Object Lesson: On the Influence of Richard Benson

Through engaging interviews, testimonials, and anecdotes from photographers, curators, printers, and colleagues, Object Lesson: On the Influence of Richard Benson pays homage to a legendary figure whose name is synonymous with the evolving history and philosophy of photographic reproduction.

From making platinum prints for Paul Strand and books with Lee Friedlander to his own experiments with inkjet and digital offset processes, and as a teacher and dean of the Yale School of Art, by the time of his death in 2017, Benson had inspired over three decades of students and artisans through his mentorship and work. In words and images, Object Lesson stands as a testament to Benson’s wit, wisdom, and incomparable obsession with how photographic images render and connect us to the world.

Text, image, and interview contributions by Michele Abeles, Marion Belanger, Barbara Benson, Richard Benson, Dawoud Bey, Andrew Borowiec, Lois Conner, Matthew Connors, Tim Davis, Benjamin Donaldson, Dru Donovan, Martina Droth, Shannon Ebner, Lucas Foglia, Peter Galassi, John Gambell, Jon Goodman, Bryan Graf, Gail Albert Halaban, Gary Haller, Heyward Hart, Robert J. Hennessey, Peter Kayafas, Lisa Kereszi, Justin Kimball, David La Spina, John Lehr, Susan Lipper, Salvatore Lopes, Peter MacGill, Tanya Marcuse, Lesley A. Martin, Miko McGinty, Sue Medlicott, Sarah Meister, Paul Messier, Andrea Modica, Matthew Monteith, Abelardo Morell, Arthur Ou, Thomas Palmer, Tod Papageorge, Ted Partin, Bradley Peters, John Pilson, Kristine Potter, Caitlin Teal Price, Sergio Purtell, Jock Reynolds, John Robinson, Jeff L. Rosenheim, Sasha Rudensky, Gary Schneider, David Benjamin Sherry, Steve Smith, Mark Steinmetz, Sarah Stolfa, Ka-Man Tse, James Welling, and Jeff Whetstone

John Pilson has exhibited his photo and video work at Hamburger Kunsthalle, Germany; the Venice Biennale; Guggenheim Museum, Museum of Modern Art, and MoMA PS1, New York. He is the author of the monograph Interregna (2006) and founder of Picture Magazine. In addition to having taught at Bard College, Annandale-on-Hudson, New York, Pilson has served on the faculty of Yale School of Art since 2001 and is currently senior critic in photography.

Dawoud Bey’s numerous honors include a MacArthur Fellowship, Guggenheim Fellowship, and National Endowment for the Arts Fellowships. A major career retrospective of his work, An American Project, was co-organized by the Whitney Museum of American Art and the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (2020–22). Bey is professor of art and a former Distinguished College Artist at Columbia College Chicago. His books include Class Pictures (Aperture, 2007), Seeing Deeply (2018), and Street Portraits (2021).

Lois Conner is recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship, New York State Council on the Arts Fellowship, and National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship. Publications of her work include China (2000), Beijing: Contemporary and Imperial (2014), and Lotus Leaves (2018). Conner has held teaching positions at Yale School of Art, Princeton University, and Sarah Lawrence College.

Shannon Ebner is an artist who lives and works in Brooklyn. She has held solo exhibitions at the Institute of Contemporary Art, Miami, and MoMA PS1, New York, among others. Her publications include The Sun as Error (2009), STRIKE (2015), and A Public Character (2016). She is chairperson of photography at Pratt Institute.

Peter Galassi is a scholar, curator, writer, and recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship. He was chief curator of photography at the Museum of Modern Art, New York, from 1991 to 2011. During that time, he curated more than forty exhibitions, including The Pleasures and Terrors of Domestic Pleasure (1991), Friedlander (2005), and Henri Cartier-Bresson: The Modern Century (2010).