Legendary American photographer Paul Outerbridge (1896 - 1958) is perhaps best known for his pioneering work in color photography and his avant-garde use of compositional space. Outerbridge was a fashion and commercial photographer whose style of formal arrangement drew from Cubism and Modern abstract painting. His photographic still-lifes of objects and various commercial products defined the twentieth-century’s advertising aesthetic. Outerbridge also created a series of erotic nude photographs that were unable to be shown publically during his lifetime due to censorship laws.
Born in New York City in 1896 Outerbridge spent his life between New York City, and Los Angeles. During his adolescent years, Paul was sent to the Hill School in suburban Pennsylvania where he studied under a strict academic curriculum before returning to New York City and enrolling in the Cutler School. Eventually, against the wishes of his father, an influential surgeon in New York City, Outerbridge turned from a university education and began classes at the Art Students’ League in New York. It was here that Outerbridge met and assisted theatrical stage designer Rollo Peters. This experience, as Outerbridge suggests, was formative to his photography, writing “I worked out a theory of my own for the painting of scenes with light alone”.
A technical and conceptual master, Paul Outerbridge’s photographs were decades ahead of their time. An iconic Paul Outerbridge photograph The Coffee Drinkers (1940) staged for a supermarket ad is an example of Outerbridge’s use of lifestyle to sell a product while making the product itself a secondary focus. Furthermore, Outerbridge is a pioneer in the rigorous and luxurious carbro-color process and would invest in upwards of nine hours to print a single work.
Paul Outerbridge’s work has been exhibited widely throughout the world. In 1959, one year after his death the Smithsonian Institution in Washington D.C. exhibited a solo exhibition of Paul Outerbridge’s works. Additionally, his works have been exhibited and are represented in prominent collections including Museum of Modern Art, New York; The Getty Museum, Los Angeles, California; The Metropolitan Museum, New York; The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco; The Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago; and the Los Angeles Museum of Art, Los Angeles
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Paul OuterbridgePail on Ladder, 1922Platinum print mounted to board, printed c. 19224 5/8 x 3 5/8 in (11.7 x 9.2 cm)
Mount: 13 7/8 x 10 7/8 in -
Paul OuterbridgeWooden Box with Saw, 1923Platinum print mounted to board, printed c. 19234 5/8 x 3 5/8 in (11.8 x 9.2 cm)
Mount: 14 x 11 in -
Paul OuterbridgePiano, 1926Platinum print mounted to board, printed c. 19264 1/2 x 3 1/2 in (11.43 x 8.89 cm)
Mount: 12 5/8 x 9 3/4 in
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DONALD KUSPIT ON PAUL OUTERBRIDGE
Donald Kuspit, Artforum, October 6, 2017 -
ALWAYS SOMETHING UNNERVING IN PAUL OUTERBRIDGE PHOTOGRAPHS
Ken Johnson, the New York Times, September 8, 2016 -
WHEN COLOR WAS VULGAR: PAUL OUTERBRIDGE'S AVANT-GARDIST'S EYE
Andrea Scott, the New Yorker, August 5, 2016 -
PAUL OUTERBRIDGE
Collector Daily, July 15, 2016
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The Photography Show Presented by AIPAD
415 5th Avenue, New York, NY 10016 31 Mar - 2 Apr 2023From March 31 - April 2, 2023, Bruce Silverstein Gallery will be exhibiting at The Photography Show presented by AIPAD in Booth # 108; showcasing...Read more -
Paris Photo
7 - 10 Nov 2019Works by: Diane Arbus, Eugene Atget, Bill Brandt, Anne Brigman, Harry Callahan, Imogen Cunningham, Louis Draper, Frantisek Drtikol, Elger Esser, Robert Frank, Lee Friedlander, Jaromir...Read more -
AIPAD
4 - 7 Apr 2019Featured artists: Lewis Baltz, Ilse Bing, Constantin Brâncuși, Bill Brandt, Manuel Alvarez Bravo, Henri Cartier-Bresson, Imogen Cunningham, F. Holland Day, Frantisek Drtikol, Pierre Dubreuil, Walker...Read more -
Frieze Masters
4 - 7 Oct 2018Featured artists: Diane Arbus, John Baldessari, Constantin Brâncuși, Bill Brandt, Manuel Alvarez Bravo, Henri Cartier-Bresson, F. Holland Day, František Drtikol, William Eggleston, Alfred Eisenstaedt, Robert...Read more -
Paris Photo
9 - 12 Nov 2017Featured artists: Bill Brandt, Manuel Alvarez Bravo, Constantin Brâncusi, Harry Callahan, Henri Cartier Bresson, F. Holland Day, František Drtikol, Elliot Erwitt, Eric Fischl, Mishka Henner,...Read more -
Paris Photo
10 - 13 Nov 2016Bruce Silverstein Gallery is pleased to present at Paris Photo an exhibition inspired by one of the cornerstones of modern art, F. Holland Day’s seminal...Read more -
Frieze Masters
6 - 9 Oct 2016Featured artists: Constantin Brancusi, Marie Cosindas, F. Holland Day, André Kertész, Alfred Leslie, László Moholy-Nagy, Paul Outerbridge, Irving Penn, Man Ray, Alexander Rodchenko, Aaron Siskind,...Read more -
AIPAD
14 - 16 Apr 2016At the 2016 AIPAD Photography Show, Bruce Silverstein Gallery is proud to present Triumph of the Egg , featuring works of the same title by...Read more