Cig Harvey (born 1973) is a British fine art photographer known for her surreal images of nature and family.
Her work has been compared to
René Magritte
René François Ghislain Magritte (; 21 November 1898 – 15 August 1967) was a Belgian surrealist artist known for his depictions of familiar objects in unfamiliar, unexpected contexts, which often provoked questions about the nature and bound ...
and has been described as revealing "the mysticism in the mundane."
Harvey's work has been exhibited internationally and is included in the collections of
The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston
The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston (MFAH), is an art museum located in the Houston Museum District of Houston, Texas. With the recent completion of an eight-year campus redevelopment project, including the opening of the Nancy and Rich Kinder Buil ...
and
Farnsworth Art Museum
The Farnsworth Art Museum in Rockland, Maine, United States, is an art museum that specializes in American art. Its permanent collection includes works by such artists as Gilbert Stuart, Thomas Sully, Thomas Eakins, Eastman Johnson, Fitz Henry La ...
.
Harvey lives and works in
Rockport, Maine.
Early life
Cig Harvey grew up in the county of
Devon
Devon ( , historically known as Devonshire , ) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South West England. The most populous settlement in Devon is the city of Plymouth, followed by Devon's county town, the city of Exeter. Devo ...
in South West England. She became interested in photography at early age because of the photo portfolios that ''
The Independent
''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publish ...
'' published in their Sunday editions.
At age thirteen, Harvey began working in a darkroom, which furthered her interest in photography.
She received her MFA from
Rockport College and in 2005 was selected as one of
Photo District News's 30 emerging photographers to watch.
Career
Harvey began her career as an assistant professor at the
Art Institute of Boston at Lesley University where she worked for ten years.
Her first solo museum show was held at the
Stenersen Museum in Oslo in 2012 in conjunction with the release of her first monograph, ''You Look At Me Like An Emergency'' (Schilt Publishing, 2012).
In an interview with ''
The Telegraph
''The Telegraph'', ''Daily Telegraph'', ''Sunday Telegraph'' and other variant names are popular names for newspapers. Newspapers with these titles include:
Australia
* ''The Telegraph'' (Adelaide), a newspaper in Adelaide, South Australia, publ ...
'' about her second monograph, ''Gardening at Night'' (Schilt Publishing, 2015), Harvey cited
magical realism
Magical is the adjective for magic. It may also refer to:
* Magical (horse)
Magical (foaled 18 May 2015) is an Irish Thoroughbred racehorse who excelled over middle distances and was rated in the top twenty racehorses in the world in 2018 and ...
as a source of inspiration and said "I am very interested in finding magic in the real world and photography reminds me that this world is amazing."
Harvey's third monograph, ''You an Orchestra You a Bomb'' (Schilt Publishing, 2017) was inspired in part by her near-death experience in a car accident.
She began to shoot in a more documentary style after the accident, which Harvey explains as being inspired by the "
..idea of ''the gasp'' and ''awe''. We gasp when something is beautiful, and we gasp when something is terrible. I'm searching for that push/pull in each image."
''
The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...
'' review described this series as "carefully recreating that sense of childhood wonder, mixing saturated colors with verdant symbols and engaging text, allowing viewers to contemplate that sense of the unknown, but from a place of joy rather than anxiety."
Her recent work has expanded her focus on familial relationships to her own experience with motherhood and her relationship with her daughter.
She was featured in ''The New York Times'' in an article titled "Why Can't Great Artists Be Mothers?" rejecting the stereotype that motherhood and artistic dedication are at odds.
In 2017, Harvey was awarded the "Excellence in Teaching Award" from CENTER and in 2018 she was named the 2018 Prix Virginia Laureate, an international photography prize awarded to one woman each year.
Harvey was among the five photographers chosen to be included in ''Return to Cuba: In the Footsteps of Walker Evans'' (2016), a feature-length documentary retracing the footsteps of photographer
Walker Evans
Walker Evans (November 3, 1903 – April 10, 1975) was an American photographer and photojournalist best known for his work for the Farm Security Administration (FSA) documenting the effects of the Great Depression. Much of Evans' work from ...
.
In 2020, Harvey was selected by ''
The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...
'' to participate in ''Still Lives'', a project documenting thirteen photographers' responses to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Exhibitions
Solo exhibitions
* 2001: ''Tread Softly'',
Paul Mellon Arts Center, Choate Rosemary Hall, Wallingford, Connecticut.
* 2002: ''Tread Softly'',
Center for Maine Contemporary Art
Founded in 1952, the Center for Maine Contemporary Art (CMCA) is a contemporary arts institution, presenting a year-round program of changing exhibitions featuring the work of emerging and established artists with ties to Maine. In addition, CMCA o ...
, Rockport, Maine.
* 2012: ''You Look At Me Like An Emergency'',
Stenersen Museum, Oslo, Norway.
* 2019: ''Eating Flowers: Sensations of Cig Harvey'',
Ogunquit Museum of American Art
The Ogunquit Museum of American Art is a small art museum located on the coast in Ogunquit, Maine. The museum houses over 3,000 pieces in its permanent collection.
The Ogunquit Museum of American Art collects and exhibits modern and contempora ...
, Ogunquit, Maine.
Group exhibitions
* 2005: ''Figuratively Speaking: Cig Harvey and Tom Sale'', Texas State University, San Marcos, Texas.
* 2014: ''The Gender Show'',
George Eastman Museum
The George Eastman Museum, also referred to as ''George Eastman House, International Museum of Photography and Film'', the world's oldest museum dedicated to photography and one of the world's oldest film archives, opened to the public in 1949 in ...
, Rochester, New York.
* 2015: ''Highways & Byways'',
Center for Maine Contemporary Art
Founded in 1952, the Center for Maine Contemporary Art (CMCA) is a contemporary arts institution, presenting a year-round program of changing exhibitions featuring the work of emerging and established artists with ties to Maine. In addition, CMCA o ...
, Portland Public Library, Maine.
* 2015: ''Pairings: Selections from the Bruce Brown Collection'',
University of Maine Museum of Art, Bangor, Maine.
* 2015: ''Picturing Maine'',
Farnsworth Art Museum
The Farnsworth Art Museum in Rockland, Maine, United States, is an art museum that specializes in American art. Its permanent collection includes works by such artists as Gilbert Stuart, Thomas Sully, Thomas Eakins, Eastman Johnson, Fitz Henry La ...
, Rockland, Maine.
* 2016: ''The Gender Show'', Fundación Canal, Madrid, Spain.
* 2017: ''Contrasts: Seven Unique Visions in Photography'',
Cape Cod Museum of Art
Cape Cod Museum of Art is an art museum in the town of Dennis in Barnstable County, Massachusetts, United States in the center of the region Cape Cod.
References
External links
Cape Cod Museum of Art official website
Art museums and galler ...
, Dennis, Massachusetts.
* 2017: ''On Photography'',
Johnson State College
Johnson State College was a public liberal arts college in Johnson, Vermont. Founded in 1828 by John Chesamore, in 2018 it was merged with the former Lyndon State College to create Northern Vermont University.
History and governance
Both t ...
, Johnson, Vermont.
* 2017: ''Taylor Wessing Photographic Portrait Prize Exhibition'',
National Portrait Gallery, London, London.
* 2018: ''Memory: Mystery, Magic, and Make-believe'',
University of Texas at Dallas
The University of Texas at Dallas (UTD or UT Dallas) is a public research university in Richardson, Texas. It is one of the largest public universities in the Dallas area and the northernmost institution of the University of Texas system. It w ...
, Dallas, Texas.
* 2018: ''Retour a la Ligne'',
Musée de l'Élysée
Musée de l'Élysée is a museum in Lausanne, Switzerland, entirely devoted to photography. It is a government-supported institution founded in 1985 by Charles-Henri Favrod. It was housed in an 18th-century mansion until October 2020. , Lausanne, Switzerland.
Collections
*
Bowdoin College, Special Collections, Brunswick, Maine
*
Farnsworth Art Museum
The Farnsworth Art Museum in Rockland, Maine, United States, is an art museum that specializes in American art. Its permanent collection includes works by such artists as Gilbert Stuart, Thomas Sully, Thomas Eakins, Eastman Johnson, Fitz Henry La ...
, Rockland, Maine
*
Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Houston, Texas: 2 prints (as of 19 November 2021)
Books
* Harvey, Cig (2012). ''You Look At Me Like An Emergency''. Schilt.
* Harvey, Cig (2015). ''Gardening at Night''. Schilt.
* Harvey, Cig (2015). ''You an Orchestra You a Bomb''. Schilt.
* Harvey, Cig (2021). ''Blue Violet''. Monacelli.
Awards
* 2017:
Paris Photo
Paris Photo is an annual international art fair dedicated to photography. It was founded in 1997, and is held in November at the Grand Palais exhibition hall and museum complex, located at the Champs-Élysées in the 8th arrondissement in Pari ...
, Karl Lagerfeld Selection, Finalist.
* 2017:
Clarence John Laughlin
Clarence John Laughlin (1905 – January 2, 1985) was an American photographer best known for his surrealist photographs of the American South.
Biography
Early life
Laughlin was born into a middle-class family in Lake Charles, Louisiana. H ...
Award, Finalist.
* 2017: Taylor Wessing Photographic Portrait Prize,
National Portrait Gallery, London, Finalist.
* 2017: Excellence in Teaching Award, CENTER
* 2018: Prix Virginia, International Photography Prize for Women.
* 2021: Maine in America Award, Farnsworth Art Museum.
References
External links
Harvey's WebsiteRobert Klein GalleryRobert Mann GalleryKopeikin Gallery
{{DEFAULTSORT:Harvey, Cig
1973 births
Photographers from Devon
Living people
People from Rockport, Maine