Ralph Gibson
February 26th, 2023
Ralph Gibson
By: Connor Albaugh
We have had the opportunity to examine quite a few incredible photographers with exemplary work over the past couple of months. Not only is there work popular, but their compositions are of the highest quality in the field of photography. We shift our focus to another talent in the field of photography, one who challenges the thoughts of his viewers artistically and cognitively. His name is Ralph Gibson.
In 1939, an American photographer by the name of Ralph Gibson was “born in Hollywood, California” (Article #2). “His father was an assistant director to Alfred Hitchcock” (Article #2). He was an English filmmaker and this allowed young Ralph to see his dad at work making films. Visiting his dad allowed him to see all of the things he did as a filmmaker. “He was impressed by the power of the camera lens and the intensity of the lights” (Article #2). Being that these are two very important things associated with photography, this experience in the film making industry would ultimately be the reason that Ralph would pursue photography. With this being said, he would later go “in the US Navy” where he would “study photography” (Article #1). Briefly after his endeavors in the Navy, he would go on to “attend the San Francisco Art Institute” and “worked as an assistant to Robert Frank and Dorothea Lange” (Article #1). Robert Frank is a “Swiss photographer” known for his book “The Americans” and Dorothea Lange was an “American documentary photographer and photojournalist” known for her work “during the Great Depression” (Google). One thing that stands out about Ralph is his experiences with talented professionals in their field before his career had begun. Seeing a filmmaker and the way he is ankle to capture work through individual craft as well as with the instruments he used ultimately gave him a passion that he would pursue as a career. Seeing the work of Robert Frank and Dorothea Lange was also an extremely helpful and poignant point in his life because seeing work from other photographers would allow him to see their work, gain influence he could use in his future images, and then develop his own personal style. Not only was Ralph ahead of the game, but success was not a far stretch considering who he has been surrounding himself with as well as learning from.
All of the images that Ralph has created follow a certain genre. They “explore the surreal visual nature of the subconscious” (Article #2). Surrealism is a “literary and artistic movement in which the goal is to create something bizarre and disjointed, but somehow still understandable” (Google). Ralph often “used visual fragments that resemble the way we see dreams” and his images can often be “mysterious, symbolic, and often erotic” (Article #2). Dreams aren’t always straightforward nor do they make sense in some instances which is why this is an excellent example to describe Ralph’s photography. The camera that Ralph has used since “the beginning of his career is a Leica camera” (Article #1). Some of his photographs even show “nude models who carry out surreal poses” (Article #1). One of Ralph’s images that I took to be interesting as well as visually captivating happened to be the photograph at the top of the blog (Article #3). This photograph shows a silhouetted hand reached out of a doorway. This represents the idea of a surrealist look quite well because having a hand reaching through a doorway is quite bizarre considering someone’s whole body is probably behind the wall, but it makes sense because it is a way of the hand trying to leave or escape said room. This could resemble a dream, particularly a creepy one because any type of thing such as a hand sticking out of somewhere is quite freaky and scary. This could remind someone of various horror films which include a hand that happens to be the main subject. One thing that is captured and pictured really well is the lighting. The light behind the errant hand created a silhouette and outlines the makeup of the hand as it peaks from cracked opening created by the door. Additionally, the light coming from the room created a beam of light on the floor and there is a reflection of the hand coming from the opening of the door on the wall opposite of the cracked opening. The reflection on the wall is quite mysterious, yet odd as it resembles that of a dream where one can see it, bit the details are a little screwed. Another aspect of this photo that is well done is the number of lines in this photography. The lines from the tile floor, on the wood pieces at the bottom of both walls on either side of the hallway, the door from lines, the rectangle lines on the door, and the beam of light created through the opening crack of the door all lead one’s eyes into the main subject of this photograph: the hand peeking through the opening the door creates. They do as much as lead the viewers eyes into the different details of the photograph surrounding the hallway, lighting, and main subject matter. The contrast is brilliant, with portions of the photo resembling a black color and otherwise mysterious looking detail, the middle grey on the ground and on the walls create a slightly calm tone, yet suspicious feeling as one gets closer to the door, and the whites of the light and behind the hand help to establish and center the viewer’s attention specific details on behalf of where the lighting is directed. The symmetry is well executed, as the door is in the middle of the photograph equally surrounded by the two walls on either side of the photograph. Last but not least, the shadows in this photograph make for a rather eerie feeling as one approaches the door and doesn’t know what to expect as the hand with light behind it reaches through the cracked opening created by a slightly open door in a hallway unknown to the viewers. Overall, all of these elements discussed come together in a cohesive manner to create a magnificent composition which embodies the idea of surrealism, dream-like, and mysterious qualities.
With his background, style, and ulterior motives for his particular photographs in mind, Ralph has been able to create some spectacular photographs. “He is known for his highly distinctive vision in still photography” having begun his carer watching the “great documentarians Dorothea Lange and Robert Frank” (Article #4). One thing that he does so well is he “intensifies contrast and emphasizes the grain of the film in his prints” which allows him to focus on the smallest details within his photographs (Article #4). Places such as “the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Museum of Modern Art, and the Bibliotheque National de France” showcase the work he has made worldwide “in major private and public collections” (Article #4). To add on to his displayed work, “he has given lectures and led workshops over twenty countries, received fellowships from the Guggenheim FOundation and the National Endowment for the Arts”, and has received several awards for his contributions and his achievements as a person and as a photographer (Article #4). To conclude, Ralph has had quite the career in terms of being able to show the world his work as well as to spread the wealth of his knowledge to people and aspiring photographers. “His dramatic compositions evoke a deep sense of mystery and an eye for detail that can turn the ordinary into profound studies in abstraction” (Article #2). With this being said, his photographs do as much as to invoke heavy thought, but also to be hard to interpret. This forces his viewers to take a very close look at each and every single on of his photographs carefully to not only examine their details, but to gather an overall conceptual idea as to what is going on and what is being displayed. His photographs may not make sense at the first glimpse, but this idea of surrealism and being rather ambiguous in character makes his photographs all the more interesting to dissect and analyze in hopes of gaining meaning in his pieces of photography.
Article 2 - https://iphf.org/inductees/ralph-gibson/
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