Minor Martin White
author · photographer
Minor Martin White was a prominent American photographer, theoretician, critic, and educator who significantly influenced creative photography in the mid-20th century. Born in Minneapolis, he studied botany at the University of Minnesota before dedicating his life to photography. He is known for his technical mastery of light and shadow, as well as his philosophical approach to the medium, which included concepts like 'equivalence'—the idea that a photograph can represent something other than its literal subject matter. White was a founding member and long-time editor of Aperture magazine. He taught at various institutions, including the California School of Fine Arts and the Rochester Institute of Technology. His work often explored landscapes, people, and abstract subjects, frequently incorporating personal reflections on sexuality, spirituality (including Zen meditation), and the creative process.[1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12,13,14,15,16,17,18,19,20,21,22,23,24,25,26,27,28,29,30]
Themes
- equivalence
- pre-visualization
- spiritual photography
- landscape photography
- abstract imagery
Books
Works by Minor Martin White
- Rites and Passages 1978 · Aperture · book · English ISBN 9780893810221 Contains photographs and writing by White with a biographical essay by James Baker Hall.
- Amputations 1947 · photographic sequence A photographic sequence including text from his journals.
- Song Without Words 1947 · photographic sequence A personal body of work depicting a model.
- The Temptation of St. Anthony Is Mirrors 1948 · photographic sequence A personal body of work depicting a model.
- City of Surf 1949 · photographic sequence A series of urban street photographs inspired by Walt Whitman.
- Rural Cathedrals 1955 · photographic sequence Landscape images from upstate New York shot on regular and infrared film.
- Return to the Bud 1959 · photographic sequence A major exhibition and sequence of photographs.
- The Sound of One Hand 1960 · photographic sequence A photographic sequence.
- Out of My love for You I Will Try to Give You Back Yourself 1963 · photographic sequence A photographic sequence.
- Slow Dance 1965 · photographic sequence A color slide sequence inspired by Gurdjieff's rhythmic rituals.
- Totemic Sequence 1974 · photographic sequence A sequence exploring the reality and unreality in a photograph.
Exhibitions
- 1942 First one-man exhibition Portland Art Museum, Portland, Oregon solo
- 1954 Camera Consciousness group
- 1954 The Pictorial Image group
- 1954 Lyrical and Accurate group
- 1959 Return to the Bud George Eastman House, Rochester, New York solo
- 1968 Light7 Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts group
- 1970 Be-ing without Clothes Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts group
- 1972 Octave of Prayer Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts group
- 1974 Celebrations Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts group
References
- Lee Gallery. Minor White 1908–1975. link
- Hall, Minor White: Rites and Passages.
- Ibson, John. Men without Maps: Some Gay Males of the Generation before Stonewall.
- Bunnell, Minor White: Rites and Passages.
- Hall, Minor White: Rites and Passages.
- White 1969, 233.
- Ibson, John. Men without Maps: Some Gay Males of the Generation before Stonewall.
- White 1969, 234.
- Hall, 21.
- Bunnell, 4.
- Hall, 16.
- Comer, 20–24.
- Hill Jan 1977, 40.
- Comer, 28–30.
- Bunnell, 6.
- Hill Feb 1977, 37.
- Gee, Helen (1997), Limelight : a Greenwich Village photography gallery and coffeehouse in the fifties : a memoir.
- Gassan, 108–114.
- Hall, 40.
- Bunnell, 47.
- Bunnell, 9.
- Hill Feb 1977, 39.
- Bunnell, p10.
- Bunnell, 11.
- Daido Loori.
- Hall, 136.
- White, 1970.
- Bunnell, 12–13.
- Frajndlich, 12–16.
- Hall, 39.