Ralph Gibson
Nature : Object

The Parrish will present a selection of photographs by Ralph Gibson from a series based on the relationship between shapes found in nature and human constructs; positing that nature is visually evident in all genres of industrial design, and architecture is evoked in the correlation between form and ergonomic function. In this exhibition, Gibson highlights the relationship between perspective, color, and proportion. The 35mm Leica format and optical glass are an essential component of the work, and the dimensions of the frame are based on the ancient Greek “Golden Means.”

Ralph Gibson—Nature : Object is organized by Corinne Erni, Lewis B. and Dorothy Cullman Chief Curator of Art and Education, with additional support from Kaitlin Halloran, Associate Curator and Publications Manager, and Brianna L. Hernández, Former Assistant Curator.

Exhibition Support
Ralph Gibson—Nature : Object is made possible, in part, thanks to the generous support of Leica Camera USA and Neda Young and Family.

The Parrish Art Museum’s programs are made possible, in part, by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Kathy Hochul and the New York State Legislature, and by the property taxpayers from the Southampton School District and the Tuckahoe Common School District.

About Ralph Gibson
Ralph Gibson (b. 1939, Hollywood, California) was the son of an assistant director to Alfred Hitchcock and as a young boy would visit movie sets during filming; he also worked as an extra and acted in bit parts. He was impressed by the power of the camera lens and the intensity of the lights. Gibson studied photography while in the U.S. Navy and later at the San Francisco Art Institute; he worked as an assistant to Dorothea Lange and collaborated with Robert Frank on two films. Gibson has had a lifelong fascination with books and book making; since the 1970 publication of The Somnambulist, his work has been steadily impelled toward the printed page, with at least forty monographs issued.

Gibson’s photographs are included in more than 180 museum collections around the world and have appeared in hundreds of one-person exhibitions. He has lectured and led workshops in more than twenty countries. In 2010 he collaborated with Lou Reed on the film Red Shirley, which was screened in festivals in Europe and North America. Gibson’s awards include fellowships from the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation and the National Endowment for the Arts, as well as the Leica Medal of Excellence and a Leica Hall of Fame Award, a Lucie Achievement Award, and the Silver Plumb Award. A Commandeur de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres and a Chevalier de la Légion d’Honneur, he holds honorary doctorates from Ohio Wesleyan University and the University of Maryland. In 2019 he was elected to the International Photography Hall of Fame. The Gibson | Goeun Museum of Photography, which opened in Busan, South Korea, in 2022 and houses more than a thousand original prints, is the most comprehensive collection of the artist’s work in Asia.