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Art / Philip Trager


Active as a photographer for more than forty years, Philip Trager is a preeminent photographer of dance and architecture. His photographs of contemporary dancers and performance artists have expanded the genre of dance photography. His book, The Villas of Palladio, has become a standard document for architects and architectural historians. His most recent books are Philip Trager, a retrospective book, and Faces, both published by Steidl.

Four of his ten books have been chosen for the annual books selection of The New York Times Annual Review of Books. Among other book awards are Finalist for the Grand Prix Award at Les Rencontres Internationales de la Photographie, Book of the Year for the American Institute of Graphic Arts and Best Books selections of InterviewVanity FairThe Times (London), New York MagazineLos Angeles Times Book Review and others.

Trager’s photographs are in international private, corporate and institutional collections. In New York, they are in the permanent collections of the Museum of Modern Art, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Museum of the City of New York, New York Historical Society, and the New York Public Library (which recently acquired eighty photographs). The Library of Congress has acquired the definitive collection of his photographs and will house his archive as part of its core collections.

There have been numerous exhibitions of Trager’s photographs internationally, including a traveling retrospective exhibition of his work presented at several venues, including  The National Building Museum in cooperation with the Library of Congress. The New York Public Library recently mounted a major exhibition of his work. (apag)