Alec Soth

(1969 USA)

Alec Soth’s work is rooted in the typically American tradition of taking “on-the-road” photographs developed by Walker Evans, Robert Frank and Stephen Shore.

In Alec there does not seem to be an exclusive American desire to travel and narrate the chronicle of his adventures as in “Huckleberry Finn” until “Easy Rider”.

He was awarded scholarships by the “McKnight”, “Bush”, and the “Jerome Foundation” and was the recipient of the Santa Fe Prize for Photography.

His photographs are represented in important public and private collections, including the Museum of Modern Art, the Houston Museum of Fine Arts, and the Walker San Francisco Art Center. His work has been featured in numerous solo and group exhibitions, including the 2004 Whitney Biennial and a career survey at the Jeu de Paume in 2008.

His first monograph, Sleep on the Mississippi, was published by Steidl in 2004 with great critical success. Given that Soth has subsequently published NIAGARA (Steidl, 2006), Fashion and Style Magazine (Magnum, 2,007), Dog Days, Bogotá (Steidl, 2007), The Last Days of W (Little Mushroom Brown, 2008), and the Broken Manual (Steidl, 2010). In 2008, Soth started his own editorial, Little Brown Mushroom. He is represented by the Sean Kelly Gallery in New York and the Weinstein Gallery in Minneapolis. Alec Soth became a Magnum Photos candidate in 2004 and a full member in 2008. He is based in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

Education

• 1992 Bachelor of Arts, Sarah Lawrence College, Bronxville, USA

Awards

• 2008 Bush Artist Fellowship
• 2008 PhotoVision Award
• 2006 Golden Light Book Award
• 2006 Deutsche Börse Prize (shortlisted artist)
• 2004 McKnight Photography Fellowship
• 2003 Santa Fe Prize for Photography
• 2001 Minnesota State Arts Board
• 2001 MCAD / Jerome Fellowship
• 2001 Jerome Travel and Study Grant
• 1999 McKnight Photography Fellowship

Books

• 2012 Ohio, Little Brown Mushroom, USA
• 2012 House of Coates, Little Brown Mushroom, USA
• 2011 Postcards from America, Magnum, USA
• 2011 The Auckland Project, Radius Books, USA
• 2011 Core Collections: Writings on Photography, Aperture, USA
• 2010 Broken Manual, Steidl, USA
• 2010 From Here to There: Alec Soth’s America, Walker Art Center and Engberg, USA
• 2010 Brighton Picture Hunt, Photoworks, USA
• 2008 The Last Days of W, Little Brown Mushroom, USA
• 2007 Dog Days, Bogotá, Steidl, Germany
• 2007 Fashion Magazine, Magnum, Paris
• 2006 Niagara, Steidl, Germany
• 2005 The Making of Parts, photo essay Granta, issue 89
• 2004 Sleeping by the Mississippi, Steidl, Germany
• 2002 Vantage Points: Campus as Place (with Beth Dow and Chris Faust),Carleton College Press, Northfield, USA
• 1997 Linked to the Future: Minneapolis and St. Paul, (6 b/w plates), Towery Publishing, USA

Some of his Photos