Gregory Crewdson
Encyclopedia
Gregory Crewdson is an American
photographer who is best known for elaborately staged scenes of American homes and neighborhoods.
Crewdson was born in the Park Slope neighborhood of Brooklyn
, NY. He attended John Dewey High School
, graduating early.
As a teenager, he was part of a punk rock group called The Speedies that hit the New York scene in selling out shows all over town. Their hit song "Let Me Take Your Photo" proved to be prophetic to what Crewdson would become later in life. In 2005, Hewlett Packard used the song in advertisements to promote its digital cameras.
In the mid 1980s, Crewdson studied photography at SUNY Purchase, near Port Chester, NY. He received his Master of Fine Arts
from Yale University
. He has taught at Sarah Lawrence
, Cooper Union
, Vassar College
, and Yale University
where he has been on the faculty since 1993. He is now a professor at the Yale University School of Art.
Crewdson is represented in London at White Cube
.
Gregory Crewdson's photographs usually take place in small town America, but are dramatic and cinematic. They feature often disturbing, surreal events. The photographs are shot using a large crew, and are elaborately staged and lighted. He has cited the films Vertigo
, The Night of the Hunter
, Close Encounters of the Third Kind
, Blue Velvet, and Safe as having influenced his style, as well as the painter Edward Hopper
and photographer Diane Arbus
.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
photographer who is best known for elaborately staged scenes of American homes and neighborhoods.
Life and career
Brooklyn
Brooklyn is the most populous of New York City's five boroughs, with nearly 2.6 million residents, and the second-largest in area. Since 1896, Brooklyn has had the same boundaries as Kings County, which is now the most populous county in New York State and the second-most densely populated...
, NY. He attended John Dewey High School
John Dewey High School
John Dewey High School, commonly referred to as JDHS or just Dewey is a public school in Brooklyn, New York City, New York, founded and based on the educational principles of John Dewey. It opened in the Fall of 1969 and is located at 50 Avenue X at the Gravesend/Bensonhurst-Bath Beach border of...
, graduating early.
As a teenager, he was part of a punk rock group called The Speedies that hit the New York scene in selling out shows all over town. Their hit song "Let Me Take Your Photo" proved to be prophetic to what Crewdson would become later in life. In 2005, Hewlett Packard used the song in advertisements to promote its digital cameras.
In the mid 1980s, Crewdson studied photography at SUNY Purchase, near Port Chester, NY. He received his Master of Fine Arts
Master of Fine Arts
A Master of Fine Arts is a graduate degree typically requiring 2–3 years of postgraduate study beyond the bachelor's degree , although the term of study will vary by country or by university. The MFA is usually awarded in visual arts, creative writing, filmmaking, dance, or theatre/performing arts...
from Yale University
Yale University
Yale University is a private, Ivy League university located in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701 in the Colony of Connecticut, the university is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States...
. He has taught at Sarah Lawrence
Sarah Lawrence
Sarah Lawrence may refer to;* Sarah Lawrence College, an Arts college in Westchester County, New York* Sarah Lawrence , wife of Joseph Smith-See also:* Sara Lawrence, who represented Jamaica in the 2006 Miss World Contest...
, Cooper Union
Cooper Union
The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art, commonly referred to simply as Cooper Union, is a privately funded college in the East Village neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City, United States, located at Cooper Square and Astor Place...
, Vassar College
Vassar College
Vassar College is a private, coeducational liberal arts college in the town of Poughkeepsie, New York, in the United States. The Vassar campus comprises over and more than 100 buildings, including four National Historic Landmarks, ranging in style from Collegiate Gothic to International,...
, and Yale University
Yale University
Yale University is a private, Ivy League university located in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701 in the Colony of Connecticut, the university is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States...
where he has been on the faculty since 1993. He is now a professor at the Yale University School of Art.
Crewdson is represented in London at White Cube
White Cube
White Cube is a contemporary art gallery designed by MRJ Rundell & Associates in Hoxton Square in the East End of London Mason's Yard, in central London and White Cube Bermondsey in South East London...
.
Style
Vertigo (film)
Vertigo is a 1958 psychological thriller film directed by Alfred Hitchcock and starring James Stewart, Kim Novak, and Barbara Bel Geddes. The screenplay was written by Alec Coppel and Samuel A...
, The Night of the Hunter
The Night of the Hunter (film)
The Night of the Hunter is a 1955 American thriller film directed by Charles Laughton and starring Robert Mitchum and Shelley Winters. The film is based on the 1953 novel of the same name by Davis Grubb, adapted for the screen by James Agee and Laughton...
, Close Encounters of the Third Kind
Close Encounters of the Third Kind
Close Encounters of the Third Kind is a 1977 science fiction film written and directed by Steven Spielberg. The film stars Richard Dreyfuss, François Truffaut, Melinda Dillon, Teri Garr, Bob Balaban, and Cary Guffey...
, Blue Velvet, and Safe as having influenced his style, as well as the painter Edward Hopper
Edward Hopper
Edward Hopper was a prominent American realist painter and printmaker. While most popularly known for his oil paintings, he was equally proficient as a watercolorist and printmaker in etching...
and photographer Diane Arbus
Diane Arbus
Diane Arbus March 14, 1923 – July 26, 1971) was an American photographer and writer noted for black-and-white square photographs of "deviant and marginal people or of people whose normality seems ugly or surreal." A friend said that Arbus said that she was "afraid.....
.
Photography books
- Hover: Artspace Books, 1995, ISBN 1-891273-00-0 (first hardcover ed.)
- Twilight: Photographs by Gregory Crewdson, with essay by Rick Moody: Harry N. Abrams, 2003, ISBN 0-8109-1003-9 (first hardcover ed.)
- Gregory Crewdson: 1985–2005: Hatje Cantz Publishers, 2005, ISBN 3-7757-1622-X (first hardcover ed.)
- Gregory Crewdson: Fireflies: Skarstedt Fine Art, 2007, ISBN 0970909055 (first hardcover ed.)
- Beneath the Roses, with Russell Banks: Abrams, 2008, ISBN 978-0810993808
- Sanctuary, Gregory Crewdson & Anthony O. Scott. Ostfildern: Hatje Cantz, 2010.
Exhibitions
- Yale University Art GalleryYale University Art GalleryThe Yale University Art Gallery houses a significant and encyclopedic collection of art in several buildings on the campus of Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut. Although it embraces all cultures and periods, the Gallery possesses especially renowned collections of early Italian painting,...
; New Haven, Connecticut (1988) - BlumHelman Warehouse; New York (traveled to Portland School of Art, Portland, Maine; Ruth Bloom Gallery, Los Angeles, California) (1991)
- Houston Center for Photography; Houston, Texas (1992)
- Feigen Gallery; Chicago, Illinois (1993)
- Palm Beach Community College Museum of Art; Palm Beach, Florida (1994)
- Galleri Charlotte Lund; Stockholm, Sweden (1995)
- KulturhusetKulturhusetOpened in 1974, Kulturhuset is a cultural centre to the south of Sergels Torg in central Stockholm. It is a controversial symbol for Stockholm and the growth of modernism in Sweden...
; Stockholm, Sweden (2011) - "Gregory Crewdson: In a Lonely Place", C/O Berlin, Berlin, Germany (2011)
External links
- Luhring Augustine Gallery: Gregory Crewdson's U.S. Representative (possibly no longer represents Crewdson—he's not on the artist list)
- Five In Focus: Gregory Crewdson, Crewdson picks five movies that have influenced his photographic style
- Works by Gregory Crewdson in Cal Cego. Contemporary Art Collection
- Works by Gregory Crewdson in Cal Cego. Contemporary Art Collection
- Aperture magazine profile, includes interview about preproduction, production, and postproduction of images
- Guardian Article 10.4.06
- Gregory Crewdson's $1 Million Photo Shoot by Christopher Peterson
- Behind the Scenes: Caught Looking Michele McDonald, Boston Globe
- Interviews, Production Stills, and Images published by Aperture (04/2008)
- Afrtinfo interview (03/2006)
- NPR interview (01/2006)
- Gregory Crewdson's Epic Effects By Kenneth R. Fletcher, Smithsonian Magazine, June 2008