(September, 5, 1905 – April, 15, 2000)

Todd Webb was a noted American photographer for documenting everyday life and architecture in cities such as New York City, Paris and the western United States. His photograph has been compared to Harry Callahan, Berenice Abbott, Walker Evans and the French photographer Eugène Atget. He traveled extensively during his long life and had important friendships with artists such as Georgia O’Keeffe, Ansel Adams and Harry Callahan. He photographed famous people, including Dorothea Lange. His life was like his photos in the sense of being apparently simple, direct, but revealing complexity and depth in a more detailed examination. Capturing the story, his images often transcend the boundary between photography and artistic expression.

The photos of Todd Webb have been displayed in 25 major museum collections, including MOMA in New York and the National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC. Webb’s photo archive is located in Portland, Maine, where copyrights and sales of his prints are managed.

In 2006, Hallmark Greeting Cards Corporation acquired at least 161 of Webb’s photographs, and in 2006 decided to give them away in a generous donation to the Nelson-Atkins Museum in Kansas City.

In 2017, Todd Webb Archive restored its website with biographical data, compilation information and a column on news events. In April of 2017, an exhibition entitled “A city seen” was inaugurated at the Museum of the City of New York. Curated by Sean Corcoran, the exhibition was an exhaustive survey of Webb’s work in New York during the 1940s. Along with the program, the book I See a City: Todd Webb’s New York, Thames & Hudson, 2017.

His archive is managed by Betsy Evans Hunt, who serves as Executive Director of the Todd Webb Archive.