Jim Goldberg (born 1953) is an American artist and

photographer A photographer (the Greek language, Greek φῶς (''phos''), meaning "light", and γραφή (''graphê''), meaning "drawing, writing", together meaning "drawing with light") is a person who makes photographs. Duties and types of photographe ...

, whose work reflects long-term, in-depth collaborations with neglected, ignored, or otherwise outside-the-mainstream populations. Among the many awards Goldberg has received are three

National Endowment of the Arts The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) is an independent agency of the United States federal government that offers support and funding for projects exhibiting artistic excellence. It was created in 1965 as an independent agency of the federal ...

Fellowships in Photography, a

Guggenheim Fellowship Guggenheim Fellowships are grants that have been awarded annually since by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation to those "who have demonstrated exceptional capacity for productive scholarship or exceptional creative ability in the ar ...

, the Henri Cartier-Bresson Award, and the

Deutsche Börse Photography Prize Deutsch or Deutsche may refer to: *''Deutsch'' or ''(das) Deutsche'': the German language, in Germany and other places *''Deutsche'': Germans, as a weak masculine, feminine or plural demonym *Deutsch (word), originally referring to the Germanic ve ...

. His works have been exhibited, published, and collected internationally. Goldberg is Professor Emeritus at the

California College of the Arts California College of the Arts (CCA) is a private art school in San Francisco, California. It was founded in Berkeley, California in 1907 and moved to a historic estate in Oakland, California in 1922. In 1996 it opened a second campus in San ...

, and has been a member of the

Magnum Photos Magnum Photos is an international photographic cooperative owned by its photographer-members, with offices in New York City, Paris, London and Tokyo. It was founded in 1947 in Paris by photographers Robert Capa, David Seymour (photographer), Davi ...

agency since 2002. He currently lives and works in the greater

Bay Area The San Francisco Bay Area, often referred to as simply the Bay Area, is a populous region surrounding the San Francisco, San Pablo, and Suisun Bay estuaries in Northern California. The Bay Area is defined by the Association of Bay Area Gov ...

Artistic career

Goldberg is best known for his photography books, multi-media exhibitions, and video installations, among them: ''Rich and Poor'' (1985), ''Nursing Home'', ''Raised by Wolves'' (1995), ''Hospice'', and ''Open See'' (2009). His work often examines the lives of neglected, ignored, or otherwise outside-the-mainstream populations through long-term, in depth collaborations which investigate the nature of American myths about class, power, and happiness. Goldberg is part of an experimental documentary movement in photography, using a straightforward,

cinéma vérité Cinéma vérité (, , ; "truthful cinema") is a style of documentary filmmaking developed by Edgar Morin and Jean Rouch, inspired by Dziga Vertov's theory about Kino-Pravda. It combines improvisation with use of the camera to unveil truth or high ...

approach, based on a fundamentally narrative understanding of photography. The individuality of the subjects emerges in his works, "forming a context within which the viewer may integrate the unthinkable into the concept of self. Thus portrayed, this terrifying other is restored as a universal." Goldberg's work was featured with that of Robert Adams and

Joel Sternfeld Joel Sternfeld (born June 30, 1944) is an American fine-art color photographer. He is noted for his large-format documentary pictures of the United States and helping establish color photography as a respected artistic medium. Sternfeld's work is ...

in a 1984 exhibition at the

Museum of Modern Art The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is an art museum located in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, on 53rd Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenues. It plays a major role in developing and collecting modern art, and is often identified as one of ...

entitled "Three Americans"; the exhibition was described as "a show of politically charged and socially conscious images." His 1985 book ''Rich and Poor'', re-released by Steidl in an expanded edition in 2014, includes photographs of people in their homes along with handwritten comments by them about their lives.Roth, Andrew, editor. ''The book of 101 books: seminal photographic books of the 20th century''. New York: PPP Editions in association with Roth Horowitz LLC, 2001. . For example, the handwriting under the photograph reproduced on the front cover reads "I keep thinking where we went wrong. We have no one to talk to now, however, I will not allow this loneliness to destroy me,— I STILL HAVE MY DREAMS. I would like an elegant home, a loving husband and the wealth I am used to. Countess Vivianna de Bronville." Although the book received one mixed review shortly after publication, other reviews were positive, and it was later selected as one of the greatest photobooks of the 20th century. The photographs in a 1986 exhibition of Goldberg's ''The Nursing Home Series'' were accompanied by handwritten text by the nursing home residents who were the subjects of the photographs.Pincus, Robert L. 'Invisible People' come to life in stirring photographic show. ''San Diego Union'', April 3, 1988. A review of a 1990 exhibition ''Shooting Back: Photography by and About the Homeless'' at the

Washington Project for the Arts Washington Project for the Arts, founded in 1975, is a non-profit organization dedicated to the support and aid of artists in the Washington, D.C. area. History Alice Denney, a contemporary art collector active on the Washington scene, founded th ...

characterized the exhibition as "Issue Art" and characterized Goldberg as "a superior Issue Artist because he's a superior artist."Richard, Paul. Making an issue of it - in the post-postmodern look, the power's in the message. ''Washington Post'', 24 September 1990. A major mixed-media exhibition by Goldberg concerning at risk and homeless youth in California entitled ''Raised by Wolves'' began traveling in 1995 and was accompanied by a book of the same title.Richard, Paul. Finding beauty in desperation - at the Corcoran, Jim Goldberg's stirring photos of runaway children. ''Washington Post'', 18 September 1995. A review of the exhibition at the

Corcoran Gallery of Art The Corcoran Gallery of Art was an art museum in Washington, D.C., United States, that is now the location of the Corcoran School of the Arts and Design, a part of the George Washington University. Overview The Corcoran School of the Arts & Design ...

noted that Goldberg made reference to other artists and photographers; used photographs, videos, objects, and texts to convey meaning; and "let his viewers feel, in some corner of their psyches, the lure of abject lowliness, the siren call of pain." Although the accompanying book received one mixed review shortly after publication, it was described as "a heartbreaking novel with pictures", and in ''The Photobook: A History'',

Martin Parr Martin Parr (born 23 May 1952) is a British documentary photographer, photojournalist and photobook collector. He is known for his photographic projects that take an intimate, satirical and anthropological look at aspects of modern life, in p ...

and

Gerry Badger Gerald David "Gerry" Badger (born 1946) is an English writer and curator of photography, and a photographer. In 2018 he received the J Dudley Johnston Award from the Royal Photographic Society. Life and career Badger was born in 1946 in Northam ...

praised it as "complex and thoughtful." A 1999 mixed media installation at the

San Francisco Arts Commission The San Francisco Arts Commission (SFAC) is the City agency that champions the arts as essential to daily life by investing in a vibrant arts community, enlivening the urban environment and shaping innovative cultural policy in San Francisco, Cali ...

gallery entitled "57/78/97" explored race relations in the United States, including the

Little Rock Crisis Little is a synonym for small size and may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Little'' (album), 1990 debut album of Vic Chesnutt * ''Little'' (film), 2019 American comedy film *The Littles, a series of children's novels by American author John P ...

of 1957, the 1978 ''

Regents of the University of California v. Bakke ''Regents of the University of California v. Bakke'', 438 U.S. 265 (1978) involved a dispute of whether preferential treatment for minorities can reduce educational opportunities for whites without violating the Constitution. The case was a la ...

'' decision, and the year following the passage of

California Proposition 209 (1996) Proposition 209 (also known as the California Civil Rights Initiative or CCRI) is a California ballot proposition which, upon approval in November 1996, amended the state constitution to prohibit state governmental institutions from considering r ...

concerning affirmative action.Miller, Alicia. Jim Goldberg at the San Francisco Art Commission Gallery.] ''Artweek'', volume 30, number 5, pages 17-18, May 1999. Selected photographs from a series by Goldberg called "Open See," concerning refugees, immigrants, and trafficked people, were first exhibited in San Francisco in 2007.Baker, Kenneth
Jim Goldberg's brave images are more than just art.
''San Francisco Chronicle'', 03 November 2007. Accessed 24 January 2010. One review stated that the photographs may leave the viewer "paralyzed by uncertainty about what might alleviate the injustices" depicted. Part of the series came to be known as "Open See",O'Hagan, Sean
Jim Goldberg: Open See.
''The Observer'', 1 November 2009. Accessed 24 January 2010. and Goldberg's book of that title was published in 2009 by

Steidl Steidl is a German-language publisher, an international publisher of photobooks, and a printing company, based in Göttingen, Germany. It was started in 1968 by Gerhard Steidl and is still run by him. Overview The company was started by Gerha ...

. In 2013 Goldberg was an artist in residence at Yale University Art Gallery with

Donovan Wylie Donovan Wylie (born 1971) is an Irish photographer from Northern Ireland, based in Belfast. His work chronicles what he calls "the concept of vision as power in the architecture of contemporary conflict" – prison, army watchtowers and outposts, ...

. They each created a body of work based in New Haven. In Candy, Jim Goldberg, a New Haven native, creates a multilayered photo-novel of aspiration and disillusionment, interspersing Super 8 film stills, images of New Haven’s urban landscape, annotated Polaroid portraits, and collaged archival materials to explicate the rise and fall of American cities in the 20th century. Goldberg considers New Haven’s quest to become a “model city” of America, contrasting its civic aspirations with its citizens’ lived realities. Goldberg is a Professor Emeritus of Photography and Fine Arts at the

California College of the Arts
Faculty. Jim Goldberg.
Accessed 30 January 2010. from 1987-2014 and has been a full member of the

agency since 2006. He lives and works in the Bay Area. His fashion, editorial and advertising work has appeared in numerous publications including ''W'', ''Details'', ''Flaunt'', ''The New York Times Magazine'', ''Esquire'', ''Rebel'', ''GQ'', ''The New Yorker'' and ''Dazed and Confused''.

Education

Goldberg studied at

San Francisco Art Institute San Francisco Art Institute (SFAI) was a private college of contemporary art in San Francisco, California. Founded in 1871, SFAI was one of the oldest art schools in the United States and the oldest west of the Mississippi River. Approximately ...

with

Larry Sultan Larry Sultan (July 13, 1946 – December 13, 2009) was an American photographer from the San Fernando Valley in California. He taught at the San Francisco Art Institute from 1978 to 1988 and at the California College of the Arts in San Francisco ...

, a conceptually oriented photographer.

Publications

Publications by Goldberg

*''Rich and Poor.'' **New York:

Random House Random House is an American book publisher and the largest general-interest paperback publisher in the world. The company has several independently managed subsidiaries around the world. It is part of Penguin Random House, which is owned by Germ ...

, 1985. . **Göttingen, Germany:

, 2014. . Expanded edition. *''Raised by Wolves.'' Zurich and New York: Scalo, 1995. . *''It Ended Sad, But I Love Where it Began.'' Kin series, book 4. Oakland, CA:

These Birds Walk ''These Birds Walk'' is a 2013 documentary film directed by Omar Mullick and Bassam Tariq that follows the life of a runaway boy in Pakistan as well as the humanitarian efforts of Abdul Sattar Edhi . The film premiered at South by Southwest 2013 ...

, 2007. * ''Open See.'' Göttingen, Germany: Steidl, 2009. . * ''134 Ways to Forget.'' Kamakura, Japan: Super Labo, 2011. . Edition of 700 copies. * ''Proof.'' New York:

International Center of Photography The International Center of Photography (ICP), at 79 Essex Street on the Lower East Side of Manhattan, New York City, consists of a museum for photography and visual culture and a school offering an array of educational courses and programming. ...

, 2013. . Zine format. Edition of 1000 copies. * ''Polaroids from Haiti.'' One Picture Book 84. Portland, OR: Nazraeli, 2014. . * ''The Last Son.'' Kanagawa, Japan: Super Labo, 2016. . *''Candy.'' New Haven, CT:

Yale Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the wor ...

, 2017. . A two-volume set with

's ''A Good and Spacious Land.'' * ''Ruby Every Fall.'' Paso Robles: Nazraeli Press, 2016. Edition of 100 copies. *''Raised By Wolves Bootleg''. Self-published, 2016. Edition of 500 copies. *''Darrell and Particia''. San Francisco: Pier 24 Photography, 2018. Edition of 1,500 copies. *''Gene''. Self-published. Edition of 250 copies. *''Fingerprint''. London: Stanley/Barker, 2020. Box set of 45 facsimile Polaroids.

Publications paired with others

*''Candy.'' New Haven, CT:

, 2017. . A two-volume set with

's ''A Good and Spacious Land.''

Publications with contributions by Goldberg

*''Hospice: a photographic inquiry''. Boston:

Little, Brown Little, Brown and Company is an American publishing company founded in 1837 by Charles Coffin Little and James Brown in Boston. For close to two centuries it has published fiction and nonfiction by American authors. Early lists featured Emily D ...

, in association with the

and National Hospice Foundation, 1996. . With

Nan Goldin Nancy Goldin (born September 12, 1953) is an American photographer and activist. Her work often explores LGBT subcultures, moments of intimacy, the HIV/AIDS crisis, and the opioid epidemic. Her most notable work is '' The Ballad of Sexual Depe ...

Sally Mann Sally Mann HonFRPS (born Sally Turner Munger; May 1, 1951) is an American photographer who has made large format black and white photographs—at first of her young children, then later of landscapes suggesting decay and death. Early life and e ...

, Jack Radcliffe, and Kathy Vargas. *''War is only half the story: the Aftermath Project''. Volume 1. New York:

Aperture In optics, an aperture is a hole or an opening through which light travels. More specifically, the aperture and focal length of an optical system determine the cone angle of a bundle of rays that come to a focus in the image plane. An opt ...

, 2008. . With Wolf Böwig. *''Here.'' San Francisco:

Pier 24 Photography Pier 24 Photography is a non-profit art museum located on the Port of San Francisco directly under the San Francisco–Oakland Bay Bridge. The organization houses the permanent collection of the Pilara Foundation, which collects, preserves and exh ...

, 2011. . Exhibition Guide. *''About Face.'' San Francisco: Pier 24 Photography, 2012. . Exhibition Guide. **''About Face.'' San Francisco: Pier 24 Photography, 2014. . Edition of 1000 copies. Exhibition Catalog. *''Rochester 585/716: A Postcard from America Project.'' New York: Aperture; San Francisco: Pier 24 Photography, 2015. . Edition of 1000 copies.

Awards and grants

* 1980

National Endowment for the Arts The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) is an independent agency of the United States federal government that offers support and funding for projects exhibiting artistic excellence. It was created in 1965 as an independent agency of the federal ...

(NEA) Fellowship in Photography. * 1983 Ruttenberg Fellowship. * 1985 Cambridge Art Council Commission. * 1985

. * 1989

Mother Jones Mary G. Harris Jones (1837 (baptized) – November 30, 1930), known as Mother Jones from 1897 onwards, was an Irish-born American schoolteacher and dressmaker who became a prominent union organizer, community organizer, and activist. She h ...

Photography Award. * 1989 Art Matters grant. * 1990

(NEA) Fellowship in Photography. * 1990

California Arts Council The California Arts Council is a state agency based in Sacramento, United States. Its eight council members are appointed by the Governor and the state Legislature. The agency's mission is to advance California through arts, culture and creativi ...

Fellowship. * 1992 Glen Eagles Foundation Grant. * 1992 Art Matters grant.Art Matters
Past grantees.
Accessed 30 January 2010. * 1995 Ernst Haas Award (Photography Book of the Year for ''Raised by Wolves''). * 1996 Eureka Fellowship, Fleishhaker Foundation. * 1996 Gerbode Foundation Grant. * 2001 The Art Council Award. * 2006 Documentary Photography Project Distribution Grant,

Open Society Institute Open Society Foundations (OSF), formerly the Open Society Institute, is a grantmaking network founded and chaired by business magnate George Soros. Open Society Foundations financially supports civil society groups around the world, with a sta ...

. * 2007 ,

Henri Cartier-Bresson Foundation The Henri Cartier-Bresson Foundation (French: ''Fondation Henri Cartier-Bresson''), also known as Fondation HCB, is an art gallery and non-profit organisation in Paris that was established to preserve and show the work of Henri Cartier-Bresson an ...

. * 2011

Exhibitions

*1979: Nova Gallery, Vancouver, Canada. *1980: Equivalents Gallery, Seattle, WA. *1981:

OK Harris Gallery The OK Harris Gallery was an art gallery located at 383 West Broadway in SoHo, New York City. The gallery closed in 2014. Founded by longtime art dealer Ivan Karp after leaving the Leo Castelli gallery in 1969 where he had worked as gallery co-direc ...

, New York. *1981: Bakersfield College, Bakersfield, CA. *1982:

Blue Sky Gallery Blue Sky Gallery, also known as The Oregon Center for the Photographic Arts, is a non-profit exhibition space for contemporary photography in Portland, Oregon. Blue Sky Gallery is dedicated to public education, began by showing local artists and ...

, Portland, OR. *1984: Houston Center for Photography, Houston, TX. *1984:

Indiana University Indiana University (IU) is a system of public universities in the U.S. state of Indiana. Campuses Indiana University has two core campuses, five regional campuses, and two regional centers under the administration of IUPUI. *Indiana Universit ...

, Bloomington, United States. *1984:

Friends of Photography Friends of Photography was a nonprofit organization started by Ansel Adams and others in 1967 to promote photography as a fine art. During its existence the organization held at least 330 photography exhibitions at its galleries in Carmel and San Fr ...

Gallery, Carmel, CA. *1985:

Ithaca College Ithaca College is a private college in Ithaca, New York. It was founded by William Egbert in 1892 as a conservatory of music and is set against the backdrop of the city of Ithaca (which is separate from the town), Cayuga Lake, waterfalls, and go ...

, Ithaca, United States. *1985:

De Saisset Museum The de Saisset Museum at Santa Clara University opened in 1955, after Isabel de Saisset, the last member of a California pioneer family bequeathed her estate to the University of Santa Clara. The museum owns nearly 10,000 art pieces and historical ...

, Santa Clara, United States. *1987:

Akron Art Museum The Akron Art Museum is an art museum in Akron, Ohio, United States. The museum first opened on February 1, 1922, as the Akron Art Institute. It was located in two borrowed rooms in the basement of the public library. The Institute offered clas ...

, Akron, United States. *1987:

Western Washington University Western Washington University (WWU or Western) is a public university in Bellingham, Washington. The northernmost university in the contiguous United States, WWU was founded in 1893 as the state-funded New Whatcom Normal School, succeeding a pri ...

, Bellingham, United States. *1988:

, Washington, D.C. *1988: ''Invisible People,''

Museum of Photographic Arts The Museum of Photographic Arts (MOPA) is a museum in San Diego's Balboa Park. First founded in 1974, MOPA opened in 1983.Capp Street Project Capp Street Project is an artist residency program that was originally located at 65 Capp Street in San Francisco, California. CSP was established as a program to nurture experimental art making in 1983 with the first visual arts residency in the ...

, San Francisco, CA. *1989:

University of Texas The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public research university in Austin, Texas. It was founded in 1883 and is the oldest institution in the University of Texas System. With 40,916 undergraduate students, 11,075 ...

Health Science Center, Houston, TX. *1990: ''Shooting Back: Photography by and About the Homeless,'' Washington Project for the Arts, Washington, D.C. *1990: Art at the Anchorage,

Creative Time Creative Time is a New York-based nonprofit arts organization. It was founded in 1974 to support the creation of innovative, site-specific, socially engaged artworks in the public realm, particularly in vacant spaces of historical and architectura ...

, New York. *1991:

Art in General Art in General was a non-profit contemporary art exhibition space known for its vibrant and ground-breaking projects as a formidable and longstanding New York City alternative space, focused on giving meaningful resources and opportunities to ar ...

, New York. *1995: ''Raised by Wolves,''

, Washington, D.C.;

Museum of Design Zürich A museum ( ; plural museums or, rarely, musea) is a building or institution that cares for and displays a collection of artifacts and other objects of artistic, cultural, historical, or scientific importance. Many public museums make thes ...

, Switzerland. *1996: ''Jim Goldberg: Raised by Wolves,'' Parco Gallery, Tokyo, Japan; PaceWildenstein/MacGill, New York;

Addison Gallery of American Art The Addison Gallery of American Art is an academic museum dedicated to collecting American art, organized as a department of Phillips Academy in Andover, Massachusetts. History Directors of the gallery include Bartlett H. Hayes, Jr. (1940– ...

, Andover, United States. *1997: ''Raised by Wolves,''

San Francisco Museum of Modern Art The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA) is a modern and contemporary art museum located in San Francisco, California. A nonprofit organization, SFMOMA holds an internationally recognized collection of modern and contemporary art, and was ...

, San Francisco, CA;

Los Angeles County Museum of Art The Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) is an art museum located on Wilshire Boulevard in the Miracle Mile, Los Angeles, California, Miracle Mile vicinity of Los Angeles. LACMA is on Museum Row, adjacent to the La Brea Tar Pits (George C. Pa ...

, Los Angeles, CA; Pace/Wildenstein/MacGill, Los Angeles, CA. *1999: 57/78/97,''

Gallery, San Francisco, CA. *2004: ''Two Stories,''

Pace/MacGill Peter MacGill is an American gallerist, curator, and art historian. MacGill is President of the Pace/MacGill Gallery, which opened in 1983 on East 57th Street in New York City. In 2006 he was the first recipient of the Harold Jones Distinguishe ...

Gallery, New York. *2005: ''In the Open See,'' Stephen Bulger Gallery, Toronto, Canada. *2007: ''The New Europeans,'' Stephen Wirtz Gallery, San Francisco, CA. *2009: ''Raised By Wolves,''

Rencontres d'Arles The Rencontres d’Arles (formerly called ''Rencontres internationales de la photographie d’Arles'') is an annual summer photography festival founded in 1970 by the Arles photographer Lucien Clergue, the writer Michel Tournier and the historia ...

, Arles, France. *2009: ''Open See,''

The Photographers' Gallery The Photographers' Gallery was founded in London by Sue Davies opening on 14 January 1971, as the first public gallery in the United Kingdom devoted solely to photography. It is also home to the Deutsche Börse Photography Prize, established in ...

, London. *2009: ''Open See,'' Fondation Henri Cartier-Bresson, Paris. *2010: ''Jim Goldberg,'' Parco 2, Pordenone Contemporary Art Exhibition Site Via Bertossi, Pordenone, Friuli-Venezia Giulia, Italy, November 2010 – January 2011. *2011: ''Here.,''

, San Francisco, CA, May 2011 – January 2012

Collections

Goldberg's work is held in the following public collections:

References

External links

Biography from Stephen Bulger Gallery
{{DEFAULTSORT:Goldberg, Jim 1953 births Living people American photographers Magnum photographers Artists from the San Francisco Bay Area San Francisco Art Institute alumni Western Washington University alumni Artists from New Haven, Connecticut