Three Doll Heads Photograph

Allan I. Ludwig (Am., b. 1933) has been a well known photographer most of his life. He received his BFA degree, MA, and Ph.D. in Art History from Yale University. He founded the photography department at The Rhode Island School of Design. During the course of his career he won "The John Addison Porter Prize" at Yale University and held a three year Fellowship from The Bollingen Foundation. His book, "Graven Images" on Early American Gravestones, was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize, and received favorable reviews from The New York Times and the Times Literary Supplement. It has been in print for over 50 years and is considered the seminal work in the field. Ludwig's photographic work is in the Collection of The Museum of Modern Art, The Smithsonian, The Chrysler Museum, The American Academy in Rome and many other prestigious institutions. He has shown his work at the New Museum in New York City, The Mutter Museum in Philadelphia, and other museums and galleries both nationally and internationally. His interest in street art began in the l970s and to date he has over 27,000 photos on Flickr available for public view under the name Elisha Cook, Jr. Living in downtown New York City, he noted the gentrification of his neighborhood and thought the ubiquitous street art and graffiti would soon disappear. Being a photographer, he set out to preserve it before it vanished. Thus began a decades long project that continues to the present. Ludwig and his partner, Gwen Akin, introduced platinum printing to Japan in the late 70's with a show massive contact prints made with a 16" X 20" camera. When he began his career in the 1950's, Edward Steichen, who was then the Director of the Department of Photography at The Museum of Modern Art, purchased a number of his traditional black and white gelatin silver prints. He personally told Ludwig "the most important thing a photographer can do is to take photographs". This made a lot of sense to him and he has followed his advice ever since. Today, at age 85, his archive is monumental. Ludwig stated, "photography is the most important visual media tool today". It has also been a gateway to a personally rich and rewarding life.