Anthony Hernandez is an American photographer who divides his time between Los Angeles and Idaho. His work ranges from street photography to images of the built environment and other remains of civilization. Hernandez has spent most of his career photographing his native Los Angeles.
He traces his introduction to photography to a textbook a friend gave him when he was in high school. While he is largely self-taught, Hernandez took basic photography courses while he was a student at East Los Angeles College between 1966-67. His earliest images are of parts and machinery left in an empty lot near an automobile repair shop close to his home, foreshadowing the development of common subjects in his work as well as a fascination with urban decay and abandoned detritus.
Hernandez began to devote his time to photography in 1970 after serving in the United States Army from 1967-69. He walked the streets of Los Angeles observing its inhabitants. In order to work quickly and intuitively, he would pre-focus the camera and then wait for subjects to come into the zone of focus, only briefly bringing the camera to his eye as he walked past them. He repeated this strategy in other cities, including London, Madrid, Saigon, and Washington, D.C. In later decades, Hernandez's photography might seem to have changed dramatically: from black-and-white to color, from wide shots to close ups, from people to places, but his interest in urban environments, and cultural differences of class and race has remained.
By the 1980s, Hernandez was working with large format cameras, which necessitated a slower and more deliberate shooting style. His 1979 series, Public Transit Areas, involved using a 5 x 7 inch camera on a tripod, and his subjects seem clearly aware of his presence. Rather than the off-kilter backgrounds of his earlier portraits, streets and buildings recede calmly into deep space. By the 1990s, Hernandez's style shifted again, as he concentrated on color and close-up details. Most of his pictures since the mid-1980s are devoid of human subjects, although their presence is felt. Projects such as Landscapes for the Homeless (1988-91), Waiting for Los Angeles (1996-98), and Everything(The Los Angeles River Basin) (2003-4) documented how the city's human presence has been reduced to the traces and debris left by destructive social forces.
Anthony Hernandez’s work has been shown in international group and solo exhibitions including at Sprengel Museum Hannover, Centre National de la Photographie in Paris, Seattle Art Museum, Le Bal in Paris, The J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, and The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art amongst others.
Born 1947 in Los Angeles, CA. Lives and works in Los Angeles, CA and Challis, ID.
EDUCATION
1967
East Los Angeles College, Los Angeles, CA
SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2019
Screened Pictures, Kayne Griffin Corcoran, Los Angeles, CA
Anthony Hernandez: L.A. Landscapes, Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO
Anthony Hernandez, Fundacion MAPFRE, Madrid, Spain
2017
Anthony Hernandez: Retrospective, Herzfeld Center for Photography and Media Arts, Milwaukee Art Museum, Milwaukee, USA
Anthony Hernandez, Galerie Thomas Zander, Cologne, Germany
2016
Retrospective, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, Pritzker Center for Photography, San Francisco, CA
Discarded: Photographs by Anthony Hernandez, Amon Carter Museum of American Art, Fort Worth, TX
2009
Vancouver Art Gallery, Vancouver, Canada
2007
Anthony Hernandez: The Seventies and Eighties, The Sheldon Art Galleries, St. Louis, MO
Redefined, Galerie Polaris, Paris, France
2006
Beverly Hills, 1984 & Broadway, Christopher Grimes Gallery, Santa Monica, CA
2005
Everything, Anthony Grant, New York, USA
Everything, Galerie Polaris, Paris, France
2003
Pictures for L.A., Grant Selwyn Fine Art, Los Angeles, CA
2002
Temporary Spaces, Seattle Art Museum, Seattle, WA
Pictures for L.A., Grant Selwyn Fine Art, New York, NY
2001
Pictures of Oakland, Laguna Art Museum, Laguna Beach, CA
Pictures of Oakland, Caliornia College of Arts and Crafts, Oakland, CA
2000
Pictures for Rome, Grant Selwyn Fine Art, New York, NY
Pictures for Rome, Grant Selwyn Fine Art, Beverly Hills, CA
1999
City Point – Rome, Galerie Polaris, Paris, France
1998
The 70’s, Dan Bernier Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
1997
Shooting Sites, Galerie Polaris, Paris, France
The City, Craig Krull Gallery, Santa Monica, CA
Landscapes of the Homeless, Centre National de la Photographie, Paris France; Musee de L’Elysee, Lusanna, Switzerland
1995
In Another World, Craig Krull Gallery, Santa Monica, CA
Landscapes for the Homeless, The Sprengel Museum, Hanover, Germany
1993
Landscapes for the Homeless, Turner/Krull Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
1991
Shooting Sites, Turner/Krull Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
1990
Landscapes for the Homeless, Opsis Foundation, New York, NY
1985
Northlight Gallery, Tempe, AZ
Rodeo Drive, Burden Gallery, New York, NY
1984
Susan Spiritus Gallery, Newport Beach, CA
1982
Public Use Areas, California Museum of Photography, Riverside, CA
1979
University of California at Santa Barbara, CA
1978
Art in Public Places, The Federal Building, Los Angeles, CA; Orange Coast College, Costa Mesa, CA
Max Protech Gallery, Washington D.C.
1976
The Nation’s Capital in Photographs, Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington D.C.
SELECTED GROUP EXHBITIONS
2021
Evidence: Selections from the Collection, Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, CA
2020
For a Dreamer of Houses, curated by Katherine Brodbeck, Dallas Museum of Art, Dallas, TX
2019
Unseen: 35 Years of Collecting Photographs, the Getty Museum, Los Angeles, CA
May You Live in Interesting Times, curated by Ralph Rugoff, the 58th International Art Exhibition, La Biennale di Venezia, Venice, Italy
2018
Streetwise, Galerie Thomas Zander, Cologne, Germany
Brought to Light: Revelatory Photographs in the Santa Barbara Museum of Art Collection, Santa Barbara Museum of Art, Santa Barbara, CA
2017
Autophoto, Fondation Cartier, Paris, France
2014
Landscape and Abstraction, Orange County Museum of Art, Newport Beach, CA
See the Light – Photography, Perception, Cognition – The Marjorie and Leonard Vernon Collection, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, CA
2013
Color! American Photography Transformed, Amon Carter Museum in Ft. Worth, TX
Under the Big Black Sun, Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, CA
2011
In Focus: Los Angeles, 1945–1980, J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles, CA
2010
Anonymous, Le Bal, Paris France,
Haunted - Contemporary Photography/Video/Performance, Museo Guggenheim Bilbao, Spain
2008
This Side of Paradise: Body and Landscape in Los Angeles Photographs, The Huntington Library, San Marino, CA; Musee de l’Elysee, Lausanne, Switzerland
2007
re-SITE-ing the West: Contemporary Photographs in the Permanent Collection, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, CA
Imaging and Imagining California Modern, Orange County Museum of Art, Newport Beach, CA
2006
Whose Nature? What’s Nature, Sun Valley Center for the Arts, Sun Valley, ID
Advancing the Moment: Recent Works by Photographers in the Norton Simon Collection, Pasadena Museum of California Art, Pasadena, CA
The Collectible Moment: Photography at the Norton Simon Museum, Norton Simon Museum of Art, Pasadena, CA
Public Faces/Private Spaces: Recent Acquisitions, The Getty Center, Los Angeles, CA
Big City Lab, Art Forum Berlin, Germany
L.A. River Reborn, Skirball Cultural Center, Los Angeles, CA
2004
Borne of Necessity, Weatherspoon Art Museum, Greensboro, NC
2003
Conceptual Color: In Albers’ Afterimage, The Museum of Art and History at the McPherson Center, Santa Cruz, USA
2002
Visions from America: Photographs from the Whitney Museum of Art, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY
Conceptual Color: In Albers’ Afterimage, Santa Cruz Museum of Art and History, Santa Cruz, CA
New Acquisitions/New Work/New Directions 3: Contemporary Selections, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, USA
2001
California Invitational, Ansel Adams Center for Photography, San Francisco, CA
Capturing Light: Masterpieces of California Photography, 1850 – 2000, Oakland Museum of California, Oakland, CA
Made in California 1900-2000, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, CA
Flight Patterns, The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA
Documents and Beyond, Reina Sofia Museum, Madrid, Spain
2000
Identification of a Landscape, Venezia-Marghera, Venice, Italy
Beyond Boundaries: Contemporary Photography in California, University Art Museum, California State University, Long Beach, CA
1999
Hasselblad Center, Goteberg, Sweden
Rena Branstein Gallery, San Francisco, USA
COLA Awards Show, L.A. Municipal Art Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
Franco Riccardo Artivisive, Naples, Italy
1998
Radical Past, Armory Center for the Arts, Pasadena, USA
1997
TRASH: When Waste Materials Become Art, Museo d’Arte Moderna de Contemporania di Trento e Rovereto, Italy
Scene of the Crime, Armand Hammer Museum of Art, Los Angeles, USA
1996
Crossing the Frontier: Photographs of the Developing West, 1849 to the Present, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco, CA
Long Beach: A Photographic Survey, University Art Museum, California State University, Long Beach, CA
Herkunft?, Fotomusuem Winterthur, Winterthur, Switzerland
1995
Street Engagements: Social Landscape Photography of the Sixties, The Parrish Art Museum, South Hampton, NY
1994
Love in the Ruins: Art and Inspiration of LA, Long Beach Museum of Art, Long Beach, CA
1993
Fotografie Biennale III, Wasteland: Landscape Form Now On, Rotterdam, Netherlands
1992
Between Home and Heaven: Contemporary American Landscape Photography, National Museum of American Art, Washington D.C.; Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh, PA; New Orleans Museum of Art, New Orleans, LA; New York State Museum, Albany, NY
1991
The City Life of Flora and Fauna, The Seagram Gallery, New York, NY
From the West, Gail Severn Gallery, Sun Valley, ID
Las Vegas, Mark Masuoka Gallery, Las Vegas, NV
1989
Picturing California, Oakland Museum, Oakland, CA
Photographic Abstraction, Tratt Gallery, Washington D.C.
Women and Men: Photographs from the Seagram Collection, Seagram Gallery, New York, NY
1988
Landscape Photographs from the Permanent Collection, The Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington D.C.
1987
Masters of the Street: Part Three, Museum of Photographic Arts, Balboa Park, San Diego, CA
Photography over the 70’s and 80’s, The Everson Museum of Art, Syracuse, NY
Recent Acquisitions, Oakland Museum, Oakland, CA
1984
Exposed and Developed: American Photography in the 1970s, National Museum of American Art, Washington, D.C.
Social Commentary and Photography, Texas Photographic Society, Austin, TX
1982
Slices of Time: California Landscapes, 1860-1880, 1960-1980, The Oakland Museum, Oakland, CA; Security Pacific Plaza, Los Angeles, CA
Facets of the Collection: Urban America, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco, CA
1980
Long Beach: A Photographic Survey, The Art Museum, California State University, Long Beach, CA
Photography and the City, Seattle Art Museum, Seattle, CA
1979
Attitudes: Photography in the 1970’s, Santa Barbara Museum of Art, Santa Barbara, CA
Photographic Directions: LA 1979, Security Pacific National Bank, Los Angeles, CA
1977
100+ Current Directions in Southern California Art, Los Angeles Institute of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, CA
Unposed Portrait, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY
Photography 77, California State College, Bakersfield, CA
1976
LA Six, Mount St. Mary’s College Art Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
1975
Douglas Drake Gallery, Kansas City, MO
1974
Language of Light: A Survey of Photography of the Collection, University of Kansas Museum of Art, Lawrence, KS
Eight Young Photographers, Bibliothèque Nationale de France, Paris, France
Photography 1/ Recent Photographs by 7 Artists, Jack Glenn Gallery, Corona Del Mar, CA
1973
24 from LA, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco, CA
Friends of Photography, Carmel, CA
Florida State University, Tallahassee, FL
1972
West of the Rockies: George Eastman House Symposium, The Oakland Museum, Oakland, CA
1971
The Crowded Vacancy, University of California, Davis, CA; Pasadena Art Museum, Pasadena, CA; San Francisco Museum of Art, San Francisco, CA; The Friends of Photography, Carmel, CA
1970
California Photographers, University of California; Davis, CA; Oakland Museum; Oakland, CA, Pasadena Art Museum; Pasadena, CA
1969
Fiesta de los Barrios, Los Angeles, CA
SELECTED COLLECTIONS
Artothéque de Miramas, Miramas, France
Biblioteque Nationale, Paris, France
California Museum of Photography, Riverside, CA
Center for Creative Photography, Tucson, AZ
The Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington D.C.
Dallas Museum of Art, Dallas, TX
Du Fonds National d’Art Contemporain, Paris, France
Fotomuseum, Winterthur, Switzerland
Fonds Départmental d’ Art Contemporain de Bobigny, France
Fonds National d’ Art Contemporain, Paris, France
The Getty Center, Los Angeles, CA
Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher Collection, Los Angeles, CA
The Hammer Museum, Los Angeles, CA
The Harry Ranson Humanities Research Center, University of Texas at Austin, TX
Higashikawa Museum, Hokkaido, Japan
International Museum of Photography, George Eastman House, Rochester, NY
Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, CA
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Miami Art Museum, Miami, FL
The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, CA
The Museum of Contemporary Art, North Miami, FL
The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, TX
The Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY
Museum of Photographic Arts, San Diego, CA
National Museum of American Art, Smithsonian, Washington D.C.
Norton Simon Museum, Pasadena, CA
Oakland Museum, Oakland, CA
Orange County Museum of Art, Newport Beach, CA
San Francisco Museum of Art, San Francisco, CA
Santa Barbara Museum of Art, Santa Barbara, CA
Seattle Arts Commission, Seattle, WA
Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, NY
Sprengel Museum, Hannover, Germany
Tate Modern, London, UK
University of Kansas Museum of Art, Lawrence, KS
Weatherspoon Art Museum, Greensboro, NY
Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY