Richard MisrachBy Elli Bock

Biography• Born in 1949 in Los Angeles, CA• Nationality: American• Known for photographs of human intervention in

landscapes• Preferred medium: chromogenic prints• Style: very large prints, used 8x10 camera, documentary

(after katrina, human damage…) • Graduated from the University of California in 1971- first

major works were taken there while he was still a student• Started his career with black and white photography• In late 1970’s he became one of first to explore renaissance

of color photography and large scale

Bio cont..

• One of his major works, the Desert Cantos began in 1979 and is very popular

• Wanted to capture the desert and destructive marks on earth made by man

• He sticks with a particular area or theme for a long time, sometimes even a few years – Ex. Desert, beach, dead animals, after hurricane katrina

• Today, he is represented in many museums all across America

• He has received numerous awards for his photography

Inspiration

• Richard strongly believes in making an impact on man by showing the disastrous things that happen but in beautiful photography

• “… perhaps it was the cocktail- the combination of gritty, turbulent, political, historical moment mixed with the elegant, romantic fine print tradition of landscape photography- that established the poles that would inform my work” – Richard Misrach

Inspiration cont…

• “I’ve come to believe that beauty can be a very powerful conveyer of difficult ideas.”

• He was inspired to portray difficult images to see because he knew he could depict them in a less than awful look. His skill in taking something that has been damaged by humans and then making it something beautiful to learn from is incredible.

Inspiration Cont..

• His work from after Katrina, called “Destroy the memory” was displayed in Time Magazine. Seeing how far his work has gone and how many people it is being shown to is another factor in his inspiration. The more he gets his work out to the crowd, the more he will do it.

Untitled, 2003, chromogenic print, 75.5 x 97 inches

Pyramid Lake, 2004, chromogenic print, 20 x 24 inches

Bomb, Destroyed Vehicle, and Lone Rock, 1987, chromogenic print, 30 x 37 inches

Stranded Rowboat, Salton Sea, 1983, chromogenic print no size listed

Dennis and Rusty, 1974, gelatin silver print, 14x11 inches

Bonneville Salt Flats, 1999, chromogenic print, 20x24 inches

Untitled, 2007, archival pigment paint, 59x78 ¾ inches

Untitled, 2005, chromogenic color print, 79 x 96 inches

Dead Animals, 1987, no size listed

Playground and Shell Refinery, 1998, no size listed

Description

• Majority of the photo is very light brown, almost white sand. There is one man in jeans and no shirt lying on a purple towel. It is taken from a birds eye view and very high up so the man looks very small. Last, there are about 3 narrow shadows casted on the sand from what seems like trees.

Analysis

• Rule of 3rds (man is not centered)• Space• texture (sand)• Color• value (shadows)• contrast (man from sand)• emphasis (on man)

Interpretation

• During the later time of his life, he was really into taking pictures at the beach. There are so many because he sticks with a certain place for a long time. Richard is really into showing the beauty in pictures so this is why he must have taken the picture from not a normal point of view. This is definitely a photograph and not a snapshot, which makes sense because he almost always plans out his pictures instead of just taking a snapshot.

Judgment• I really enjoy this picture because it is not like any

other picture. It is rare that someone sees a picture from this angle because either you are on the ground or you are in an airplane, which would be much higher up then this. So it is a really cool and different perspective and takes something so simple and makes it into a great photograph. Also, I really enjoy the texture from the sand because it looks like you could feel it like there. Finally, I love how the first thing your eye goes to is the man because the figure is so contrasting from the rest of the photo.

After Hurricane Katrina… all called “Destroy This Memory”

Questions and Answers

1. What nationality is Richard?a. Hungarianb. Americanc. Russiand. African

2. After which hurricane did he take pictures of the damage?

a. Hurricane Earlb. Hurricane Gloriac. Hurricane Pablod. Hurricane Katrina

3. What size camera did he mainly use?a. 8x10b. 11x13c. 3x4d. 17x20

Works cited list• http://www.pacemacgill.com/

selected_misrach10-17.html• http://www.artinfo.com/galleryguide/

20291/6826/6306/robert-mann-gallery-new-york/artist/richard-misrach/biography/

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Misrach• http://www.edelmangallery.com/misrach-

main.htm• http://www.time.com/time/photogallery/

0,29307,2014116_2183328,00.html