Judith Joy Ross

by Judith Joy Ross (Photographer), Susan Kismaric (Contributor)

For more than half a century The Museum of Modern Art has been recognized for its commitment to the best in contemporary photography from around the world. The Museum was the first to exhibit and publish the work of many artists who are now regarded as masters of twentieth-century photography. Looking toward the new century, the Contemporaries series extends that tradition by making distinguished contemporary photography widely avilable in books of superior quality.

In just over a decade, Judith Joy Ross has created a radically original body of work within the parameters of traditional photographic technique. Using an old-fashioned 8-by-10-inch view camera mounted on a tripod, Ross creates portraits astonishing in their psychological insight. While she has chosen children as a primary subject, work from other series is also represented, including portraits of visitors to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C., and of members of the United States Congress.

80 pages, Paperback

First published October 1, 1995

About the author

Judith Joy Ross is an American photographer known for capturing the innocence of youth, the faces of political power, and the emotional toll of war through her photography. Born in 1946 in Hazleton, Pennsylvania, she currently resides in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. Her education includes studies at the Moore College of Art, Philadelphia, and the Institute of Design at the Illinois Institute of Technology, Chicago.

Influenced by Aaron Siskind, August Sander, and Diane Arbus, her work has been exhibited at prestigious institutions such as the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Museum of Modern Art, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, the National Gallery of Canada, Die Photographische Sammlung, the Pilara Foundation Collection, Pier 24 Photography, the Victoria and Albert Museum, and the Yale University Art Gallery. She has been honored with the Guggenheim Fellowship, a city of Easton, Pennsylvania Council on the Arts Grant, the Charles Pratt Memorial Award, and the Andrea Frank Foundation Award.

Reviews

[Hope · Rating 3 out of 5]

Thoughtful portraits of many people. All of these portraits, whether of children, teachers, politicians, or veterans, call into mind some kind of different thought. It's hard to describe, but each picture can evoke emotion. Very well done, I enjoyed the book overall.