WILLIAM WEGMANPhotographer

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BORN 1943, HOLYOKE, MASSACHUSETTS

Historic Holyoke Canal 1941

Present Day Holyoke Canal

UNDERGRADUATE EDUCATION

• 1965 B.F.A., Massachusetts College of Art, Boston

GRADUATE EDUCATION

• 1967 M.F.A., University of Illinois, Champaign Urbana

TEACHING AS AN ARTIST

• From 1968 to 1970 he taught at the University of Wisconsin

• Fall of 1970 he moved to Southern California where he taught for one year at California State College, Long Beach

William Wegman, No Fun Sleeping Under a Picture Like This, 1975

WEGMAN’S PHOTOGRAPHIC FORMAT

• Silver Gelatin photographs

• Polaroids and Photolithographs

• Images vary in size, but most images appear as 11" x 14" and 20" x 24".

SUBJECTS OF CHOICE…

• As the art world knows, Wegman has created a significant body of work apart from his portraits of Weimaraners, notably paintings and human-only videos.

• But his dogs inevitably steal the show!

THE BEGINNING…

• It was while he was in Long Beach that Wegman got his dog, Man Ray, with whom he began a long and fruitful collaboration.

• Man Ray, known in the art world and beyond for his endearing deadpan presence, became a central figure in Wegman’s photographs and videotapes.

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CAST OF CHARACTERS

• In 1981, Man Ray died. • It was not until 1986 that Wegman got a new dog,

Fay Ray, and another collaboration began marked by Wegman’s extensive use of the Polaroid 20 x 24 camera.

• With the birth of Fay’s litter in 1989, Wegman’s cast grew to include Fay’s offspring — Battina, Crooky and Chundo — and later, their offspring: Battina’s son Chip in 1995, Chip’s son Bobbin in 1999 and Candy and Bobbin’s daughter Penny in 2004.

William Wegman and Fay's grandson, Chip, in 1996

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FILM & VIDEO• Wegman has created film and video works for Saturday

Night Live and Nickelodeon and his video segments for Sesame Street have appeared regularly since 1989.

• His videos include Alphabet Soup, Fay’s Twelve Days of Christmas and Mother Goose.

• In 1995, Wegman’s film The Hardly Boys was screened at the Sundance Film Festival.

• After a twenty year hiatus, Wegman returned to the format of his video work from the 70s producing two new series of video works in 1998 and 1999.

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It’s easy to dismiss William Wegman as “oh, that dog guy.”

So why do we keep looking?A critic’s take on William Wegman…

• At their simplest, they’re buffoonish: Ha ha! Look at the dressed-up dog. How ridiculous he looks!

• At a deeper level, the animals serve as human stand-ins, offering up a satirical lampooning of human pretension.

By Mark Stevens

BEST KNOWN QUOTE“At a couple of days old, the puppies were more alien than cute.”

AWARDS & GRANTS• 1999 New York Foundation for the Arts Honor

• 1999 Bailey House Key Honor

• 1986 Guggenheim Fellowship

• 1985 National Endowment for the Arts

• 1979 Creative Artists Public Service (video)

• 1976 National Endowment for the Arts

• 1975 Guggenheim Fellowship

RECOGNIZED WORK & SIGNIFICANT CONTRIBUTIONS

• Solo Exhibitions 1971-2008• Group Exhibitions 1969-2008• Videography 1970-2002• Film 1986-1995• Published Books & Catalogues 1982-2006

WORK FEATURED IN PUBLIC COLLECTIONS

• Albright-Knox Gallery, Buffalo• Australian National Gallery, Canberra• The Brooklyn Museum, New York• Carnegie Institute, Museum of Art, Pittsburgh• F.R.A.C. Limousin, Limoges, France• The Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.• Los Angeles County Museum of Art• Kunstaus, Zurich• Minneapolis Institute of Art• Museum of Fine Art, Houston• The Museum of Modern Art, New York• De Menil Collection, Houston• Newport Harbor Museum, California• Sammlung Ludwig, Aachen• San Francisco Museum of Modern Art• Saint Louis Museum of Modern Art• Stuart Collection, Univ. of California, San Diego• Walker Art Center, Minneapolis• The Whitney Museum of American Art, New York

CREATIONS TO BE CONTINUED…

William Wegman lives in New York and Maine where he continues to make videos, to take photographs and to make drawings and paintings.

William Wegman, Hotel Motel School, 2007

William Wegman, Road to Road, 2008

LINK TO A COMPREHENSIVE INTERVIEW WITH THE PHOTOGRAPHER HIMSELF…

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