American, b. 1952
Mitch Epstein is a photographer who helped pioneer fine-art color photography in the 1970s. America, as a place and an idea, has occupied Epstein for the past five decades. With the first photographs he made in 1969, at sixteen-years-old, Epstein began confronting the cultural psychology of the United States. Although he started working in an era defined by the Vietnam war, civil rights, rock and roll, and free love, Epstein responded hardily to each radically different era that would follow—from Reaganomics to surveillance after 9/11 to the current climate crisis and resurgence of white supremacy. More than a single era or issue, it is the living organism of American culture that engages Epstein; no matter how much the country changes, his photographs describe something mysteriously and persistently American.
Born in 1952 in Holyoke, Massachusetts, Epstein lives and works in New York City. He has won numerous awards, including the Prix Pictet Photography Prize (2010); the Berlin Prize in Arts and Letters (2008); and a Guggenheim Fellowship (2003). His work has been exhibited and published extensively in the United States and Europe. His fourteen books include Property Rights (2021), Sunshine Hotel (2019); Rocks and Clouds (2017); New York Arbor (2013); Berlin (2011); American Power (2009); Mitch Epstein: Work (2006); Recreation: American Photographs 1973-1988 (2005); and Family Business (2003), winner of the 2004 Kraszna-Krausz Photography Book Award.
Born in 1952 in Holyoke, Massachusetts, Epstein lives and works in New York City. He has won numerous awards, including the Prix Pictet Photography Prize (2010); the Berlin Prize in Arts and Letters (2008); and a Guggenheim Fellowship (2003). His work has been exhibited and published extensively in the United States and Europe. His fourteen books include Property Rights (2021), Sunshine Hotel (2019); Rocks and Clouds (2017); New York Arbor (2013); Berlin (2011); American Power (2009); Mitch Epstein: Work (2006); Recreation: American Photographs 1973-1988 (2005); and Family Business (2003), winner of the 2004 Kraszna-Krausz Photography Book Award.
