Text from The Photography Encyclopedia

Gowin, Emmett (1941-): American art photographer and teacher

Gowin's black and white images of his family taken with a large format camera can be considered a mannered, autobiographical narrative in a "backyard gothic" style. Other subjects for his exploration of photographic craftsmanship are his views, some aerial, of landscape and terrains around the world, that he calls his working landscapes.

Born in Virginia, Gowin earned a bachelor of fine arts degree from the Virginia Professional Institute and then a master of fine arts degree from the Rhode Island School of Design in 1967, where he studied with Harry Callahan. He was awarded a Guggenheim fellowship (1974) and two National Endowment for the Arts fellowships (1977, 1979) and received such arts awards as the Pew fellowship (1993) and Friends of Photography Peer Award (1992).

His first major exhibit was at the Museum of Modern Art (1971) with Robert Adams, and he has since had solo exhibitions at the Corcoran Gallery, the Museum of Modern Art, the Chrysler Museum in Norfolk, Virginia, and the Light Gallery. His work is represented in such collections as those of the Philadelphia Museum of Art, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and the Museum of Modern Art in New York. Gowin teaches at Princeton University and also pursues his own work as a freelance photographer.