Sally Mann

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Sally Mann (born in Lexington, Virginia, 1951) is one of America’s most renowned photographers. She has received numerous awards, including NEA, NEH, and Guggenheim Foundation grants, and her work is held by major institutions internationally. Her many books include At Twelve (1988), Immediate Family (1992), Still Time (1994), What Remains (2003), Deep South (2005), Proud Flesh (2009), The Flesh and the Spirit (2010), Remembered Light (2016) and Sally Mann: A Thousand Crossings (2018). In 2001 Mann was named “America’s Best Photographer” by Time magazine. A 1994 documentary about her work, Blood Ties, was nominated for an Academy Award and the 2006 feature film What Remains was nominated for an Emmy Award in 2008. Her bestselling memoir, Hold Still (Little, Brown, 2015), received universal critical acclaim, and was named a finalist for the National Book Award. In 2016 Hold Still won the Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Nonfiction. The National Gallery of Art presented a critically lauded show, Sally Mann: A Thousand Crossings, in 2018. Comprised of 109 prints and several videos, A Thousand Crossings addresses complex issues relating to the American South and will travel internationally until the beginning of 2020. Mann is represented by Gagosian Gallery, New York. She lives in Virginia.

Born 1951 Lexington, VA

Education

1966-1972
Attended Putney School, Bennington College and Friends World College

1974
Bachelor of Arts, Summa Cum Laude, Hollins College

1975
Master of Arts, Writing, Hollins College

1971
Praestegaard Film School

1972
Aegean School of Fine Arts

1973
Apeiron

1973
Ansel Adams Yosemite Workshop

Selected Solo Exhibitions
2012
A Matter of Time, Fotografiska Museet, Stockholm Sweden
At Twelve. La Fabrica. Madrid, Spain
Upon Reflection. Edwynn Houk Gallery. New York, NY

2011
Sally Mann: Proud Flesh, Jackson Fine Art. Atlanta, GA

2010
Sally Mann: Afterlight, Reynolds Gallery, Richmond, VA
Sally Mann, Galerie Karstem Greve, Paris, France
Sally Mann: The Flesh and The Spirit, Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond, VA
Sally Mann: The Family and the Land, The Photographer’s Gallery, London, Great Britain
Sally Mann, Musee de l’Elysee, Lausanne, Switzerland

2007
Sally Mann, Stenersen Museum, Oslo, Norway
Sally Mann, Gallerie Karsten Greve, Paris, France

2005
Battlefields, Galerie Karsten Greve, Cologne, Germany

2004
Battlefields, Galerie Karsten Greve, Paris, France
Last Measure, Galerie Karsten Greve: Paris, France
What Remains: Selections, Jackson Fine Art, Atlanta, GA
What Remains, Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, DC
Tracing the Sublime, Addison Gallery of American Art, Andover, MA

2003
Last Measure, Edwynn Houk Gallery, New York, NY

2002
Deep South, Galerie Karsten Greve: Cologne, Germany
Sally Mann: Yucatan, Catherine Edelman Gallery, Chicago, IL

2001
Deep South, Galerie Karsten Greve: Paris/Milan/St. Moritz
Immediate Family, Byron Mapp Gallery, Sydney, Australia
Immediate Family, Andre Simeons Gallery, Brussels, Belgiu
Family and The Land, Reynolds Gallery, Richmond, VA
Deep South and Mother Land, Cheekwood Museum, Nashville, TN

1999
Deep South: Louisiana & Mississippi, Edwynn Houk Gallery, New York, NY
Mother Land, Jane Jackson Fine Art, Atlanta, GA
Still Time, Mount Holyoke College Art Museum, MA

1998
Still Time, PhotoEspaña ‘98, Madrid, Spain
Still Time, University of Texas, Austin, TX
Still Time, Bowdoin College Museum of Art, ME

1997
Sally Mann: Mother Land, Edwynn Houk Gallery, New York, NY
Sally Mann: Mother Land, Gagosian Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
Sally Mann: Recent Work, Photo Gallery International, Tokyo, Japan
Sally Mann: Immediate Family, Galerie Bodo Niemann, Berlin Germany
Still Time, Kunsthal Rotterdam, Amsterdam

1996
Sally Mann: Recent Work, Catherine Edelman Gallery, Chicago, IL
Sally Mann: Immediate Family, Christian Larsen, Stockholm, Sweden
Sally Mann: Recent Work, Greg Kucera Gallery, Seattle, WA
Sally Mann: Recent Work, Jane Jackson Fine Art, Atlanta, GA

1995
Sally Mann: Recent Work, Houk Friedman, New York
Sally Mann: At Twelve and Color Work, Picture Photo Space, Japan

1994
Selections from “Immediate Family”, Bratislava, Slovikia
Still Time, Sweet Briar College, Sweet Briar, VA
Immediate Family, Contemporary Museum, Honolulu, Hawaii
Selections from “Immediate Family”, Hollins College, Hollins, VA
Still Time, Tampa Museum of Art, Tampa, FL
Still Time, Washington and Lee University, Lexington, VA

1993
Still Time, Museum of Contemporary Photography, Chicago, IL
Selections from “Immediate Family”, The Center for Creative Photography, Carmel, CA
Selections from “Immediate Family”, Photo Gallery International, Tokyo

1992
Immediate Family, Houk Friedman, New York, NY
Immediate Family, Institute of Contemporary Art, Philadelphia, PA
At Twelve, Edwynn Houk Gallery, Chicago, IL

1991
Maryland Art Place, Baltimore, Maryland

1990
The Tartt Gallery, Washington, DC
Edwynn Houk Gallery, Chicago, IL
Cleveland Center for Contemporary Art, Cleveland, OH

1989
Museum of Photographic Art, San Diego, CA

1988
Marcuse Pfeiffer Gallery, New York City
Southeastern Center of Contemporary Art, Winston-Salem, NC

Selected Group Exhibitions
2013
“Everyday Epiphanies: Photography and Daily life since 1969,” The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY

2012
“By Way of These Eyes,” The American Museum in Britain, Bath, England

2011
“Dawn Till Dusk,” Jen Bekman Gallery, New York, NY

2010
“Disquieting Images. La Triennale de Milano, Milano, Italy
“Memento Mori:  The Birth & Resurrection of Post- Mortem Photography, Merchant’s House Museum, New York, NY
“Haunted”, The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, NY
“High Speed Insanity”, Blomqvist Gallery, Oslo, Norway
Pictures by Women: A History of Modern Photography, The Museum of Modern Art. New York, NY
Kunstmuseum Winterhur, Switzerland

2009
The Family and the Land, Fotomuseum Den Haag, The Hauge, Netherlands

2008
Faces – Sally Mann, Galerie Karsten Greve, Cologne, Germany
Sally Mann, Gagosian Gallery, Beverly Hills, CA

2007
Battlefields / Deep South, Kunstsammlung im Stastmuseum, Jena, Germany
Sally Mann / Juhana Blomstedt, Helsinki City Art Museum, Finland

2004
About Face: Photography and the Death of the Portrait, Hayward Gallery, London
Animals & Us: The Animal in Contemporary Art, Galerie St. Etienne, New York, NY

2003
30 Years at Second Street, Second Street Gallery, Charlottesville, VA
The New Sublime, Northlight Gallery at Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ
Ghosts, Curated by Alison Ferris, Bowdoin College Museum of Art, ME
The Family, The Gallery at Windsor, Vero Beach, FL
Flesh Tones, Curated by Vince Aletti, Robert Mann Gallery, New York

2002
Visions from America: Photographs from the Whitney Museum of American Art 1940-2001, Whitney Museum, New York, NY
The Antiquarian Avant-Garde, Sarah Morthland Gallery, New York, NY
Aquaria: The Fascinating World of Man and Water, Landesmuseum, Linz, and Kunstsammlungen Chemnitz
True Colors: Meditations on the American Spirit, Meridian International Center, Washington, DC
Curious Terrain, Elizabeth Harris Gallery, New York, NY
Fictions in Wonderland, Beverly Reynolds Gallery, Roanoke, VA
Contemporary Photography in Virginia, Art Museum of Western Virginia,Roanoke, VA
Forever Young: Children in Photographs, Eaton Fine Art, West Palm Beach, FL

2001
In Response to Place: The Nature Conservancy’s Last Great Places, The Corcoran Museum of Art, Washington, DC (traveling nationally)
The Crafted Image: 19th Century Techniques in Contemporary Photography, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA
Re-Thought/Re-Seen, University of Missouri-Kansas City, Kansas City, MO

2000
The Swamp: On the Edge of Eden, Samuel P. Harn Museum, University of Florida, Gainsville, FL
Watchful Eyes, Catherine Edelman Gallery, Chicago, IL
Visualizing the Blues, The Dixon Gallery & Gardens, Memphis, TN
Photography Now: An International Survey of Contemporary Photography, Contemporary Arts Center, New Orleans, LA
The Portrait in Contemporary Photography, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH
Children of the Twentieth Century, Galerie Jesuitenkirche de Stadt Aschaffenburg; Mitterlrhein Museum Koblenz
Southern Exposure, Contemporary Art Center of Virginia, Virginia Beach, VA
The Virginia Landscape, Virginia Historical Society, Richmond, VA
Focus on Regional Photography, Marshall University, Huntington, WV

1999
The Full Monty, Edwynn Houk Gallery, New York, NY
American Pictorialism: From Stieglitz To Today, Catherine Edelman Gallery, Chicago, IL
Pink for Boys; Blue for Girls, Neue Gesellschaft fur bildeded Kunst, Berlin, Germany
Assumed Identity, Wake Forest University, Winston-Salem, NC
New in the Nineties II, curated by Rick Wester, Katonah Museum of Art, Katonah, NY
Some Southern Stories, The Museum of Contemporary Photography, Chicago
Three American Women, Baudoin Lebon Gallery, Paris, France
The Body and the Lens, The Newcomb Art Gallery, New Orleans, LA
Through the Looking Glass, Newhouse Center for Contemporary Art, New York, NY
Year of Globalization and Diversity-Conflict or Harmony?, Wake Forest University, Winston-Salem, NC
Dreamworks: Artistic and Psychological Perspectives, Binghamton University Art Museum, NY

1998
COLOR, Edwynn Houk Gallery, New York, NY
Secret Victorians: Contemporary Artist and a 19th Century Vision, Hayward Gallery, London, and travelled to The Armand Hammer Gallery in 2000
Knowing Children, curated by Anne Higonnet, David Beitzel Gallery, New York, NY
Summer, Lennon, Weinberg, Inc., New York, NY
From the Heart: The Power of Photography, selections from the Sondra Gilman collection, Art Museum of South Texas, Corpus Christi, TX
Sacred Sites, Then & Now: The American Civil War, The Chrysler Museum of Art, Norfolk, VA
Shattering the Southern Steoreotype: Cy Twombly, Sally Mann, Dorothy Gillespie, Nell Blaine, Jack Beal, Longwood Center for the Visual Arts, Farmville, VA
Presumed Innocence, Anderson Gallery, Richmond, VA
Male, Wessel+O’Conner, New York, NY
Waterproof, EXPO’98, Centro Cultural de Belém, Lisbon, Portugal
C’est la Vie, Centre d’Art Contemporain, Brussels, Belgium

1997
Under the Dark Cloth, Museum of Photographic Arts, San Diego, CA
Legacy of Light: Master Photographs from the Collection of the Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
From My Window, Libreria Foto Galeria Railowsky, Valencia, Spain

1996
Hospice: A Photographic Inquiry, The Corcoran Gallery, Washington, D.C.
Virginia Invitational ‘97 Photography, Longwood Center, Farmville, VA
Homeland of the Imagination, NationsBank Plaza, Atlanta, GA
Picturing the South, High Museum, Atlanta, GA

1995
100 Years/100 Images, Frankfurter Kunstverein, Germany
Visions of Childhood, Bard College, Annandale-on-Hudson, NY
Imagined Children, Desired Images, Wellesley College, MA

1994
Who’s Looking at the Family?, Barbican Art Gallery, London
Pro Femina, Southeast Museum of Photography, Daytona Beach, FL
The Magic of Play, Los Angeles, CA
A Sense of Place, Elizabeth Leach Gallery, Portland, OR
Around the House, Frumpkin Adams Gallery, New York, NY
Embody-The Photograph and the Figure, Bard College, Annandale-on-Hudson, NY
Hidden Faces, Paul Kopeiken Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
Photography Today: Facts and Fantasies, The Rye Arts Center, NY
ieder kind is van marmer, Bloom Gallery, Amsterdam
Family Matters, Northlight Gallery, Tempe, Arizona
Elegant Intimacy, The Retretti Museum, Finland

1993
Prospect 93, Frankfurter Kunstverein and the Schirn Kunsthalle, Frankfurt, Germany
Flora Photographica: The Flower in Photography from 1835 to the Present, Vancouver Art Gallery, Vancouver, British Columbia

1992
The Invention of Childhood, John Michael Kohler Arts Center, Sheboygan, WI

1991
Contemporary Color Photography, Selections from the Collection, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, NY
Biennial Exhibition, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY
Blood Relatives: The Family in Contemporary Photography, Milwaukee Museum of Art, WI
Pleasures and Terrors of Domestic Comfort, The Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY
The Body in Question, Burden Gallery, Aperture Foundation, Inc., NY

1990
Family Photos, La Grande Halle, la Villette, Paris, France
Awards in the Visual Arts 9, New Orleans Museum of Art, LA
Indomitable Spirit: Photographers and Friends United Against AIDS, International Center of Photography, New York, NY

1989
The Hand that Rocks the Cradle, San Francisco Cameraworks, CA
Popular and Preferred Imagery, Boca Museum of Art, Boca Raton, FL
Self and Shadow, traveling show, Aperture Foundation, Inc., New York, NY
Southern Photographers, traveling show, Aperture Foundation, Inc., New York, NY
Family Pictures: A Work in Progress, Photographic Arts Museum, San Diego, CA

1988
Family Pictures: A Work in Progress, Southeastern Center for Contemporary Art, Winston-Salem, NC,
Un/Common Ground, Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond, VA
Swimmers, traveling show sponsored by Aperture Foundation, Inc., New York, NY
Family Portraits, University Art Galleries, Wright State University, OH
Mothers and Daughters, traveling show, Aperture Foundation, Inc., New York, NY

1987
Legacy of Light, Polaroid Photographs by 58 photographers, traveling show

1986
Commitment to Vision, traveling show sponsored by The University of Oregon

1985
Big Shots: 20 x 24 Polaroid Photographs, Visual Arts Gallery, University of Alabama, Birmingham (traveling exhibition)

1984
Alternative Printing Processes: Three Contemporary Photographers, The Chrysler Museum, Norfolk, VA

1982
The Ferguson Grant Winners Show, Friends of Photography, Carmel, CA

1981
New Color, Southeastern Center for Contemporary Art, Winston-Salem, NC

1980
Not Fade Away: Four Contemporary Virginia Photographers, The Chrysler Museum, Norfolk, VA

1978
I Shall Save One Land Unvisited: Eleven Southern Photographers (traveling exhibition)

Selected Bibliography

Monographs

Sally Mann: What Remains, Bulfinch Press, New York, 2003
Sally Mann: Mother Land, Edwynn Houk Gallery, New York, 1997
Sally Mann: Still Time, Aperture Foundation Inc., New York, 1994
Sally Mann: Immediate Family, Aperture Foundation Inc., New York, 1992
Sally Mann: Still Time, Allegheny Highlands Arts and Crafts Center, Inc., Clifton Forge, Virginia, 1988 (catalogue)
At Twelve, Portraits of Young Women, Aperture Foundation, Inc., New York, 1988
Sally Mann: Sweet Silent Thought, North Carolina Center for Creative Photography, Durham, 1987 (catalogue)
Second Sight, The Photographs of Sally Mann, David Godine Publisher, Boston, 1982
Sally Mann: The Lewis Law Portfolio, The Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, DC, 1977 (catalogue)

Collections

Addison Gallery of American Art, Andover, Massachusetts
Baltimore Museum of Art, Maryland
Bayley Museum, University of Virginia, Charlottesville
Birmingham Museum of Art, Alabama
Bowdoin College Museum of Art, Maine
Chrysler Museum, Norfolk, Virginia
Cincinnati Art Museum, Ohio
Cleveland Museum of Art, Ohio
Columbia Museum of Art, South Carolina
Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, DC
Dayton Institute of Art, Ohio
Detroit Institute of Art, Michigan
The Fisher Landau Collection, New York
Friends of Photography, San Francisco, California
The Sondra Gilman Collection, New York
Greenville Museum of Art, South Carolina
Hallmark Cards, Inc., Kansas City, Missouri
Harvard University Art Museum, Cambridge, MA
The High Museum of Art, Atlanta, GA
Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC
Honolulu Art Institute, Hawaii
The Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
Milwaukee Museum of Art, Wisconsin
Moderna Museet, Stockholm, Sweden
Museum of Contemporary Photography, Chicago
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA
Museum of Modern Art, New York
Museum of Photographic Arts, San Diego, CA
The National Museum of American Art, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C.
The National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo
Neuberger Berman, New York, NY
New Orleans Museum of Art, Louisiana
Polaroid Corporation, Cambridge, Massachusetts
Progressive Corporation, Ohio
San Francisco Museum of Art, California
Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Photography, Japan
Toledo Museum of Art, Ohio
The Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond
The Whitney Museum of American Art, New York
Harry Winston, Inc., New York

Grants and Honors

2001
Time Magazine: “America’s Best Photographer”

1995
Friends of Photography: “Photographer of the Year” Award

1992
National Endowment for the Arts Individual Artist Fellowship

1991
Whitney Biennial Participant, Whitney Museum of American Art

1989
Artists in the Visual Arts Fellowship (AVA)
SECCA Artists Fellowship

1988
National Endowment for the Arts Individual Artist Fellowship

1987
John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation Fellowship

1982
Virginia Museum of Fine Arts Professional Fellowship
National Endowment for the Arts Individual Artist Fellowship

1976
National Endowment for the Humanities Grant

1974
Ferguson Grant, Friends of Photography

1993
National Endowment for the Humanities Grant and 1976

Sally Mann is recognized internationally for photographs of her family and landscapes, among other subject matter. Many images are incredibly high in contrast and show quality only achievable through the earlier techniques of photography that she utilizes. Living and working in Lexington, VA, she continues to capture these subjects and further her remarkable portfolio of photography.