Lynn Davis is an American photographer known for her large-scale black-and-white photographs which are widely collected publicly and privately and are internationally exhibited.

Biography

Born in

Minneapolis Minneapolis () is the largest city in Minnesota, United States, and the county seat of Hennepin County. The city is abundant in water, with thirteen lakes, wetlands, the Mississippi River, creeks and waterfalls. Minneapolis has its origins ...

, Minnesota, in 1944, Davis studied at

University of Colorado The University of Colorado (CU) is a system of public universities in Colorado. It consists of four institutions: University of Colorado Boulder, University of Colorado Colorado Springs, University of Colorado Denver, and the University of Co ...

between 1962 and 1964, and at the

University of Minnesota The University of Minnesota, formally the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, (UMN Twin Cities, the U of M, or Minnesota) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul, Tw ...

from 1964 to 1966. She received her

Bachelor of Fine Arts A Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA) is a standard undergraduate degree for students for pursuing a professional education in the visual, fine or performing arts. It is also called Bachelor of Visual Arts (BVA) in some cases. Background The Bachelor ...

from the

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 ...

in 1970, and in 1974 she began her career as an apprentice to

Berenice Abbott Berenice Alice Abbott (July 17, 1898 – December 9, 1991) was an American photographer best known for her portraits of between-the-wars 20th century cultural figures, New York City photographs of architecture and urban design of the 1930s, and ...

. Davis' first exhibition hung at the International Center of Photography (

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

) in 1979, alongside her close friend

Robert Mapplethorpe Robert Michael Mapplethorpe (; November 4, 1946 – March 9, 1989) was an American photographer, best known for his black-and-white photographs. His work featured an array of subjects, including celebrity portraits, male and female nudes, self-p ...

. After her first trip to

Greenland Greenland ( kl, Kalaallit Nunaat, ; da, Grønland, ) is an island country in North America that is part of the Kingdom of Denmark. It is located between the Arctic and Atlantic oceans, east of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. Greenland is t ...

, in 1986, she gave up photographing the human form, shifting her lens toward the monumental landscapes and cultural/architectural icons for which she is renowned. Davis lives in

Hudson, New York Hudson is a city and the county seat of Columbia County, New York, United States. As of the 2020 census, it had a population of 5,894. Located on the east side of the Hudson River and 120 miles from the Atlantic Ocean, it was named for the rive ...

with her husband, writer

Rudy Wurlitzer Rudolph "Rudy" Wurlitzer (born January 3, 1937) is an American novelist and screenwriter. Wurlitzer's fiction includes '' Nog'', ''Flats'', ''Quake'', ''Slow Fade'', and ''Drop Edge of Yonder''. He is also the author of the travel memoir, ''Hard ...

. Her prints appear in the permanent collections of 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 ...

(New York), the

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 ...

, the Chicago Museum of Contemporary Art, and 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 Build ...

, among others. In 1999, the J. Paul Getty Museum held an exhibition of Davis' prints, and a solo show, ''Africa'', was held at the

Center for Creative Photography The Center for Creative Photography (CCP), established in 1975 and located on the University of Arizona's Tucson campus, is a research facility and archival repository containing the full archives of over sixty of the most famous American pho ...

in Tucson in 1999.

Publications

Books showcasing Davis' work include: *
Ice: 1986-2007
'' New York: Melcher Media, 2015 (Monograph, with foreword by: Patti Smith) *
Sacred Landscapes: The Threshold Between Worlds
'' New York: Sterling, 2010 (Collaborative project with text by: A.T. Mann * "Space Project," Monacelli Press/Random House, November 2009 (With text by:

Alan Weisman Alan H. Weisman (born March 24, 1947) is an American author, professor and journalist. Education and career Weisman was born on March 24, 1947, in Minneapolis, Minnesota. He holds a bachelor's degree in literature and a master's degree in jou ...

) * ''Illumination,'' New York: DK Adult, 2007 (Monograph, with text by: Pico Iyer) * ''Persia,'' Paris: Galerie

Karsten Greve Karsten Greve (born 15 September 1946 in Dahme, Brandenburg, Germany) is a German art dealer, publisher and owner of Galerie Karsten Greve in Cologne, St Moritz, Paris and formerly Milan, specialized in the international postwar avant-garde, conte ...

, 2006 (Exhibition Catalog) *
Water
'' New York: Edwynn Houk Gallery, 2005 (Exhibition Catalog) * ''American Monument,'' New York: Monacelli Press, 2004 (Monograph, with text by:

Witold Rybczynski Witold Rybczynski (born 1 March 1943) is a Canadian American architect, professor and writer. He is currently the Martin and Margy Meyerson Professor Emeritus of Urbanism at the University of Pennsylvania. Early life Rybczynski was born in Ed ...

) *
Ice
'' New York: Edwynn Houk Gallery, 2001 (Exhibition Catalog) *

'' New York: Edwynn Houk Gallery, 2000 (Exhibition Catalog) * ''Monument,'' Santa Fe: Arena Editions, 1999 (Monograph with text by: Patti Smith &

Rudolph Wurlitzer Rudolph "Rudy" Wurlitzer (born January 3, 1937) is an American novelist and screenwriter. Wurlitzer's fiction includes '' Nog'', ''Flats'', ''Quake'', ''Slow Fade'', and ''Drop Edge of Yonder''. He is also the author of the travel memoir, ''Hard ...

) * ''Bodywork: 1978-1985,'' Kilchberg/Zurich: Edition Stemmle, 1994 (Monograph) *
In Response to Place: Phototgraphs from the Nature Conservancy's Last Great Places
'' Washington D.C.: The Nature Conservancy (pages 80–89, also includes works by photographers: Lee Friedlander, Annie Leibovitz,

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 ...

and Mary Ellen Mark, among others) * ''Wonders of the African World'' (

Henry Louis Gates, Jr. Henry Louis "Skip" Gates Jr. (born September 16, 1950) is an American literary critic, professor, historian, and filmmaker, who serves as the Alphonse Fletcher University Professor and Director of the Hutchins Center for African and African Amer ...

; New York: Knopf, Fall 1999) Her work also appears in the following publications (non-comprehensive list): * ''El Silencio,'' pages 70–78 (Matador, Issue K, 2008) * ''An Eye for the Sacred,'' pages 56–63, 94 and 97 ( Shambhala Sun, January 2008) * ''An Artist’s Portrayal of China, '' page 31 (Northeast Antique & Auction, 2003) * ''The Questing Eye,'' pages 74–77 ( House & Garden, 2003) * ''Abitareverona Magazine, '' No. 3 (2002) * ''Along the Silk Route,'' pages 51–57 (Portfolio: China, Shambhala Sun, September 2002) * ''Reportage dal Mondo dei Sogni,'' page 53 (Denis Curti; Vivi Milano, Belle Arti, September 2002) * ''Linee di Ghiaccio'' (Tempo Libero, September 2002) * ''John Kane: Gehlek Rinpoche Likes It That Way,'' pages 45–50 ( Shambhala Sun, July 2002) * ''Ice Memory,'' pages 30–37 (Elizabeth Kolbert; New Yorker, January 2002) * ''Les Line,'' page 124 (Audubon, March–April 2002) * ''Dal Sudan alla Groenlandia a Caccia di Architetture Naturale,'' page 9 (Francesca Memeo; La Stampa, 2002) * ''Body Icons,'' page 32 (Athens, Greece, Photographic Center of Skopelos, 1998) * ''Aperture, Moments of Grace Spirit in the American Landscape,'' page 3 (New York,

Aperture (magazine) ''Aperture'' magazine, based in New York City, is an international quarterly journal specializing in photography. Founded in 1952, ''Aperture'' magazine is the flagship publication of Aperture Foundation.http://www.aperture.org/ (official site). ...

, 1998) * ''Sea Change: The Seascape in Contemporary Photography,'' page 25 (James Hamilton-Peterson and Trudy Wilner Stack; Tucson, AZ:

, 1998) * ''Water Proof'' (Lisbon, Portugal : Centro Cultural de Belém, 1998)

Awards

* Academy Award in Art from the American Academy of Arts and Letters * Creative Artist Public Service Program Grant Lynn Davis on artnet
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References

External links

*
Official site
*

{{DEFAULTSORT:Davis, Lynn Architectural photographers 1944 births Living people Environmental photography San Francisco Art Institute alumni University of Colorado alumni University of Minnesota alumni Artists from Minneapolis 20th-century American photographers 21st-century American photographers 20th-century American women photographers 21st-century American women photographers