Artist
Alex Webb
(1952) American
Biography
Alex Webb was born in San Francisco, California in 1952. He became interested in photography during his high school years. He majored in history and literature at Harvard University and studied photography at the Carpenter Center for the Visual Arts. Webb attended the Apeiron Workshops in 1972; he began working as a professional photojournalist in 1974. His photographs began to appear in such publications as the New York Times Magazine, Life, Geo, and eventually in Stern and National Geographic. Webb joined Magnum Photos as an associate member in 1976, becoming a full memeber in 1979.
During the mid-1970's, Webb conducted reportages in the US south, traveling extensively, documenting small town life in black and white. He also began working in the Caribbean and Mexico. In 1979, Webb began a body of color work that he continues to pursue today.
Since then he has traveled throughout the Caribbean, Latin America, and Africa. He has published four books: Hot Light/Half-Made Worlds (1986) and Under A Grudging Sun (1989), both published by Thames and Hudson and From the Sunshine State and Amazon: From the Floodplains to the Clouds, both published by the Monacelli Press. He has also created a technology-mediated artist's book entitled Dislocations with the Film Study Center at Harvard University (1998-99). A book about the US/Mexico border was published in 2001, also from Monacelli Press.
Webb received a New York Foundation of the Arts Grant in 1986, a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship in 1990, a Hasselblad Foundation Grant in 1998, and won the Leopold Godowsky Color Photography Award in 1988 and the Leica Medal of Excellence in 2000. His photographs have been the subject of articles in Art in America and Modern Photography. He has exhibited widely both in the United States and Europe. Among museums that have exhibited his work are: the Walker Art Center, the Museum of Photographic Arts, the International Center of Photography, the High Museum of Art, the Southeast Museum of Photography, and the Whitney Museum of American Art.
Selected Bibliography
Hot Light/Half-Made Worlds: Photographs From the Tropics, 1986
Under a Grudging Sun: Photographs from Haiti Libéré, 1989
From the Sunshine State: Photographs from Florida, 1996
Amazon: From the Floodplains to the Clouds, 1997
Dislocations, 1998-1999
During the mid-1970's, Webb conducted reportages in the US south, traveling extensively, documenting small town life in black and white. He also began working in the Caribbean and Mexico. In 1979, Webb began a body of color work that he continues to pursue today.
Since then he has traveled throughout the Caribbean, Latin America, and Africa. He has published four books: Hot Light/Half-Made Worlds (1986) and Under A Grudging Sun (1989), both published by Thames and Hudson and From the Sunshine State and Amazon: From the Floodplains to the Clouds, both published by the Monacelli Press. He has also created a technology-mediated artist's book entitled Dislocations with the Film Study Center at Harvard University (1998-99). A book about the US/Mexico border was published in 2001, also from Monacelli Press.
Webb received a New York Foundation of the Arts Grant in 1986, a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship in 1990, a Hasselblad Foundation Grant in 1998, and won the Leopold Godowsky Color Photography Award in 1988 and the Leica Medal of Excellence in 2000. His photographs have been the subject of articles in Art in America and Modern Photography. He has exhibited widely both in the United States and Europe. Among museums that have exhibited his work are: the Walker Art Center, the Museum of Photographic Arts, the International Center of Photography, the High Museum of Art, the Southeast Museum of Photography, and the Whitney Museum of American Art.
Selected Bibliography
Hot Light/Half-Made Worlds: Photographs From the Tropics, 1986
Under a Grudging Sun: Photographs from Haiti Libéré, 1989
From the Sunshine State: Photographs from Florida, 1996
Amazon: From the Floodplains to the Clouds, 1997
Dislocations, 1998-1999