1938-

Joel Meyerowitz is a street photographer who began photographing in color in 1962 and was an early advocate of the use of color.  Along with Stephen Shore and William Eggleston, he became part of the first group of young artists to use color exclusively.  Their work, seen and published in America and Europe, influenced the next generation’s turn toward color photography.  Meyerowitz graduated from Ohio State University in 1959 with a degree in painting and medical illustration.  He was inspired by Robert Frank’s book The Americans and the work of Eugène Atget.  “In the pantheon of greats,” he said, “there is Robert Frank and there is Atget.”  Meyerowitz goes on to say, “Those two visions of the world captivated me early on, opened me up.”  He is a Guggenheim Fellow and a recipient of awards from both the National Endowment for the Arts and the National Endowment for the Humanities.