Ralph Gibson was born in 1939 in Hollywood, California. The son of a film assistant director who worked with Alfred Hitchcock, he discovered at an early age the narrative power of the image. After studying photography in the U.S. Navy and at the San Francisco Art Institute, he became an assistant to Dorothea Lange and later worked on several of Robert Frank’s films.

In the 1970s, Gibson emerged with a distinctive visual language: stark contrasts, dreamlike fragments, and abstract compositions. His black-and-white photography delves into the liminal space between the subconscious and the everyday. A pioneer of photographic book publishing, he founded Lustrum Press and self-published The Somnambulist (1970), a landmark monograph known for its narrative structure and radical sequencing. Since then, he has published over forty books.

Gibson’s work has been the subject of more than 250 solo exhibitions worldwide and is held in over 200 museum collections, including the MoMA, the Whitney Museum, and the Centre Pompidou. Alongside his artistic practice, he has taught in more than twenty countries and received numerous awards, including two Guggenheim Fellowships, the Leica Medal of Excellence, the Lucie Award, and the Silver Plume.

SOLO SHOWS (selection)

2023 ”Secret of Light”, Deichtorhallen, Hambourg, Germany
2023 ”Secret of Light”, Kunstfoyer, Munich, Germany
2023 ”Sacred Land”, Gibson-Goeun Museum, Busan, South Korea
2023 Paris Photo, Galleria Paci
2022 Salon Littéraire, Goeun Museum, Busan, South Korea
2022 “The Black Trilogy”, Gibson-Goeun Museum, Busan, South Korea
2021“Sacred Land”, Leica Gallery, Beverly Hills, United States of America
2020 ”The Somnambulist, 50ème anniversaire”, Bigaignon, Paris, France
2020 Leica Gallery, Boston, , United States of America
2019 Photo London Somerset House, London, United Kingdom
2019 Leica Gallery Mayfair, London, United Kingdom
2019 “Digital Color”, Leica Gallery Beverly Hill, Los Angeles, United States of America
2019 “Ralph Gibson: Photographs”, Tuscon Museum of Art, Arizona, United States of America
2018 ”Vu, Imprévu”, ​Bigaignon, Paris, France
2018 “Nudes and Muses”, Leica Gallery, Bangkok, Thailand
2018 Paris Photo, Galerie Paci, Paris, France
2018 Leica Gallery, Salzburg, Austria
2017 “Trilogy, 1970-1974”, Le Pavillon Populaire, Montpellier, France
2016 Palm Springs Museum of Art, California, United States of America
2016 ”Vertical Horizon”, Bigaignon, Paris, France
2016 Leica Gallery, San Francisco, United States of America

AWARDS

2023 Centenary Gold Medal from the Royal Photographic Society of Great Britain
2021 Leica Hall of Fame Award
2018 Décoré Chevalier de la Légion d’honneur
2016 Photographer of the Year, Palm Springs Fine Art Fair
​2015 Guild Hall Academy of the Arts Lifetime Award
2015 American Academy of Arts and Letters Purchase Award
2011 FOTOmentor Lifetime Award, Palm Beach Photographic Center
2007 The Lucie Award
2002 Nommé Commandeur de L'Ordre national des Arts et des Lettres
1999 Silver Plum Design Trust for Public Space
1997 Doctor of Fine Arts, Ohio Wesleyan University
1994 Grand Medal of the City of Arles, France
1991 Honorary Doctor of Fine Arts, University of Maryland
1989 Eastman Kodak Grant to photography, "L'Histoire de France "
1989 "150 Years of Photography" Award, Photographic Society of Japan
1988 Leica Medal of Excellence Award
1986 Décoré Officier de l’Ordre national des Arts et des Lettres
1986 National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship
1985 John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Fellowship
1977 D.A.A.D West Berlin, Germany
1977 C.A.P.S., New York State Council of the Arts Fellowship
1975 National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship
1973 National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship