Duane Michals
Duane Michals is an influential American photographer, renowned for his innovative approach to visual storytelling through what he terms "fictionettes," which involve montages, multiple exposures, and sequences of images. Born in 1932 in McKeesport, Pennsylvania, Michals was shaped by his working-class upbringing and pursued art from a young age, eventually earning a degree in graphic design from the University of Denver. His unique style eschews conventional photography, instead incorporating handwritten prose to provoke thought and inquiry, often exploring themes of loss, love, and identity. Notably, his work addresses LGBTQ issues, bringing them into the spotlight during a time when they were seldom discussed.
Michals gained recognition with his solo exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art in 1970, showcasing sequences that captured intimate moments between men. His later projects included hand-painted tintypes and a series of photographs reflecting on the emptiness of New York City. Throughout his career, he has challenged traditional photography norms, using his art to question societal boundaries and engage viewers in a deeper dialogue. In 2020, Michals was inducted into the International Photography Hall of Fame, cementing his legacy as a pioneering figure in contemporary art. He shared a long partnership with Fred Gorrée, whom he married shortly before Gorrée's passing in 2017.
Duane Michals
Photographer
- Born: February 18, 1932
- Place of Birth: Place of birth: McKeesport, Pennsylvania
Education: University of Denver
Significance: Duane Michals is known for creating what he calls "fictionettes," which are montages or multiple-exposure images, as well as sequences of images. Michals often captions images with poetry or prose, prompting the viewer to ask questions and hinting at a deeper meaning.
Background
Duane Michals was born in McKeesport, near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in 1932. His father and uncles were steelworkers, while his mother was a department store sales clerk. He had a younger brother. Michals worked from an early age, taking on a newspaper delivery route as a boy. He credited this upbringing with shaping his values and work habits.
As a teenager, Michals took art classes on Saturdays at the Carnegie Museum of Art. He visited the library and enjoyed his young life. He earned a full scholarship to the University of Denver, where he received a bachelor of arts degree in graphic design. He joined the US Army, and spent the Korean War years in Germany, earning the rank of second lieutenant. During this time, he had a girlfriend in the United States. He wrote to her, but also to a male friend. He often read his edition of Leaves of Grass by Walt Whitman and soon realized he was gay. The letters he wrote were later published in book form, The Lieutenant Who Loved His Platoon.
Michals took some of his first photographs on a trip to Russia, when he carried along a borrowed camera. He taught himself the art of photography. When he returned to the United States, he moved to New York.
Photography Career
He found work as a commercial photographer, working for Esquire, Mademoiselle, and other magazines. He later discovered that surrealist painter René Magritte, in whose work he found inspiration, lived in his neighborhood. Michals knocked on the artist's door and introduced himself. Michals began creating what he called prose portraits.
His first exhibition was in 1963, in Greenwich Village's Underground Gallery. While celebrated photographers of the day were using their lenses to catch a moment in time, Michals flouted convention and exhibited sequences. The New York Times refused to review the show and established photographers walked out. However, Michals had opened the floodgates, and other photographers were inspired to think and see beyond the borders of a rectangular black-and-white image.
When he began his career, art photography conformed to conventions. Michals horrified the establishment by writing in the margins. He did not regard his handwritten notes and commentaries as captions; rather, he said, he wanted to put forth questions. One of the first was a photo of his brother in profile, and his father sternly looking at the boy. Michals called it A Letter from My Father.
A solo show at the Museum of Modern Art in 1970 launched his career. He exhibited a sequence, Chance Meeting, which shows two men glancing at one another as they pass in a narrow alley. It depicted men who felt an attraction for one another. With this show, he brought issues such as gay rights and sexual orientation out of the shadows.
Michals's sequences often explore ideas of loss or regret. The first image of Grandmother and Odette Visit the Park, for example, is captioned with the grandmother telling the little girl to sit quietly on the bench. Other images follow Odette as she roams, rides a merry-go-round, and explores the park. The final image shows Odette from behind, alone, walking toward the now-empty bench.
In 2012, Michals looked to the past, turning his hand to a portrait format of the late nineteenth century. He took up hand painting on tintypes. He honored his spouse, Fred Gorrée, with a crest he painted on a tintype. Michals had previously painted over some of his own photos, as with Summer (1980), on which oil-paint butterflies flutter about the subject's face.
In 2014, his exhibition Empty New York was on display in the DC Moore Gallery in Manhattan. The thirty prints were taken around 1964, when the photographer roamed the city in the early morning hours. He saw the sights of the empty city as sets, theatrical locations awaiting the actors. Empty barbershops, streets, and subway cars were all featured in this collection.
A major retrospective of his work was exhibited in 2014 at the Carnegie Museum of Art, which holds an extensive trove of Michals's work. Storyteller: The Photographs of Duane Michals, covered early photos taken in Russia, portraits of Magritte and other celebrities, painted photos, and narrative series. Magritte with Hat (1965) superimposes the artist, wearing an upside-down hat, with a ghostly image of a hand holding the same hat. A thirty-work sequence, The House I Once Called Home, contrasts the derelict brick house where Michals grew up with images of his childhood there.
Impact
Michals refuses to conform to expectations about photography. He works outside of the borders and began adding handwritten notes at a time when this was shocking to artists. He created sequences and multiple-exposure photographs rather than single images, expanding one's understanding of the photographs beyond their borders and asking the viewer to interact with the images. He also addressed LGBTQ issues in a time when they were rarely acknowledged.
In the 2010s, Michals began to branch out into filmmaking, creating a series of short, art films. In 2020, he was inducted into the International Photography Hall of Fame.
Personal Life
Duane Michals and his partner, Fred Gorrée, were together since the 1960s. They married in 2011, nine days after same-sex marriage was legalized in New York. Gorrée died in 2017.
Bibliography
Arn, Jackson. "Late in his Career, Photographer Duane Michals Has Found a New Creative Outlet as a Filmmaker." Art in America, 2024, www.artnews.com/art-in-america/features/duane-michals-morgan-library-retrospective-celebrates-photography-1202667894/. Accessed 3 Oct. 2024.
Bohnacker, Siobhan. "The Last Sentimentalist: A Q. & A. with Duane Michals." New Yorker, 9 May 2014, www.newyorker.com/culture/photo-booth/the-last-sentimentalist-q-a-with-duane-michals Accessed 3 Oct. 2024.
"Duane Michals." DC Moore Gallery, www.dcmooregallery.com/artists/duane-michals. Accessed 3 Oct. 2024.
"Duane Michals." International Photography Hall of Fame and Museum, 2024, www.iphf.org/hof-duane-michals. Accessed 3 Oct. 2024.
Gonzalez, David. "Duane Michals: Looking Back, Moving Forward." New York Times, 30 Oct. 2014, archive.nytimes.com/lens.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/10/30/duane-michals-looking-back-moving-forward/. Accessed 3 Oct. 2024.
Reznik, Eugene. "Interview: Duane Michals on 50 Years of Sequences and Staging Photos." American Photo, 12 Nov. 2014, www.popphoto.com/american-photo/interview-duane-michals-50-years-sequences-and-staging-photos/. Accessed 3 Oct. 2024.
"Storyteller: The Photographs of Duane Michals." Carnegie Museum of Art, carnegieart.org/exhibition/storyteller-the-photographs-of-duane-michals/. Accessed 3 Oct. 2024.