Mark Klett (born 9 September 1952) is an American

photographer A photographer (the Greek φῶς (''phos''), meaning "light", and γραφή (''graphê''), meaning "drawing, writing", together meaning "drawing with light") is a person who uses a camera to make photographs. Duties and types of photograp ...

. His work is included in the collections of the

Smithsonian American Art Museum The Smithsonian American Art Museum (SAAM; formerly the National Museum of American Art) is a museum in Washington, D.C., part of the Smithsonian Institution. Together with its branch museum, the Renwick Gallery, SAAM holds one of the world's lar ...

, the

Museum of Fine Arts Houston The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston (MFAH), is an art museum located in the Houston Museum District of Houston, Texas. The permanent collection of the museum spans more than 5,000 years of history with nearly 80,000 works from six continents. Follo ...

and the

Museum of Modern Art The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is an art museum located in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, on 53rd Street (Manhattan), 53rd Street between Fifth Avenue, Fifth and Sixth Avenues. MoMA's collection spans the late 19th century to the present, a ...

, New York.

Life

Klett was born in

Albany, New York Albany ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. It is located on the west bank of the Hudson River, about south of its confluence with the Mohawk River. Albany is the oldes ...

. After graduating from

St. Lawrence University St. Lawrence University is a private liberal arts college in the village of Canton in St. Lawrence County, New York. It has roughly 2,100 undergraduate and 100 graduate students. Though St. Lawrence today is nonsectarian, it was founded in 1 ...

with a B.S. in

Geology Geology (). is a branch of natural science concerned with the Earth and other astronomical objects, the rocks of which they are composed, and the processes by which they change over time. Modern geology significantly overlaps all other Earth ...

in 1974, he worked as a photographer with the

U.S. Geological Survey The United States Geological Survey (USGS), founded as the Geological Survey, is an agency of the U.S. Department of the Interior whose work spans the disciplines of biology, geography, geology, and hydrology. The agency was founded on March ...

. In 1977, he completed the MFA program at

Visual Studies Workshop Visual Studies Workshop (VSW) is a non-profit organization dedicated to art education based in Rochester, New York, in the Susan B. Anthony House, Susan B. Anthony Neighborhood. VSW supports makers and interpreters of images through education, pu ...

Rochester, New York Rochester is a city in and the county seat, seat of government of Monroe County, New York, United States. It is the List of municipalities in New York, fourth-most populous city and 10th most-populated municipality in New York, with a populati ...

studying with

Nathan Lyons Nathan Lyons (January 10, 1930 – August 31, 2016) was an American photographer, curator, and educator. He exhibited his photographs from 1956 onwards, produced books of his own and edited those of others. Lyons was also a curator of photography ...

. He is a Regents Professor and teaches photography at Arizona State University.

Work

Klett's photographic work focuses on the western landscape and man’s interaction with it. In particular, his photographs respond to historic images and his projects explore relationships between time, change and perception. He is particularly known for his

rephotography Rephotography or repeat photography is the act of photographing the same site twice, with a time lag between the two images; a diachronic, "then and now" view of a particular area. Some are casual, usually taken from the same view point but w ...

projects, recently with collaborator Byron Wolfe, which included western landscapes, Yosemite, the Grand Canyon, and Glenn Canyon.

Publications

*''Second View: The Rephotographic Survey Project.'' With Ellen Manchester and JoAnn Verburg, University of New Mexico Press, 1984. *''Traces of Eden: Travels in the Desert Southwest.'' David R. Godine, 1986. *''Headlands: the Marin Coast at the Golden Gate.'' With Miles De Coster, Mike Mandel,Paul Metcalf, and Larry Sultan, University of New Mexico Press, 1989. *''One City/Two Visions.'' Bedford Arts Publishers, San Francisco, CA, 1990. *''Photographing Oklahoma. 1889-1991.'' Oklahoma City Art Museum, 1991. *''Revealing Territory.'' University of New Mexico Press, 1992. *''Capitol View: A New Panorama of Washington DC.'' With Merry Foresta, Smithsonian Institution and Book Studios, 1994. *''Desert Legends: Restoring the Sonoran Borderlands.'' With Gary Paul Nabhan, Henry Holt, 1994. *''The Black Rock Desert.'' With Bill Fox, University of Arizona Press, 2002. . *''Third Views, Second Sights, A Rephotographic Survey of the American West.'' Museum of New Mexico Press, 2004. With Byron Wolfe. . *''Yosemite in Time: Ice Ages, Tree Clocks, Ghost Rivers.'' With

Rebecca Solnit Rebecca Solnit (born 1961) is an American writer and activist. She has written on a variety of subjects, including feminism, the environment, politics, place, and art. Solnit is the author of seventeen books, including '' River of Shadows'', whi ...

and Byron Wolfe,

Trinity University Press Trinity University Press is a university press affiliated with Trinity University, which is located in San Antonio, Texas. Trinity University Press was officially founded in 1967 after the university acquired the Illinois-based Principia Press. T ...

, 2005. . *''After the Ruins: Rephotographing the 1906 San Francisco Earthquake and Fire.'' University of California Press, 2005. . *''Mark Klett: Saguaros by Gregory McNamee and Mark Klett.'' Radius Books, 2007. . *''The Half Life of History'', with William Fox. Radius Books, 2011. *''Reconstructing the View, the Grand Canyon Photographs of Mark Klett and Byron Wolfe'', with Byron Wolfe, Rebecca A. Senf, Stephen J. Pyne. University of California Press, 2012. *''Camino del Diablo'', Radius Books, 2017. With Raphael Pumpelly *''Drowned River: The Death and Rebirth of Glen Canyon on the Colorado'', with

and Byron Wolfe. Radius Books, 2018. *''Seeing Time: Forty Years of Photographs'', Anne Wilkes Tucker, Keith E. Davis, Rebecca A. Senf. University of Texas Press, 2020.

Awards

*1979: Emerging Artist Fellowship for the

National Endowment for the Arts The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) is an independent agency of the United States federal government that offers support and funding for projects exhibiting artistic excellence. It was created in 1965 as an independent agency of the feder ...

*1982: National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship *1984: National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship *1993: Photographer of the Year from Friends of Photography *Japan/U.S. Creative Artist Fellowship *2001: Regents' Professor,

Arizona State University Arizona State University (Arizona State or ASU) is a public university, public research university in Tempe, Arizona, United States. Founded in 1885 as Territorial Normal School by the 13th Arizona Territorial Legislature, the university is o ...

*2004:

Guggenheim Fellowship Guggenheim Fellowships are Grant (money), grants that have been awarded annually since by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation, endowed by the late Simon Guggenheim, Simon and Olga Hirsh Guggenheim. These awards are bestowed upon indiv ...

Collections

Klett's work is held in the following permanent collections: *

, New York: 33 prints (as of 26 September 2021) *

References

External links

*
The collaborative works of Mark Klett and Byron WolfeCollection of Mark Klett photos at the Center for Creative Photography, University of Arizona.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Klett, Mark 1952 births Living people American photographers United States Geological Survey personnel St. Lawrence University alumni Artists from Albany, New York Arizona State University faculty Scientists from New York (state) Visual Studies Workshop alumni