Gregory Crewdson (American, born )

Gregory Crewdson (American, b.1962) is best known for his photographs, which feature elaborately staged, surreal tableaus of suburban life. Born in the Park Slope neighborhood of Brooklyn, NY, Crewdson played in a punk rock band as a teenager, before attending the State University of New York at Purchase, where he earned his BFA. After completing his MFA at Yale University in 1988, Crewdson began working on the first of his many lengthy photographic series, Natural Wonder, depicting highly constructed scenes showing the grotesque narratives of paranoia, lust, and fantasy that are played out in suburbia.

Crewdson’s subsequent series, Hover (1995) and Twilight (2003), document dramatic and strange occurrences within typical middle-class neighborhoods, creating bizarre and unsettling images within fairly ordinary settings. Since 1993, Crewdson has served as a professor at Yale University, where he continues to teach and work today. Crewdson’s photographs have proven to be successful both in and outside of gallery settings; in addition to numerous shows at White Cube gallery in London, his work has been used in HBO advertisements and trailers for the popular television series, Six Feet Under (2001–2005).

Timeline

1962
Born in Brooklyn, NY
1985
BA, SUNY Purchase, Purchase, NY
1988
MFA, Yale School of Art, Yale University, New Haven, CT
1991
Recipient, Aaron Siskind Fellowship
1992
Recipient, Visual Artists Fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts
1990–1993
Instructor at Sarah Lawrence College, Bronxville, NY; Cooper Union, New York, NY; Vassar College, Poughkeepsie, NY
2004
Recipient, Skowhegan Medal for Photography, Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture, Skowhegan, NY
Lives and works in New Haven, CT, and New York, NY
1993–Present
Instructor at Yale University, New Haven, CT
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Exhibitions

2011
Kulturhuset, Stockholm, Sweden (solo)
2010
Gregory Crewdson: Sanctuary, Gagosian Gallery, New York, USA (solo)
2009
Gregory Crewdson, Galerie Daniel Templon, Paris, France
Gregory Crewdson, La Fabrica Galeria, Madrid, Spain
2008
Cincinnati Art Museum, Cincinnati, USA
Galerie Rudolfinum, Prague, Czech Republic (solo)
2008
Museo Universitario Arte Contemporáneo, Mexico
2008
Gregory Crewdson, White Cube, London, England (solo)
Gregory Crewdson, Luhring Augustine Gallery, New York, USA (solo)
Gregory Crewdson, Rudolfinum, Prague, Czech Republic (solo)
2007
Fireflies, Skarstedt Fine Art, New York, USA (solo)
Drawing on Hopper: Gregory Crewdson/Edward Hopper, Williams College Museum of Art, Williamstown, USA (solo)
Gregory Crewdson: 1985-2005, DA2. Domus Artium 2002, Salamanca, Spain; Hasselblad Center, Goteborg, Sweden; Palazzo delle esposizioni, Rome, Italy; Galerie Rudolfinum, Prague, Czech Republic (solo)
Family Pictures, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, USA
Contemporary Photography and the Garden - Deceits and Fantasies, Hudson River Museum, Yonkers, USA
2006
The Magic Hour of Twilight, The Victoria and Albert Museum, London, England
New York, New York: Fifty Years of Art, Architecture, Photography, Film and Video, Grimaldi Forum, Monaco
Before the Camera, Norton Museum of Art, West Palm Beach, USA
Into Me/Out of Me, KW Institute for Contemporary Art, Berlin, Germany
Major Photography Show: A Donation by the Caisse des Dépôts, Centre Pompidou, Paris, France
Complicit! Contemporary American Art & Mass Culture, University of Virginia Art Museum, Charlottesville, USA
Dark, Museum Boijmans van Beuningen, Rotterdam, The Netherlands (catalogue)
Garden Paradise, The Arsenal Gallery in Central Park, New York, USA
Gregory Crewdson: Fotografien 1985-2005, Fotomuseum Winterthur, Winterthur, Switzerland (solo)
Fireflies, Skarstedt Fine Art, New York, USA (solo)
Into Me/Out of Me, P.S.1 Contemporary Art Center, Long Island City, USA
I Love the Burbs, Katonah Museum of Art, Katonah, USA
Fictions Abound, Fotogallery, Cardiff, Wales
Light in August, Geoffrey Young Gallery, Great Barrington, USA
Twilight: The Magic Hour, Victoria and Albert Museum, London, England
Photography Portfolio I & II, Paula Cooper, Carolina Nitsch & The Merce Cunningham Dace Co., Paula Cooper Gallery, New York, USA
2006
Fotomuseum Winterthur, Switzerland (solo)
2005
Gregory Crewdson: 1985-2005, Kunstverein Hannover, Hannover, Germany (solo)
Beneath the Roses, Gagosian Gallery, Los Angeles, USA (solo)
Beneath the Roses, Luhring Augustine, New York, USA (solo)
Beneath the Roses, White Cube, London, England (solo)
Suspended Narratives, Lora Reynolds Gallery, Austin, USA
Power of Places: The Berkshires, Berkshire Museum, Pittsfield, USA
Highlights New Acquisitions, John Berggruen Gallery, San Francisco, USA
The World is a Stage. Stories Behind Pictures, Mori Art Museum, Tokyo, Japan
My Own Cinema, Galerie Georges-Philippe & Nathalie Vallois, Paris, France
I Never Thought What You Were Telling Me Was True or a Product of Your Imagination, Galeria Estrany De La Mota, Barcelona, Spain
Contemporary Photography in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction, New Britain Museum of American Art, New Britain, USA
Embracing the Present: The USB Art Collection, Phoenix Art Museum, Phoenix, USA
2004
Ghost Stories. The Disembodied Spirit, Austin Museum of Art, Austin, USA
Dreamwavers, Yancey Richardson Gallery, New York, USA
Dwelling, Tina Kim Fine Art, New York, USA
Behind Closed Doors, Collectors Celebrate The Museum's Golden Anniversary, Katonah Museum of Art, Katonah, USA
Everything's Gone Green Photography and the Garden, The Museum of Photography, Film & Television, Bradfort, England
Animals & Us. The Animal in Contemporary Art, Galerie St. Etienne, New York, USA
Big Photos, Russel Bowman Art Advisory, Chicago, USA
Speaking with Hands: Photographs from the Buhl Collection, Guggenheim Museum, New York, USA
Sets & Situations. A New Visions Series Exhibition, Memphis College of Art, Memphis, USA
Dream House, Galerie Daniel Templon, Paris, France
2003
Gregory Crewdson. Dream House, John Berggruen Gallery, San Francisco, USA (solo)
Not Afraid, Rubell Familly Collection, Miami, USA
Undomesticated Interiors, Smith College of Art, Northampton, USA
Reality/Fiction: (Re)Constructing Representation, Jamaica Center Art & Learning, Jamaica, USA
UnNaturally, USC Fisher Gallery, Los Angeles, USA
Disembodied Spirits, Bowdoin Museum of Art, Brunswick, USA
Passengens, Lisboa Photo, Lisbon, Portugal
Family Ties. A Contemporary Perspective, Peabody Essex Museum, Salem, USA
Twilight, Grimpel Fils, London, England
Yard, Socrates Sculpture Park, New York, USA
Ed Rucha. Photographs: Recent Aquisitions Paintings and Sculptures, Fisher Landau Center for Art, Long Island City, USA
Imperfect Innocence, The Debra and Dennis Scholl Collection, Palm Beach Institute of Contemporary Art, Lake Worth, USA
UnNaturally, Independent Curators International, New York, USA
Fantastic, Mass MoCA, North Adams, USA
We Love Painting, The American Contempororay Art from Misumi Collection, Museum of Contemporary Art, Tokyo, Japan
2002
New Work 6: Gregory Crewdson, Twilight, Aspen Art Museum, Aspen, USA (solo)
Gagosian Gallery, Beverly Hills, USA (solo)
Luhring Augustine Gallery, New York, USA (solo)
Gregory Crewdson, Twilight, White Cube, London, England (solo)
Gregory Crewdson, Galleria D'Arte Contemporanea, Modena, Italy (solo)
Thin Skin: The Fickle Nature of Bubbles, Spheres, and Inflatable Structures, Independent Curators International, New York, USA
Contemporary American Photography 1970-2000, From the Collection of the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, Samsung Museum of Modern Art, Seoul, Korea
Archivo Pons Artxiboa, Erakusketa - Exposicion, 45.zk.No.45, Koldo Mitxelena Kulturunea, San Sebastian, Spain
Fictions. New Narratives in Contemporary Photography and Video, The Rose Art Museum, Brandeis University, Waltham, USA
Vision From America: Photographs From the Whitney Museum of American Art, 1940-2001, The Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, USA
Looking at America, Yale Universty Gallery, New Haven, USA
Moving Pictures, Solomon R Guggenheim Museum, New York, USA
Art Downtown, Wall Street Rising, New York, USA
Some Options in Realism, Carpenter Center for the Visual Arts, Harvard University, Cambridge, USA
A Thousand Hounds. A Walk with the Dogs Through the History of Photography, UBS PaineWebber Art Gallery, New York, USA
Staged! Contemporary Photography Gregory Crewdson, Rosemary Laing, Sharon Lockhart, Contemporary Art, Worcester Art Museum, USA
Situated Realities. Where Techology and Imagination Intersect, Maryland Institute College of Art, Decker and Meyerhoff Galleries, Baltimore, USA
2001
The Reality Effect, Contemporary American Photography, Guild Hall, East Hampton, USA
Photochrome, Current Contemporary Photography from New York City Galleries, Silvermine Guild Galleries, New Cannan, USA
Bright Paradise, The First Auckland Triennial, University of Auckland Art Gallery, Auckland, New Zealand
Settings and Players: Theatrical Ambiguity in American Photography, White Cube, London, England and The City Gallery, Prague, Czech Republic
Gregory Crewdson: Photographs, SITE Santa Fe, Santa Fe, USA (solo)
2000
Twilight, Luhring Augustine, New York, USA (solo)
Early Work 1987-88, Partobject Gallery, Carrboro, USA (solo)
Gregory Crewdson: Disturbed Nature, Charles H. Scott Gallery, Emily Carr Institute of Art Design, Vancouver, Canada (solo)
Larry Clark/ Gregory Crewdson, Eleni Koroneou Gallery, Athens, Greece
Contemporary Group Show, Fifty One Fine Art Photography, Antwerpen, Belgium
Gregory Crewdson, Vik Muniz, Hiroshi Sugimoto, Spark Inc., Tokyo, Japan
The Swamp: On the Edge of Eden, Samuel P. Harn Museum, Gainesville, USA
Alfred Hitchcock, Musee des Beaux Arts De Montreal, Montreal, Canada
Chorus of Light: Photographs from the Sir Elton John Collection, High Museum of Art, Atlanta, USA
Photography Now, Contemporary Arts Center, New Orleans, USA
Threshold: Invoking the Domestic in Contemporary Art, Contemporary Art Center of Virginia, Virginia Beach, USA
Collector's Choice, Exit Art, New York, USA
Post-Historical Narrative in Contemporary Photography, Rose Art Museum, Brandeis University, Waltham, USA
The Swamp: On the Edge of Eden, Harn Museum of Art, University of Florida, Gainesville, USA
Art at MoMA since 1980, Museum of Modern Art, New York, USA
Open Ends: Sets and Situations, Museum of Modern Art, New York, USA
A Beastie Boys Exhibition, Gavin Brown's Enterprise, New York, USA
Before They Became Who They Are, Kravets/Wehby Gallery, New York, USA
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Public Collections

San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco, CA
Broad Contemporary Art Museum, Santa Monica, CA
Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, NY
The Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, IL
Weatherspoon Art Museum, Greensboro, NC
The Contemporary Museum Honolulu, Honolulu, HI
MOCA Grand Avenue, Los Angeles, CA
The Progressive Art Collection, Mayfield Village, OH
Middlebury College Museum of Art, Middlebury, VT
Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, NY
Berkshire Museum, Pittsfield, MA
Neuberger Museum of Art, Purchase, NY
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Literature

2005
Hochleitner, Martin and Urs Stahel. Gregory Crewdson. Germany: Hatje Cantz Publishers, 2005.
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