Nicholas Nixon, born in 1947, is known for the ease and intimacy of his black and white large format photography. Nixon has photographed porch life in the rural south, schools in and around Boston, cityscapes, sick and dying people, the intimacy of couples, and the ongoing annual portrait of his wife, Bebe, and her three sisters (which he began in 1975). Recording his subjects close and with meticulous detail facilitates the connection between the viewer and the subject. Nixon has been awarded three National Endowment for the Arts Fellowships and two Guggenheim Fellowships. In 2014, Nixon’s annual portrait series, The Brown Sisters, reached its 40th anniversary and was exhibited at the Museum of Modern Art. In Summer 2013 Nixon’s book Close Far was released by Steidl. The body of work explores the relationship of the self in physical and psychological proximity to the urban landscape. In 2010, the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston exhibited Nicholas Nixon: Family Album, through May 2011. In 2006, Nixon’s ongoing portrait of the Brown sisters was exhibited at the Museum of Modern Art, New York and the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, Texas. In 2005 Nixon had a solo exhibition at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. and the Cincinnati Art Museum.
Carlos Gollonet is Director of photography, Fundacion MAPFRE, Madrid
Australian-born Sebastian Smee is the art critic for the Boston Globe. He won the 2011 Pulitzer Prize in criticism.
