{{Short description|American photographer and educator (1942–2018)}} {{Infobox person | name = Henry Wessel | image = Henry Wessel.tif | image_size = | caption = Wessel with his dog Roxy | birth_name = | birth_date = July 28, 1942 | birth_place = [[Teaneck, New Jersey]], US | death_date = {{Death date and age|2018|09|20|1942|07|28}} | death_place = [[Bay Area, California]], US | resting_place = | resting_place_coordinates = | known_for = | education = [[Bachelor of Arts|B.A.]] – [[Pennsylvania State University]]<br/>[[Master of Fine Arts|M.F.A.]] – [[University at Buffalo|State University of New York at Buffalo]] | employer = | occupation = Photographer | title = | spouse = | children = | parents = | relatives = }}

'''Henry Wessel''' (July 28, 1942 – September 20, 2018) was an American photographer and educator. He made "obdurately spare and often wry black-and-white pictures of vernacular scenes in the American West".<ref name="nytimes-gefter">{{cite news|last1=Gefter|first1=Philip|title=Henry Wessel: Capturing the Image, Transcending the Subject|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2006/05/21/arts/design/21geft.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0|accessdate=13 July 2015|newspaper=[[The New York Times]]|date=May 21, 2006}}</ref>

Wessel produced a number of books of photography. He was the recipient of two Guggenheim Fellowships and three National Endowment for the Arts grants and his work is included in the permanent collections of major American, European, and Asian museums.

His first solo exhibition was curated by [[John Szarkowski]] at the [[Museum of Modern Art]] in New York in 1972 and he was one of ten photographers included in the influential ''[[New Topographics|New Topographics: Photographs of a Man-Altered Landscape]]'' exhibition at [[George Eastman House]] in 1975 which helped to define the [[New topographics (photographic genre)|New Topographics]] genre. His work has since been exhibited in solo exhibitions at [[Tate Modern]] in London, the [[Museum of Modern Art]] in New York, the [[Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles]], and the [[San Francisco Museum of Modern Art]].

Wessel was emeritus professor of art at [[San Francisco Art Institute]], where he taught from 1973 to 2014.

==Life and work== Wessel was born in [[Teaneck, New Jersey]]<ref name="nytimes-gefter"/> and raised in [[Ridgefield, New Jersey|Ridgefield]]. He graduated from [[Pennsylvania State University]] in 1966, where he discovered his lifelong career interest through an encounter with a work of photographs he picked up in a book store near the campus, which led him to give up his previous interest in psychology.<ref name=NYTobit>[[Philip Gefter|Gefter, Philip]]. [https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/24/obituaries/henry-wessel-photographer-dead.html "Henry Wessel, Whose Lens Captured Life in the West, Is Dead at 76"], ''[[The New York Times]]'', September 24, 2018. Accessed September 26, 2018. "Henry Wessel Jr. was born on July 28, 1942, in Teaneck, N.J., and grew up in nearby Ridgefield. He studied psychology at Penn State University, graduating in 1966."</ref> Throughout much of his career he used only one camera and one type of film: a [[Leica Camera|Leica]] 35&nbsp;mm camera with a 28&nbsp;mm [[wide-angle lens]] and [[Kodak Tri-X]] film.<ref name="nytimes-gefter"/><ref>{{cite web|first1=Berkeley Daily Planet, Berkeley|last1=California|accessdate=2018-09-22|title=Henry Wessel: Photographing the Physical World. Category: Arts Listings from The Berkeley Daily Planet|url=http://www.berkeleydailyplanet.com/issue/2007-03-27/article/26662?headline=Henry-Wessel-Photographing-the-Physical-World--By-Michael-Howerton|website=www.berkeleydailyplanet.com}}</ref> His later work did incorporate color.<ref>{{cite web |title=Henry Wessel Jr., House Pictures |url=https://fraenkelgallery.com/exhibitions/henry-wessel-house-pictures |publisher=Fraenkel Gallery}}</ref>

Wessel was emeritus professor of art at [[San Francisco Art Institute]], where he taught from 1973 to 2014.<ref name="nytimes-gefter"/><ref name="sfchronicle">{{cite news|accessdate=2018-09-22|title=Henry Wessel, prominent Bay Area photographer, dies|url=https://datebook.sfchronicle.com/art-exhibits/henry-wessel-prominent-bay-area-photographer-dies|newspaper=San Francisco Chronicle}}</ref>

[[Sandra S. Phillips]], senior curator of Photography at the [[San Francisco Museum of Modern Art]] wrote, "Wessel's remarkable work, witty, evocative and inventive, is distinctive and at the same time a component part of the great development of photography which flourished in the 1970s. The pictures continue to grow and evolve and the work is now regarded as an individual important contribution to twentieth century American photography.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Phillips|first1=Sandra S.|authorlink = Sandra S. Phillips|editor1-last=Zander|editor1-first=Thomas|title=Henry Wessel|date=2007|publisher=Steidl|location=Göttingen, Germany|isbn=978-3865213914}}</ref>

Wessel died at the age of 76 in his home in [[Point Richmond, Richmond, California]] from [[pulmonary fibrosis]] on September 21, 2018.<ref name="sfchronicle"/><ref name=NYTobit/>

==Publications==

===Publications by Wessel=== *''House Pictures.'' San Francisco: [[Fraenkel Gallery]], 1992. {{OCLC|26864482}}. *''Night Walk.'' Santa Monica, CA: RAM Publications + Distribution, 2000. {{ISBN|978-0963078575}}. *''Henry Wessel: Rena Bransten Gallery Exhibition Catalogue'' San Francisco: Rena Bransten Gallery, 2000. ASIN: B000UPRBAW *''California and the West / Odd Photos / Las Vegas / Real Estate Photographs / Night Walk.'' Göttingen: [[Steidl]], 2006. {{ISBN|978-3865211330}}. Five-volume set. *''Henry Wessel.'' Göttingen: Steidl; San Francisco: [[San Francisco Museum of Modern Art]], 2007. {{ISBN|978-3865213914}}. Retrospective. With an essay by [[Sandra S. Phillips]]. *''Waikiki.'' Göttingen: Steidl, 2012. {{ISBN|978-3869303000}}. *''Incidents.'' Göttingen: Steidl, 2013. {{ISBN|978-3869306971}}. *''Sunset Park.'' Göttingen: Steidl, 2016. {{ISBN|978-3958291133}} *''Continental Divide.'' Göttingen: Steidl, 2016. {{ISBN|978-3958291157}} *''Traffic.'' Göttingen: Steidl, 2016. {{ISBN|978-3958291140}} *''Traffic / Sunset Park / Continental Divide.'' Göttingen: Steidl, 2016. {{ISBN|978-3-95829-275-8}}.

===Publications with contributions by Wessel=== *''Looking at Photographs: 100 Pictures from the Collection of The Museum of Modern Art.'' New York: [[Museum of Modern Art]], 1973. {{ISBN|978-0870705151}}. By John Szarkowski. *''Henry Wessel.'' Göttingen: Steidl, [[San Francisco Museum of Modern Art]], and [[Die Photographische Sammlung/SK Stiftung Kultur]], 2007. {{ISBN|978-3865213914}}. Edited by Thomas Zander with introductions by Sandra S. Phillips and George Imdahl. *''New Topographics: Roberts Adams, Lewis Baltz, Bernd and Hilla Becher, Joe Deal, Frank Gohlke, Nicholas Nixon, John Schott, Stephen Shore, Henry Wessel Jr..'' Göttingen: Steidl, 2009. {{ISBN|978-3865218278}}. Includes the work of Robert Adams, Lewis Baltz, Bernd and Hilla Becher, Joe Deal, Frank Grohlke, Nicholas Nixon, John Schott, Stephen Shore and Henry Wessel Jr. *''Closer than Fiction: American Visual Worlds around 1970.'' Walther König, Köln, Germany, 2011. {{ISBN|978-3863351199}}. Edited and with introduction by Brigitte Franzen and Anna Sophia Schultz.<ref>{{cite book|editor1-last=Franzen|editor1-first=Brigitte|editor2-last=Schultz|editor2-first=Anna Sophia|title=Closer than Fiction: American Visual Worlds around 1970|date=2011|publisher=Walther König|location=Köln, Germany|isbn=978-3863351199}}</ref> *''Under the Big Black Sun: California Art, 1974-1981'', Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, 2011. {{ISBN|978-3791351391}}. Edited by Elizabeth Hamilton.<ref>{{cite book|editor1-last=Hamilton|editor1-first=Elizabeth|title=Under the Big Black Sun: California Art, 1974-1981|date=2011|publisher=The Museum of Contemporary Art|location=Los Angeles, CA|isbn=978-3791351391}}</ref> *''Here.'', San Francisco: Pier 24 Photography, 2011. {{ISBN|978-0-9839917-0-0}}. Exhibition guide. *''About Face'', San Francisco: Pier 24 Photography, 2012. {{ISBN|978-0-9839917-1-7}}. Exhibition guide. *''About Face.'' San Francisco: Pier 24 Photography, 2014. {{ISBN|978-0-9839917-2-4}}. Exhibition catalog. Edition of 1000 copies. With forewords by Christopher McCall, and [[Richard Avedon]] (from ''In The American West''), an introduction by [[Philip Gefter]], and texts by Sandra S. Phillips, and Ulrike Schneider.

==Exhibitions== ===Solo=== *1972–1973: [[Museum of Modern Art]], New York, NY.<ref name="nytimes-gefter"/><ref>{{cite web|accessdate=2018-09-22|title=Photographs by Henry Wessel Jr.|url=https://www.moma.org/calendar/exhibitions/2631?locale=en|website=www.moma.org}}</ref> *1987: International Museum of Photography, Osaka, Japan *1998: [[Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles|Museum of Contemporary Art]], Los Angeles, CA. *2007: ''Henry Wessel: Photographs,'' [[San Francisco Museum of Modern Art]], San Francisco, CA.<ref>{{cite web|accessdate=2018-09-22|title=SFMOMA Presents Henry Wessel: Photographs|url=https://www.sfmoma.org/press/release/sfmoma-presents-henry-wessel-photographs/|website=SFMOMA}}</ref><ref name="nytimes-kimmelman">{{cite news|first1=Michael|last1=Kimmelman|accessdate=2018-09-22|title=Henry Wessel - Photography - Art - Review|work=The New York Times |date=6 March 2007 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/06/arts/design/06wess.html}}</ref> *2007: ''Henry Wessel,'' Die Photographische Sammlung, SK Stiftung Kultur, Cologne, Germany. *2014–2015: ''Incidents,'' [[Tate Modern]], London.<ref>{{cite web|accessdate=2018-09-22|title=Henry Wessel|url=https://www.tate.org.uk/whats-on/tate-modern/display/henry-wessel-0|website=Tate.org.uk}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|first1=Karin|last1=Andreasson|accessdate=2018-09-22|title=Henry Wessel's best photograph: a mystery in a California garden|url=https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2014/aug/06/henry-wessel-best-photograph-mystery-california-garden|date=6 August 2014|website=The Guardian}}</ref>

===Group=== *1975: ''[[New Topographics]]: Photographs of a Man-Altered Landscape,'' International Museum of Photography, [[George Eastman House]], Rochester, NY.<ref name="nytimes-kimmelman"/> *1978: ''Mirrors and Windows: American Photography Since 1960'', Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.moma.org/momaorg/shared/pdfs/docs/press_archives/5624/releases/MOMA_1978_0060_56.pdf?2010|format=PDF|title=Mirrors and Windows : American Photography since 1960|date=July 26, 1978|quotation=Major Exhibition of Recent American Photography at MoMA|website=Moma.org|accessdate=22 September 2018}}</ref> *1983: ''Twentieth Century Photographs from the Museum of Modern Art,'' Museum of Modern Art, New York, and Seibu Museum of Art, Tokyo, Japan. *1989: ''Picturing California: A Century of Photographic Genius,'' Oakland Museum, CA. *1991: ''Pleasures and Terrors of Domestic Comfort,'' Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY. *1993: ''Critical Landscape,'' Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Photography, Japan. *1996: ''Crossing the Frontier: Photographs of the Developing West 1849 to the Present,'' San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco, CA. *2000: ''Walker Evans & Company,'' Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY. *2003: ''Looking at Photographs,'' State Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg, Russia. *2005: ''Amerikanische Street Photography,'' Stadtische Galerie Wolfsburg, Wolfsburg, Germany. *2005: ''Garry Winogrand and American Street Photographers Mitch Epstein, Lee Friedlander, Joel Meyerowitz, and Henry Wessel'', [[Foam Fotografiemuseum Amsterdam]], Amsterdam, Netherlands *2009: ''Into the Sunset Image of the American West,'' Museum of Modern Art, New York.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://moma.org/calendar/exhibitions/97?locale=en|title=Into the Sunset: Photography's Image of the American West - MoMA|website=Moma.org|accessdate=22 September 2018}}</ref> *2011–2012: ''Focus: Los Angeles, 1945–1980,'' The J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles, CA.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.getty.edu/art/exhibitions/focus_la/|title=In Focus: Los Angeles, 1945–1980 (Getty Center Exhibitions)|website=Getty.edu|accessdate=22 September 2018}}</ref> *2011–2012: ''Under the Big Black Sun: California Art, 1974–1981,'' Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, CA.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.moca.org/exhibition/under-the-big-black-sun-california-art-1974-1981|title=Under the Big Black Sun: California Art 1974-1981|website=The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles|accessdate=22 September 2018}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.artinamericamagazine.com/reviews/under-the-big-black-sun/|title=Under The Big Black Sun - Art in America|website=Artinamericamagazine.com|date=30 November 2011 |accessdate=22 September 2018}}</ref> *2011–2012: ''Here.,'' Pier 24 Photography, San Francisco, CA (May 2011 – January 2012)<ref>{{cite web|url=http://pier24.org/exhibition/here/|title=Here. - Pier 24|website=Pier24.org|accessdate=22 September 2018}}</ref> * 2012–2013: ''About Face'', Pier 24 Photography, San Francisco, CA (May 2012– April 2013)<ref>{{cite web|url=http://pier24.org/exhibition/about-face/|title=About Face - Pier 24|website=Pier24.org|accessdate=22 September 2018}}</ref>

==Awards== *1971: [[Guggenheim Fellowship]] from the [[John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation]].<ref name="gf">{{cite web|url=http://www.gf.org/fellows/all-fellows/henry-wessel/|title=John Simon Guggenheim Foundation - Henry Wessel|website=Gf.org|accessdate=22 September 2018}}</ref> *1975: [[National Endowment for the Arts]] Fellowship in Photography.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.arts.gov/sites/default/files/NEA-Annual-Report-1975.pdf|title=National Endowment for the arts : Annual Report 1975|website=Arts.gov|accessdate=22 September 2018}}</ref> *1977: National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship in Photography.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.arts.gov/sites/default/files/NEA-Annual-Report-1977.pdf|title=National Endowment for the arts : Annual Report 1977|website=Arts.gov|accessdate=22 September 2018}}</ref> *1978: National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship in Photography.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.arts.gov/sites/default/files/NEA-Annual-Report-1978.pdf|title=National Endowment for the arts : Annual Report 1978|website=Arts.gov|accessdate=22 September 2018}}</ref> *1978: Guggenheim Fellowship from the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation.<ref name="gf"/>

==Collections== Wessel's work is held in the following public collections: {{columns-list|colwidth=30em| *[[Art Institute of Chicago]], Illinois<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.artic.edu/aic/collections/artwork/artist/Wessel,+Henry,+Jr.|title=Collections - The Art Institute of Chicago|newspaper=The Art Institute of Chicago|accessdate=22 September 2018}}</ref> *[[Amon Carter Museum of American Art]], Fort Worth, Texas *[[Australian National Gallery]], Canberra, Australia *[[Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive]], Berkeley, California *[[California Historical Society]], San Francisco, California *[[Crocker Art Museum]], Sacramento, California *[[Denver Art Museum]], Denver, Colorado *[[Fogg Art Museum]], Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts *[[George Eastman Museum]], Rochester, New York *[[Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum]], New York *[[Los Angeles County Museum of Art]], CA<ref>{{cite web|url=http://collections.lacma.org/node/154693|title=Henry Wessel - LACMA Collections|website=Collections.lacma.org|accessdate=22 September 2018}}</ref> *[[Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles]], California *[[Museum of Contemporary Photography]], Chicago *[[Museum of Fine Arts, Boston]], Massachusetts *[[Museum of Fine Arts, Houston]], Texas *[[Museum of Modern Art]], New York City<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.moma.org/collection/artists/6317?locale=en|title=Henry Wessel Jr. – MoMA|website=Moma.org|accessdate=22 September 2018}}</ref> *[[National Gallery of Art]], Washington DC<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.nga.gov/content/ngaweb/Collection/photographs.html|title=Photographs|website=Nga.gov|accessdate=22 September 2018}}</ref> *[[National Gallery of Canada]], Ottawa, Canada *[[Orange County Museum of Art]], Newport Beach, California *[[Oakland Museum of California]], California *[[Philadelphia Museum of Art]], Pennsylvania *[[Santa Barbara Museum of Art]], Santa Barbara, California *[[San Francisco Museum of Modern Art]], San Francisco, California<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.sfmoma.org/artist/Henry_Wessel|title=Henry Wessel|website=SFMOMA|accessdate=22 September 2018}}</ref> *[[Seattle Art Museum]], Seattle, Washington *[[Tate Modern]], London<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/henry-wessel-17580|title=Henry Wessel born 1942 |website=Tate.org.uk|accessdate=22 September 2018}}</ref> *[[Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Photography]], Japan *[[Whitney Museum of American Art]], New York *[[Victoria and Albert Museum]], London }}

==References== {{Reflist}}

==External links== *[http://www.tate.org.uk/context-comment/video/tateshots-henry-wessel TateShots: Henry Wessel (2014)] (video) *[https://www.nytimes.com/2006/05/21/arts/design/21geft.html?pagewanted=all New York Times (2006)] *[http://renabranstengallery.com/uploads/articles/Wessel_ArtInAmerica2007.pdf Art in America (2007)] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150714030338/http://renabranstengallery.com/uploads/articles/Wessel_ArtInAmerica2007.pdf |date=2015-07-14 }} *[http://renabranstengallery.com/uploads/articles/Wessel_ArticleNYT6Mar07.pdf The New York Times (2007)] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150714025508/http://renabranstengallery.com/uploads/articles/Wessel_ArticleNYT6Mar07.pdf |date=2015-07-14 }} *[https://renabranstengallery.com/artists/henry-wessel/ Rena Bransten Gallery]

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wessel, Henry Jr.}} [[Category:1942 births]] [[Category:2018 deaths]] [[Category:Photographers from California]] [[Category:Photographers from New Jersey]] [[Category:People from Richmond, California]] [[Category:People from Ridgefield, New Jersey]] [[Category:People from Teaneck, New Jersey]] [[Category:Artists from the San Francisco Bay Area]] [[Category:Deaths from pulmonary fibrosis]] [[Category:Pennsylvania State University alumni]] [[Category:University at Buffalo alumni]] [[Category:San Francisco Art Institute faculty]] [[Category:20th-century American photographers]] [[Category:21st-century American photographers]] [[Category:New Topographics photographers]]