2011 Bibliotheque Nationale, Paris, France
2010 Fotografiska, Stockholm, Sweden
Galerie Baudoin Lebon, Paris, France
Castillo I Sehie, Italy
Minshar School of Art, Tel Aviv, Israel
2009 Itaú Cultural, S?o Paulo, Brazil
2008 Poetic Realism, Catherine Edelman Gallery, Chicago, IL
Poetic Realism, Silverstein Photography, New York, NY
Galerie Baudoin Lebon, Paris, France
2006 Vintage Work, Hasted Hunt Gallery, New York, NY
Cite Internationale des Arts, Paris, France
Oeuvres recentes, Espace Jules Valles, Saint Martin d'Heres, Belgium
2005 Retrospective Exhibition, Moscow House of Photography, Russia
Fahey/Klein Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
Catherine Edelman Gallery, Chicago, IL
Etherton Gallery, Tuscon, AZ
2004 Baudoin Lebon Gallery, Paris, France
Heart Beats Dust, Ricco/Maresca Gallery, NYC,New York
2002 Stadische Museen, Jena, Germany
Infinito Gallery, Torino, Italy
Galerie Baudoin Lebon, Paris, France
Ricco/Maresca, NYC, New York
Fraenkel Gallery, San Francisco, CA
2001 Joel-Peter Witkin: Photographs from the Stephan Janssen Collection,
University of Arizona Art Museum, Tempe, Arizona
Joel-Peter Witkin: In and Out of Life, Art Concern Gallery, Brussels, Belgium
Joel-Peter Witkin, Fahey/Klein Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
Joel-Peter Witkin: Desciple and Master, Hotel Sully, Paris, France
Joel-Peter Witkin: Unpublished and Unseen, Athens School of Fine Art, Athens, Greece
Joel-Peter Witkin: Recent Work, Catherine Edelman Gallery, Chicago, Illinois
Joel-Peter Witkin: Unpublished and Unseen, Centro Portugues de Fotografia, Coimbra, Portugal
Joel-Peter Witkin: Life and Death, Parno, Estonia Etherton Gallery, Tucson, Arizona
1999 Galerie Baudoin Lebon, Paris, France
1998 Unpublished and Unseen, The Museum of Fine Arts, Santa Fe, New Mexico,
The Cultural Center of Bruges, Bruges, Belgium
Hamlin Museum, South Korea
1997 Pace/ Wildenstein/ MacGill, New York, NY
Fraenkel Gallery, San Francisco, CA
Galerie Baudoin Lebon, Paris, France
Pace/ Wildenstein/ MacGill, Los Angeles, CA
Fahey/ Klein Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
Foto Massan, Goteborg, Sweden
Gallerie Objekte, Munich, Germany
1996 David Floria Gallery, Aspen, CO
Megan Fox Gallery, Santa Fe, NM
Fotology Gallery, Milan, Italy
Les Recontres d’Arles, Arles, France
Econdtros de Fotografia, Coimbra, Portugal
Gallery Objekte, Munich, Germany
1995 Stills Gallery, Edinburgh, Scotland
Interkamera, Prague, Czech Republic
Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, NY
Fraenkel Gallery, San Francisco, CA
Pace/ MacGIll Gallery, New York, NY
Galerie Baudoin Lebon, Paris France
Castello Di Rivoli, Museo d’Arte Contemporanea, Rivoli, Italy
Picture Photo Space, Osaka, Japan
1994 Galerie de la Tour, Basel, Switzerland
Galerie de la Tour, Amsterdam, Holland
Galerie Mokka, Rayjkavik, Iceland
1993 Musee de Cahors, France
Pace/ MacGill Gallery, New York, NY
Fraenkel Gallery, San Francisco, CA
Catherine Edelman Gallery, Chicago, IL
Fahey/ Klein Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
Picture Photo Space, Osaka, Japan
Studio of Yound Artists Association, Budapest, Hungary
Fotograficentrum, Stockholm, Sweden
1991 Pace/ MacGill Gallery, New York, NY
Fraenkel Gallery, San Francisco, CA
Hamilton’s Gallery, London, England
Galerie Baudoin Lebon, Paris, France
Fahey/ Klein Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
Museum of Modern Art, Haifa, Israel
1989 Pace/ MacGill Gallery, New York, NY
Fraenkel Gallery, San Francisco, CA
Hamilton’s Gallery, London, England
Galerie Baudoin Lebon, Paris, France
Fahey/Klein Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
Palais de Tokyo, Paris, France
Dart Gallery, Chicago, IL
Museum fur Fotographie und Zeitkunst, Breman, Germany
Econtros de Fotografia, Coimbra, Portugal
Palau Sollerie, Palma, Spain
1988 Tartt Gallery, Washington, DC
Brent Sikkema Gallery, Boston, MA
Hoppolyte Photographic Galerie, Helsinki, Finland
Rotterdam Biennale, The Netherlands
Centro de Arte Reina Sofia Museum, Madrid, Spain
1987 Fraenkel Gallery, San Francisco, CA
Pace/ MacGill Gallery, New York, NY
La Jolla Museum of Art, Brooklyn, NY
1986 Anderes Ufer, Berlin, Germany
University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM
Brooklyn Museum of Art, Brooklyn, NY
Museum of Contemporary Photography, Colombia College, Chicago, IL
1985 San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, “Forty Photographs,” (traveling catalogue), San Francisco, CA
Aspen Museum, Aspen, CO
Gelerie Texbraun, Grand Palais, FIAC ’85 (catalogue) Paris, France
Institute Franco, American (catalogue) Paris, France
Pace/ MacGill Gallery, New York, NY
Galerie Watari (catalogue) Tokyo, Japan
Butler Gallery, Houston, TX
1984 Fraenkel Gallery, San Francisco, CA
Pace/ MacGill Gallery
1983 Museum voor Acutele Kunste, Hasselt, Belgium
Fraenkel gallery, San Francisco, CA
Stedelijk Museum (catalogue), Amsterdam, Holland
Kansas City Art Institute, Kansas City, MS
1982 Galerie Texbraun, Paris, France
San Francsico Camerawork, San Francisco, CA
1980 Projects Studio One, New York, NY
Cooper Union School of Fine Art, New York, NY
1976 University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM
1972 Cooper Union School of Fine Art, New York, NY
1969 The Moore Collection of Art, Philadelphia, PA
GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2014 Framed: Rotating Gallery Artists, Catherine Edelman Gallery, Chicago, IL
Twin Visions: Jerome Witkin & Joel-Peter Witkin, Jack Rutberg Fine Art, Los Angeles, CA
2012 What I Was Thinking: 25 Year Anniversary," Catherine Edelman Gallery, Chicago, IL
2011 High Speed Insanity, PUG Gallery, Olso, Norway
2002 The Nature of Still Life: From Fox Talbot to the Present Day, Galleria d’Arte Moderna, Bologna, Italy
The Image of Jesus Christ in Photography,” The Fotografie Forum: Museum of Modern Art Frankfurt, Germany
2001 Art Since 1850, an introduction to the Collection, Akron Art Museum, Akron, Ohio
2000 2000 ans de Creation d’Apres l’Antique, Musee du Louvre, Hall Napoleon-Paris, France
Animal, Musee Bourdelle, Paris, France
Droles de Bestioles, Centre Photographique d’Ile de France, Pontault-Combault
Le siecle du corps, Musee de l’Eysee, Sausanne, Switzerland
Pourquoi faites?vous cette tete la, Galerie Sabine Puget, Paris, France
Ecce Homo, Kunsthal, Rotterdam, Netherlands
Psycho, Ann Faggionto Gallery, London
Chorus of Light: Photographs from the Elton John Collection, The High Museum of Art, Atlanta, GA
Postmodern Heretics: The Catholic Imagination in Contemporary Art,” Siena Heights University, Michigan
1999 Rosso Vivo, Padiglione d’Arte?Conemporanea, Milano, Italy
The Missing Link, Kunstmuseum, Bern, Switzerland
Love and Desire? Between Neoclassicism and Neuroticism, Photology, Milan, Italy
1998 Taboo: Repression and Revolt in Modern Art, Galerie St. Etienne, New York, NY
Photography’s Multiple Roles, Museum of Contemporary Photography, Chicago, Illinois
50 Years of Polaroid Photography, Ansel Adams Center, San Francisco, CA
Corps a’ Vif?Art et Anatomie, Musee d’Art et Historie, Geneva, Switzerland
1997 Body Fictions: Reinventing Anatomy, Auckland Art Gallery, New Zealand
The Mythic Image, David Adamson Gallery, Washington, D.C.
Rear View, Sarah Morthland Gallery, New York, NY
The Quick and the Dead, Hayward Gallery, London, England
Transvestism Identity in the Arts, Koldo Mitelena Kulturunea, San Sebastian, Spain
Photography and the Classical Nude, Tampa Art Museum, Tampa, Florida
Contemporary Photography in France, Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris, France
1996 Neo?Masters, Greg Kucrea Gallery, Seattle, Washington
La Maison Europienne de la Photographie - 1955?1995, Paris, France
DOUBLE VUE, Foundation Cartier, Paris, France
1995 Interkamera Photo Festival, Prague
1994 Still Pictures/ Still Life, University of Rhode Island, Providence, RI
Photo Dessin/ Dessin Photo, Espace Van Gogh, Arles, France
1993 Mexico Through Foreign Eyes, Museo de Art Contemporanea, Rufino Tamayo Mexico City
Magicians of Light, Photographs from the National Gallery of Canada
1992 Quotations, Aldrich Museum, Ridgefield, Delaware
Photography and Sculpture, Palais de Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan
Objects O Trouves d’Artiste, Galerie Urbi, Paris France
The Crucifixion Through the Modern Eye, Hearst Art Gallery, Saint Mary’s College of California, Morgana, CA
1989 On the Art of Fixing a Shadow, One Hundred and Fifty Years of Photography, National Gallery of Art, Washinton, D.C.
The Photography of Invention, National Museum of American Art, Washington, D.C.
1987 Crosscurrents, Forty Years of Photographic Art, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, CA
Master America Photographs 1910 to 1986, Whitney Equitable, New York, NY
1986 Sacred Images in Secular Art, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY
Signs of the Times: Some Recurring Motifs in Twentieth Century Photography, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco, CA (catalog)
The Sacred and the Sacrilegious, Photographic Recourse Center, Boston, MA
Art Quest, Parsons Gallery--‐? Parsons School of Design, New York, NY
The Biennial of Sydney (catalog), Sydney Australia
Das Artfoto: The Nude in Photography, Muchner Stadt Museum, Munich, Germany
1985 The Sam Wagstaff Collection, International Center of Photography, New York, NY
American Images: Photography 1945? 1980, Barbican Art Gallery, London, England (traveling catalog)
Whitney Biennial, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY
1984 Hirshorn Tenth Anniversary Exhibition of World Art, Washington, D.C.
Biennial, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco, CA
1983 Houston Center of Photography, Houston, TX
Personal Choice, Victoria and Albert Museum, London, England
1982 Mois de la photo, Musee d’Art Moderne, Paris, France
Form, Freud and Feeling, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco, CA
Staged Photo Events, Rotterdam Kunstichting, Holland
New American Photography, Galerie Texbraun, Paris, France
1980 Contemporary Photographers of New Mexico, Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, IL
1977 Soho Center of Visual Arts (C.A.P.S.)
Photoerotica, San Francisco Camera Work, San Francisco, CA
Light Work Gallery, Syracuse, NY
1972 Curators Choice, Witkin Gallery, New York, NY
1970 World Environments, Louvre Museum, Les Halles de Balthazar, Paris, France
1969 Paintings for City Walls, Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY
1968 Two Americans, University of Manchester, England
1959 Great Photographs from the Museum Collection, Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY
GRANTS & AWARDS
2000 Decorated Commandeur de L’Order des Arts et des Lettres
1996 The Augustus Saint Gardens Medal, from The Cooper Union School of Art
1992 National Endowment for the Arts, Photography Fellowship
1990 Decorated Chevalier Des Arts et des Letters
1988 International Center of Photography Fourth Annual Award in Visual Arts
1986 National Endowment for the Arts, Photography Fellowship
1986 Maine Photographic Book Competition, Book of the Year (Twelve Trees Press Monograph)
1984 National Endowment for the Arts, Photography Fellowship
1982 National Endowment for the Arts, Photography Fellowship
1978 Ford Foundation Grant
1977 Ford Foundation Grant
1974 CAPS Grant in Photography, New York, NY
SELECTED PUBLICATIONS
2012 Witkin, photographies de Joel-Peter Witkin, édition Delpire
Joel-Peter Witkin, Enfer ou Ciel, Heaven or Hell, éditions De La Martinière
2010 The Master Series: Joel-Peter Witkin, Delpire Publishers, Paris
2009 The Journal of Joel-Peter Witkin:The Maxims of Men Disclose Their Hearts, 21st Editions, South Dennis, MA
2007 Joel-Peter Witkin, Phaidon, London
2006 Bourgeoisie in DeNeil, A. Suite of 10 Etchings, Landfall Press, Santa Fe, NM
2003 Songs of Innocence, 21st Editions, South Dennis, MA
2002 Songs of Experience, poems by William Blake, photographs by Joel-Peter Witkin, 21st Editions, South Dennis, MA
2001 Joel-Peter Witkin, “55" Series, Phaidon, London
2000 Disciple & Ma?tre, Marval, Paris, France
1999 The Bone House, Twin Palms Publishers, Santa Fe, NM,
1995 Joel-Peter Witkin: A Retrospective, (Monograph), Scalo/DAP, New York, NY
1994 Harms Way, Twelve Trees Press, Santa Fe, NM
1991 Gods of Earth and Heaven, Twelvetrees Press, Pasadena, CA
Joel-Peter Witkin: Photo Poche, Volume 49, Centre National de la Photographie, Paris, France
Joel-Peter Witkin, Baudoin Lebon, Paris, France
1989 Joel-Peter Witkin, Palais de Tokyo, Paris, France
Joel-Peter Witkin, Museum fur Fotografie und Zeitkunst, Bremen, Germany
1988 Joel-Peter Witkin, Centro de Arte Reina Sofia Museum, Madrid, Spain
1985 Joel-Peter Witkin, Twelvetrees Press, Pasadena, CA
Joel-Peter Witkin: Forty Photographs, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco, CA
PERMANENT COLLECTIONS
Akron Art Museum, Akron, OH
Bibliotheque Nationale, Paris, France
Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris, France
Centro de Arte Reina Sofia, Madrid Spain
George Eastman House, Rochester, NY
High Museum of Art, Atlanta, GA
The J. Paul Getty Museum, Malibu, CA
Kansas City Art Institute, Kansas City, MO
The Kinsey Institute, Bloomington, IN
Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division, Washington, D.C.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA
The Museum of Fine Art, Houston, TX
The Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY
The National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
National Museum of American Art, Smithsonian Institute, Washington, D.C.
Princeton Art Museum, Princeton, NJ
San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco, CA
Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, Holland
Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Photography
University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ
Victoria and Albert Museum, London, England
Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, MN
