ARTFEED — Contemporary Art Intelligence

Duane Michals, Photographer of the Unphotographable, Dies at 94

artist · 2026-06-10

Duane Michals, the pioneering photographer known for combining text and sequential imagery to explore desire, death, and the metaphysical, died on June 9, 2026, in New York. Born in 1932 in McKeesport, Pennsylvania, Michals served in the army in Germany and traveled widely before settling in downtown New York in the mid-1960s. He found commercial success in editorial photography that allowed him to take risks: building cinematic sequences, staging queer narratives, and adding handwritten text. A 2022 interview with Jesse Dorris for Aperture's Summer 2022 issue, guest-edited by Alec Soth, captures Michals's unapologetic voice. He dismissed Garry Winogrand's criticism that his sequences were 'not photography' and predicted that within five years everyone would write on photographs. He described his practice as redefining photography from reportage to something that could address 'unphotographable things.' Michals spoke of his long partnership with architect Fred Gorrée, who died after fifty-seven years together, and said he would never have photographed Gorrée dying. He expressed no regrets, stating he had done everything he wanted, including making forty-one mini-movies. His work includes series such as 'Homage to Cavafy' (1978), 'The Journey of the Spirit After Death' (1971), and 'Death Comes to the Old Lady' (1969). He credited his curiosity and instinct over technique, saying, 'Technique is at the service of expression.'

Key facts

  • Duane Michals died on June 9, 2026, in New York.
  • He was born in 1932 in McKeesport, Pennsylvania.
  • He had a long-term partnership with architect Fred Gorrée.
  • Michals combined text and sequential images in his photography.
  • He redefined photography from reportage to narrative and metaphysical exploration.
  • In a 2022 interview, he said he had no regrets and had done everything he wanted.
  • He made forty-one mini-movies and published over forty books.
  • He dismissed Garry Winogrand's criticism of his sequences as 'not photography.'

Entities

Artists

Institutions

  • Aperture
  • School of Visual Arts
  • Harper's Bazaar
  • Show
  • New York Times
  • Skidmore, Owings & Merrill
  • DC Moore Gallery
  • Baxter Street
  • Queer Critique Group
  • Underground Gallery
  • Daily News
  • Du
  • University of Denver
  • Parsons School of Design
  • Time
  • Dance Magazine
  • Esquire
  • Mademoiselle
  • Museum of Modern Art
  • Carnegie Institute
  • Los Angeles Times
  • Independent
  • Undergallery Gallery
  • Carnegie Museum of Art
  • Morgan Library
  • Fundación MAPFRE
  • Museum of Modern Art (MoMA)
  • Vogue
  • J. Paul Getty Museum
  • Metropolitan Museum of Art
  • National Museum of Modern Art, Kyoto
  • Philadelphia Museum of Art
  • Museo Ettore Fico
  • FO.TO
  • Admira Milano
  • Galleria Massimo Minini
  • The Police
  • Jeu de Paume
  • MoMA
  • Centre Pompidou
  • Rencontres d'Arles
  • Maison européenne de la photographie
  • Beaux Arts Magazine
  • United States Army
  • Odakyu Museum
  • International Center of Photography
  • Art Institute of Chicago
  • National Museum of Modern Art (Kyoto)
  • PetaPixel
  • Morgan Library & Museum
  • Le Monde
  • The Morgan Library & Museum
  • Art Blart
  • The New York Times
  • Lenscratch
  • MFA Boston
  • Addison Gallery of American Art
  • Czong Institute for Contemporary Art
  • Space Place Gallery
  • Bristol Art Museum
  • Rochester Museum of Fine Arts
  • Condé Nast
  • Carnegie Hall
  • San Francisco Ballet
  • Mabou Mines
  • George Eastman House
  • Artlyst
  • Bottega Veneta
  • Museo Ettore Fico (MEF)
  • FO.TO – Fotografi a Torino
  • Fundación Mapfre
  • SpazioReale
  • Palazzo Villanis
  • Documenta
  • Frieze

Locations

  • New York
  • McKeesport
  • Pennsylvania
  • Germany
  • Russia
  • Texas
  • Gramercy Park
  • Vienna
  • Bennington
  • Third Avenue
  • Park Avenue
  • Fire Island
  • Hamptons
  • Manhattan
  • Pittsburgh
  • U.S.S.R.
  • USSR
  • Barcelona
  • Spain
  • United States
  • Soviet Union
  • Los Angeles
  • Kyoto
  • Philadelphia
  • Turin
  • Italy
  • Madrid
  • Mexico City
  • Mexico
  • Paris
  • France
  • New York City
  • Tokyo
  • Japan
  • America
  • South Korea
  • Denver
  • 350 Madison Avenue
  • Carnegie Hall
  • Monte Carasso
  • Switzerland

Sources

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