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A series of photographs in the style of Duane Michals by J.M.

Duane Michals

(1932-Present)

Biography

Duane Michals was born in 1932 in Mckeesport, Pennsylvania into a typical working-class environment: his father was a steel worker and his mother a housekeeper. His interest in art began at age 14, when he began taking Saturday-aftemoon watercolor classes at the Camegie Institute in Pittsburgh. He received a B.A. from the University of Denver in 1953, and though he made a decision not to pursue a fine-arts career at that time, he developed a keen interest in tho work of other artists -- particularly surrealist masters such as Magritte, de Chirico and Balthus. In 1956 he attended the Parsons School of Design in New York with thoughts of becoming a graphic designer. After just a year, however, he left and took various jobs in publishing -- including working as an assistant art director for Dance magazine and as a designer in the publicity department at Time Inc. It was during a three-week visit to Russia in 1958 that Mchals first experienced his love of photography. Using a borrowed camera, he recorded a series of plain, yet elegant portraits of the people he encountered during his travels --images that would lead to his first public exhibition(Livingstone,17).

In a biographical sketch in The Essential Duane Michals, author Marco Livingstone writes:

The portraits made during that trip were of the utmost simplicity and directness, successfidprecisely because he was not setting out to be a photographer. As soon as he saw the results, he realized that they were worth making public and that he had found Ws real metier.
By 1969, Michals was earning his living shooting commercially--though he has never owned a studio, or even learned to use strobe lighting. Today, to the surprise of many who only know his artistic works, he cams his living ahnost entirely from commercial shooting(Cotter).

He has shot everything from Life covers, to fashion spreads for Vogue magazine to annual reports for the New York Times - he even shot the 'Synchronicity' album cover for the Police(Livingstone, 18).

Though a master of both shooting and darkroom technique, Michals is entirely self-taught and, in fact, credits much of his success to his lack of formal training:

I was lucky because I never went to photography school and I didn't learn the photography rules. And in not learing the rules, I was free. I always say, you're either defined by the medium or your redefine the medium in terms of your needs.

Michals' role as something of an outsider and rebel seems to provide him with great amusement:

If I was concerned about being accepted, I would have been doing Ansel Adams look-a-likes, because that was easily accepted. Everyhing that I did was never accepted ... but luckily for me, my interest in the subject and my passion for the subject took me to that point that I wasn't wounded by that and eventually, people came around to me.

With more than 20 books of his works in print, including a retrospective entitled The Essential Duane Michals and a book dedicated to his poetic hero, Walt Whitman entitled Salute: Walt Whitman. There is no doubt that the those who have studied his pictures have come around to see the world from the Michal's curious, often humorous, always penetrating perspective. His photographs have been shown in countless solo and group exhibitions in France, Great Britain and the United States. He has won numerous awards and his works are in major collections around the world(Livingstone, 22).

Influences

Michals readily credits surrealist influences, particularly Rene Magritte and the 'cool irony'of Robert Frank. In examining the movement many similarities can be drawn. A primary goal of the Surrealists is to place new demands upon reality. To disrupt the thought process and create a new sensibility. Using enigma, and the artistic potential of terror and eroticism the subconscious is to be set free(Hood).

Technique

Michals' work accepts that capturing the "soul" of a subject is impossible. However, through the use of narrative it aspires to help the viewer understand something deeper than what the photograph alone displays. Pieces such as "Cirque D'Hiver" uses text in simple ways. The writing "Animal Trainer" gives us infomiation, but doesn't allow us to know who the man is. Images of a French Circus and exotic animal s spring to mind. Michals has placed us with the aninimal trainer, not just looking at him(Hood). "I still find doing portraits a terrific challenge, but even though I have done hundreds of them, I've never stopped questioning the very nature of portraiture because it deals exclusively with appearances. I've never believed people are what they look like and think it's impossible to really know what people are."

Literary contributions were integrated into his work around 1975. Handwriting allows Michals to guide his ideas and hopefully the viewer farther along his conceptual path. In pieces such as "C.L.E.A.N." and frames from "Chance Meeting," another step in writing develops as misspelled and/or incorrect words are scratched out. Giving the viewer insight into the author's intent and a deeper image-history. Associated with invention and drafts, the use of scratched out words allows us to feel the author is in the act of writing. We witness the actual moment(Hood). To a viewer such as myself this technique makes the script more believable... an accepted invitation. On handwriting Michals says: "No one can reproduce my handwriting but someone else can always make another print." to parallel this the French philosopher Michael Focault believes that "Seeing words on a page pleases me. It is like a trail I have left behind me, uncertain -- strange markings. A proof that I have been there."

Another aspect of Michals portraiture is his choice for environment. Most individuals are photographed in available light, rarely a studio. People are placed insurroundings, pertaining perhaps to their place of work or living quarters. In many cases it is the actual home of the subject. But always the enviromient is minimal adding only subtle hints never competing for attention. Michals began to add another level to some images by painting on the photographic paper with oils. My research indicates he received a healthy amount of critical reception for his technique, but Michals is quoted as saying his ability as a painter is reasonably good. 'Portrait of Ray Barry and grapes' is a wonderful example of this photographic/painting fusion. The imge is a black & white 35mm contact sheet depicting nudes of Ray Barry. Surrounding the small pictures are painted a colorful wreath of deep purple grapes. The gallery image is 11 x l4, and the effect is an interesting juxtaposftion between the photograph being a group of images vs. the distinctly two dimensional oil paints(Cotter).

The second section of Duane Michals catalogue is the photo-story or photosequence. "We should want truths to our own truths." It is this search for 'truths' that underlies all of Michals' sequencing. Often biographical, the stories look at individuals as composites of body and spirit. Through this separation of the body and spirit we are able to ask questions about all people. An example, "The Young Girl Dream," depicts a woman who is visited by a transparent specter. We do not know if the woman has dreamed her visitor, or whether the shade acted upon his own ghostly accord. Michals is noted for saying:

A photograph is justified only if it says something." This can also be read that the photo must ask and require something new.

Another interpretation of his non-traditional techniques' is voiced by Vicki Goldberg:

They are deliberately impure on several accounts. He parades the weakness and mistakes of the medium, its blurs and double exposures, not to define a specfically photographic way of seeing but to picture what cannot be seen by eye or camera.

A possible influence to Michals' development of the photo-sequence is his religious upbringing. Raised in a Catholic home, Christian image-sequences were common. Triptychs and religious paintings arranged according to tradition can play a subtle tutor. Religion by no means stops with the suggestion of order. Much of his work is under lain by a gentle yet consistent religious element(Livingstone, 16). Renault Camus observes:

One of the traits of the intellectual premise in Michals' work is an obstinate mistrust -- basically very Christian in fact -- of appearances, coupled with a rather naive fitith in the superior reality that there appearances hide.

Duane Michals is one of the few photographers where his equipment is inconsequential. I honestly believe he couldn't care less about what film or camera he is using. Naturally a catmera that will not break, and film that will record. He most definitely has his favorites, but his vision is so caught in creation all else is a necessary evil. I do know that Michals shoots almost exclusively 35mm. A Nikon F series, and like so many Plus-X or Tri-X. Because he shoots available light, most likely the latter. His extensive use of double and multiple exposure is well known, yet a simple technical process. The handwriting is written in cursive with a fountain pen(Hood).

Noteable Works

Duane Michals has created many works of art. Some of his most noteable works include:

  • I Build a Pyramid (Hood)
  • The Illuminated Man (Hood)
  • Cirque D'Hiver (Livingstone, 15)
  • Portrait of Ray Barry and grapes (Hood)
  • Eros and Thanatos (Michals, 1)
  • Salute: Walt Whitman (Livingstone, 15)
  • Dr. Duanus' Famous Magic Act (Hood)

Where to Find Michals Today

Michals' works can be seen all over the world. Some place his artwork can be found are:

  • Museum of Modem Art, NY
  • International Museum of Photography, George Eastman House, Rochester, NY
  • Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C.
  • Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, Ill
  • Museum of New Mexico, Albuquerque
  • University of New Mexico,Albuquerque
  • University of Califoniia at Los Angeles
  • Norton Simon Museum, Pasadena, CA
  • Museum Ludwig, Cologne, Gemany
  • Museum Folkwang, Essen, Germany

Works Cited

History and Thought of Western Man
Rich East High School *Park Forest, IL 60466

This page was created by J.M. Last revised 03/05/01.

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