Max Motel ®

An Iconic street photographer with a unique style, Bruce Gilden was born in Brooklyn, New York in 1946. He first went to Penn State University but he found his sociology courses too boring for his temperament and he quit college. Gilden briefly toyed with the idea of being an actor but in 1967, he decided to buy a camera and to become a photographer. Although he did attend some evening classes at the School of Visual Arts in New York, Bruce Gilden is to be considered substantially a self-taught photographer.

The photographic style of Bruce Gilden is defined by the dynamic accent of his pictures, his special graphic qualities, and his original and direct manner of shooting the faces of passers-by with a flash. Gilden’s powerful images in black and white and now in color have brought the Magnum photographer worldwide fame.

Gilden has received many awards and grants for his work, including National Endowments for the Arts fellowships (1980, 1984 and 1992), French “Villa Medicis Hors les Murs” grant (1995), grants from the New York State Foundation for the Arts ( 1979, 1992 and 2000), a Japan Foundation Artist Fellowship (1999) and in 2013 a Guggenheim Foundation fellowship.

Bruce Gilden joined Magnum Photos in 1998. He lives in Beacon, New York.

  • 1977. (1979, 1984) O.K HARRIS GALLERY, New York, NY

    1986. LES RENCONTRES D’ARLES (Catalogue).

    1988. HOUSTON CENTER FOR PHOTOGRAPHY, Houston, Texas

    1988. BLUE SKY GALLERY, Portland, Oregon

    1989. BIBLIOTHEQUE NATIONALE, Paris, France

    1991. BLATENT IMAGE/SILVER EYE, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

    1991. FOTOGRAFICENTRUM, Stockholm, Sweden 1986

    1991. PHOTOGRAPHIC MUSEUM OF FINLAND, Helsinki

    1992. SCHLOSSMUSEUM, Kleve Fotogalerie in der Schwanenberg, Germany

    1992. GALERIE FNAC, Paris (Traveling exhibition)

    1992. THE CHRYSLER MUSEUM, Norfolk, Virginia

    1993. GERMAN-AMERICAN INSTITUTE, Heidelberg

    1993. GALERIA FORUM, Tarragona, Spain

    1993. THE SPECIAL PHOTOGRAPHERS COMPANY, London

    1993. MUSEE DE L’ELYSEE, Lausanne, Switzerland

    1993. GALERIE BODO NIEMANN, Berlin, Germany

    1993. MUSEE DE LA PHOTOGRAPHIE, CHARLEROI, Belgium,

    1993. FOTOGALERIA SAN MARTIN, Buenos Aires, Argentina

    1994. CENTRE REGIONAL DE LA PHOTOGRAPHIE, Nord Pas-de-Calais, France

    1997. GALLERY 292, NYC

    1994. LEICA GALLERY, NYC 1997 and Solms, Germany

    1997. ROBERT B. MENSCHEL PHOTOGRAPHY GALLERY, Syracuse University, Syracuse, New York

    1997. ENCONTROS DA IMAGEM, Braga, Portugal

    1997. GALERIE DU CHATEAU D’EAU, Toulouse, France

    1997. THE ROYAL PHOTOGRAPHIC SOCIETY, Bath, England

    1998. L’IMAGERIE CENTRE SAVIDAN, Lannion, France

    1998. NIKON SALON, Tokyo, Japan

    1999. ARQUIVO FOTOGRAFICO MUNICIPAL, Lisbon, Portugal (book)

    2000. GALLERY OF PHOTOGRAPHY, Dublin, Ireland

    2000. (1994, 1990) AGATHE GAILLARD GALLERY, Paris, France

    2000. SHADAI GALLERY, Tokyo, Japan

    2001. VISA POUR L’IMAGE, Perpignan, France

    2003. FOTOGRAFISK CENTRUM, Copenhagen, Denmark

    2003. FOTOGRAPHIE FORUM, Frankfurt, Germany

    2003. FESTIVAL INTERNATIONAL DE LA MER, Vannes, France

    2003. CARLA SOZZANI GALLERY, Milan, Italy

    2006. SALA MUNICIPAL DE EXPOSITIONES SAN BENITO, Valladolid, Spain

    2006. BRUCE SILVERSTEIN GALLERY, New York, NY

    2008. TEEN HAAF GALLERY, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

    2010. AMADOR GALLERY, New York, NY

    2011. DERBY MUSEUM & ART GALLERY, England

    2012. LOOK 3, Charlottesville, VA

    2012. PHOTOVILLE, Brooklyn, NY

    2012. METENKO MUSEUM OF PHOTOGRAPHY, Ekaterinenburg, Russia

    2012. LEICA JAPAN, Tokyo, Japan

    2013. HIGHER PICTURES GALLERY, New York, NY

    2014. ROBERT MORAT GALLERY, Berlin, Hamburg, Germany

    2015. COB GALLERY, London, England

    2015. UN NOUVEAU REGARD SUR LA MOBILITE URBAINE, Paris Metro Multiple Stations, Paris France

    2015. POLKA GALERIE, Paris, France

    2016. LEICA GALLERY, London England

    2018. LEICA at PHOTO LONDON, London England

    2018-2019. THIS LAND, Foreclosures and Face series exhibition at Pier 24, San Francisco, CA

    2020. LOST AND FOUND and FASHION, 10 Corso Como, New York, NY

    2020. LOST AND FOUND, Galerie Polka, Paris France

    2021. FESTIVAL IMAGES Gibellina, Sicily, Italy

  • 1987. “TWELVE PHOTOGRAPHERS LOOK AT US”, Philadelphia Museum of Art (Catalogue)

    1987. “57th & 5th”, PACE/MACGILL GALLERY, New York City

    1988. “NYC-SAME STREETS-3 VIEWS”, Houston FotoFest (Catalogue

    1988. VICTORIA AND ALBERT MUSEUM, London, England

    1989. MOIS DE LA PHOTO, Montreal, Canada (Catalogue)

    1991. “MEAN STREETS: American Photographs from the Collection”, Museum of Modern Art, New York

    1991. ‘REGARDS SUR MEDECINS SANS FRONTIERES”, Traveling exhibition (Catalogue)

    1993. “RECENT ACQUISITIONS”, Museum of Modern Art, New York

    1994. “UBER DIE GROSSEN STADTE”, Marstall, Berlin, Germany

    1994. “MAGIC MOMENTS: 40 YEARS OF LEICA M”, Traveling exhibition (Catalogue)

    1994. HASSELBLAD CENTER, Goteborg, Sweden

    1994. “WHO’S LOOKING AT THE FAMILY?” Barbican Art Gallery, London (Catalogue)

    1999. MAGNUM: “OUR TURNING WORLD” Traveling exhibition, Barbican Art Gallery, London (Book)

    2000. “NEW YORK NOW”, Museum of The City of New York, NY

    2001. “NEW YORK SEPTEMBER 11” by Magnum Photographers (Traveling exhibition and book),

    2002. “LIFE OF THE CITY”, The Museum of Modern Art, New York

    2002. “NEW YORK CAPITAL OF PHOTOGRAPHY”, The Jewish Museum, NY

    2004. “MAGNUM’S NEW YORKERS”, Museum of the City of New York, NY

    2007. “TOKYO SEEN BY MAGNUM PHOTOGRAPHERS”, Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Photography, Japan

    2007. “60 YEARS OF FASHION PHOTOGRAPHY FROM MAGNUM”, Magnum Print Room & Atlas Gallery, London, England

    2008. “70’s AMERICAN PHOTOGRAPHY”, Bibliothèque Nationale Paris, France (Book)

    2010. “NEVER JUST LOOKING”, Galerie Thomas Zander, Cologne, Germany

    2012. STREET PHOTOGRAPHY NOW, London, England (Traveling Exhibition and Book)

    2014. POSTCARDS FROM AMERICA, Milwaukee Art Museum, Milwaukee, WI

    2015. FRAMING BODIES, Hasselblad Center, Goteborg, Sweden

    2016. STRANGE AND FAMILIAR, England seen by foreign photographers, Barbican Center, London, England

    2016-2017. STRANGE AND FAMILIAR, Manchester Art Gallery, Manchester, England

    2020-2021. OPEN FOR BUSINESS Magnum Photographers on Commission, Deutshe Borse Photography Foundation, Traveling Exhibition

    2020. TRIENNIAL, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne Australia

  • 1992, 1984, 1980: National Endowment for the Arts Photographer’s Fellowship.

    1995: Villa Medicis Hors les Murs Artist’s Fellowship.

    1996: European Publishers’ Award for Photography.

    1999: The Japan Foundation Artist’s Fellowship.

    2000, 1992, 1979: New York Foundation for the Arts (Artist’s Fellowship), New York, USA.

    2013: Guggenheim Fellowship

  • Pier 24, San Francisco, CA

    The Getty Museum, Los Angeles, CA

    Bill Block Collection, Los Angeles, CA

    Elton John Collection, Atlanta, GA

    Archive of Modern Conflict, London, England

    Martin Parr Foundation, Bristol, England

    Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Photography, Tokyo, Japan

    Museum of Modern Art, New York

    The Royal Photographic Society, Bath, England

    Victoria& Albert Museum, London, England

    Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia, Penn.

    Galerie du Chateau d’Eau, Toulouse, France

    Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Texas

    Paris Audiovisuel, France

    Museet for fotokunst, Odense, Denmark

    Moderna Museet, Stockholm, Sweden

    Photographic Museum of Finland, Helsinki, Finland

    Musée de l’Elysée, Lausanne, Switzerland

    The Chrysler Museum, Norfolk, Virginia

    Fonds National d’Art Contemporain, Paris, France

    The Dreyfus Corporation, New York

    Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn, New York

    National Gallery of Canada

    Fogg Art Museum, Cambridge, Mass.

    Wilson Centre for Photography, London, England

    Milwaukee Art Museum, Milwaukee WI

    The Carpenter Center For Visual Arts, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA

    The Hasselblad Collection, Gothenburg Sweden

    Center For Creative Photography, Tucson AZ

    Arquivo Fotografico Municipal, Lisbon Portugal

    National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne Australia

  • 1981. Commission Lightwork, Syracuse, NY, USA.

    1991. Commission in Kurdistan, Medecins Sans Frontieres 20th Anniversary, Paris, France.

    1993. Commission “Bilbao Metropoli-30”, city of Bilbao, Spain (Book)

    1993-1994: Commission ‘Bleus”, Mission Photographique Transmanche. C.R.P Nord pas de Calais, France. (Book “Bleus” Cahier N#13.)

    1996-1998: Commission “After The Off”, Gallery of Photography, Dublin, Ireland (Book).

    1999: Commission “Ciganos”, Centro Portuguès de Fotografia, Lisbon, Portugal (Book).

    2000: Commission “GMT 2000”, a portrait of Britain at the Millennium, England, (Catalogue).

    2003: Commission “Périples”, the cultural Olympiades 2004, Athens, Greece, (Exhibition & Catalogue).

    2004: Commission “NorthSouthEastWest”, The Climate Group, London, UK, (Exhibition & Book).

    2007: Commission“L’Image d’Aprés”, Cinémathèque Française, Paris, France (Book).

    2008: Commission “Insight America”, Magnum Photos, Florida, first segment of his four part project on foreclosures in America (Book).

    2011: Commission “Head On”, Format International Photography Festival, Derby, England.

    2011: Commission ‘l’Italia E Gli Italiani”, Intesa Sanpaolo, Turin Italy.

    2011-2013: Commission London, The Archive of Modern Conflict, London, England (Book).

    2012: Magnum collective project “Postcards From America”, Rochester, New York, USA

    2013: Magnum collective project “Postcards from America”, Miami, Florida, USA.

    2013: Commission in Bogota, Colombia, Archive of Modern Conflict, London, England.

    2013: Commission “Open For Business”, Magnum Photos and Multistory, London, England.

    2013: Commission ‘Black Country Stories”, Multistory, West Bromwich, England.

    2013: Magnum collective project “Postcards From America”, Milwaukee, Wi, USA (Exhibition & Book).

    2014: Commission “American Made”, Leica S Magazine, Leica, Germany (Book).

    2015: Commission, in New York, Paris, Manchester, Johannesburg and Hong Kong for RATP Parisian transportation system, Paris, France. The work was exhibited in 17 Parisian metro stations throughout the summer (Book).

    2016: Magnum collective project “Postcards From America”, Hawaii, USA.

    2016: Commission “Against The Wind” in Detroit, Michigan, for Leica London.

    2020: Commission “Palermo” in Palermo Italy, for 89 Books.

    2021: Commission “Shinan Islands” for Shinan County, Shinan Islands South Korea.