Henry Horenstein: Animalia
Jan 7 – Feb 5, 2022 at Gallery NAGA
Over the years I’ve photographed many different types of subjects, even animals and the human form. But I’ve always returned to my roots as a documentary photographer. More than anything, I like a good story.
– Henry Horenstein
Horenstein’s creatures are decontextualized. They appear without the backdrop
of the natural landscape, outside even the artificial world of the zoo or aquarium, and devoid of their true color. As a consequence, the images are truly arresting;
in both a literal and metaphorical sense we see these animals as we have
never seen them before.
– Elisabeth Werby, Executive Director, Harvard Museum of Natural History, 2005
We think of art in terms of individual masterpieces. Henry’s work is that, but he’s really a historian with a camera.
– Shannon Thomas Perich, Curator, Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History
Henry Horenstein studied history at the University of Chicago and earned his BFA and MFA at Rhode Island School of Design, where he studied with legends Harry Callahan and Aaron Siskind.
Henry’s work is collected and exhibited internationally, and he has published over 30 books, including several monographs of his own work.
Henry has been a professor of photography at RISD since 1981 and lives in Boston.