Arno Rafael Minkkinen
author · photographer
Arno Rafael Minkkinen is a Finnish-American photographer, essayist, and educator known for his extensive body of work featuring unmanipulated nude self-portraits in communion with nature and urban environments. Born in Helsinki in 1945 and moving to the United States in 1951, he studied at Wagner College and later received an MFA from the Rhode Island School of Design under Harry Callahan and Aaron Siskind. His practice began in earnest in 1969, focusing on a single concept for over five decades. Minkkinen has held numerous academic positions, including Emeritus Professor of Art at the University of Massachusetts Lowell and Docent at Aalto University in Helsinki. He is a prolific lecturer and curator whose work is held in major collections worldwide, including the Museum of Modern Art in New York and the Centre Georges Pompidou.[1,3]
Themes
- self-portraiture
- nude photography
- nature
- urban settings
Books
Works by Arno Rafael Minkkinen
- Frostbite 1978 · Morgan & Morgan · book
- Waterline 1994 · Aperture, Marval, and Otava · book · English ISBN 9780893815912
- Body Land Motta, Nathan, Smithsonian Institution Press · book
- SAGA: The Journey of Arno Rafael Minkkinen, Thirty-Five Years of Photographs 2005 · Chronicle Books · book
- Homework: The Finnish Photographs, 1973 to 2008 2008 · Like Publishing, Ltd · book
- Swimming in the Air 2008 · Cavallo Point · book
- Balanced Equation 2010 · Lodima Press · book
- Taivaanranta–Firmamento 2018 · Pontifical Catholic University of Peru · book
- Minkkinen 2019 · Kehrer Verlag · book
Exhibitions
- 2005 Saga: The Journey of Arno Rafael Minkkinen group
Awards
- 1991 National Endowment for the Arts Regional Grant
- 1993 Finland's Order of the Lion First Class Medal of Knighthood
- 1994 Grand Prix du Livre for Waterline at the 25th Recontres d’Arles Recontres d’Arles
- 1996 Scritture d’Acqua
- 2005 Massachusetts Cultural Council Grant
- 2006 Finnish State Art Prize in Photography
- 2006 Lianzhou International Photo Festival Special Jury Prize for SAGA Lianzhou International Photo Festival
- 2010 Finnish Film Foundation Screenwriting Grant
- 2012 Nancy Donahue Endowed Professorship in the Arts University of Massachusetts Lowell
- 2013 Lucie Award for Achievement in Fine Art
- 2015 John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation Fellowship John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation
- 2015 Society for Photographic Education Regional Honored Educator Society for Photographic Education
- 2017 Pro Finlandia Medal
- 2019 Society for Photographic Education National Honored Educator Society for Photographic Education
- 2019 German Photo Book Prize (Gold) for Minkkinen