David Vestal

ABOUT   IMAGES

bio

David Vestal (1924-2013) was as a respected photographer, critic, educator, and the author of influential books on the craft of photography and black and white printing. He studied painting at the Art Institute of Chicago before becoming involved in photography in the late 1940s through the Photo League in New York. Rather than working in photographic essays like many of his New York School contemporaries, Vestal captured singular moments of life in the city through his emotive and atmospheric images: a lone figure passing along a snowy sidewalk, a twilight drive over the George Washington Bridge, the bustling traffic in Flatiron Square at night. 

Vestal received two John Simon Guggenheim Fellowships in photography in 1966 and 1973. He wrote extensively for various photography publications, and published two influential books on photographic craft and printing: The Craft of Photography, 1975, and The Art of Black-and-White Enlarging, 1984. His illustrious teaching career included positions at the Parsons School of Design, the School of Visual Arts, and Pratt Institute, as well as numerous lectures and workshops around the country. His work is included in such notable public collections as the Museum of Modern Art, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Whitney Museum of American Art, and the Art Institute of Chicago.

BIRTHPLACE

Menlo Park, California, 1924

SOLO EXHIBITIONS

2021
David Vestal: On the Quiet Streets of New York, Robert Mann Gallery, New York, NY

2010
Once Upon A Time In New York, Robert Mann Gallery, New York, NY

2001
A Quiet Light, Robert Mann Gallery, New York, NY

1989
Daytona Beach Community College, Daytona, FL
Casa de la Cultura Jalisciense, Guadalajara, Mexico

1988
Casa de la Cultura Jalisciense, Guadalajara, Mexico

1987
Galeria del Bosque, Guadalajara, Mexico
Salon de la Plastica Mexican, Mexico

GROUP EXHIBITIONS

COLLECTIONS

Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY
Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
New York Public Library, New York, NY
Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, IL
George Eastman House, Rochester, NY
RIT, Rochester, NY
University of New Mexico Art Museum, Albuquerque, NM
Museum of New Mexico, Santa Fe, NM
Museum of Fine Arts, St. Petersburg, FL
Museum of Fine Arts Houston, TX
Center for Creative Photography, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ
National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, Canada
University of Louisville, KY
High Museum of Art, Atlanta, GA
Hallmark Collection, Kansas, MO