Ray K. Metzker

Ray K. Metzker (1931-2014) is today recognized as one of the great masters of American photography. Trained at the progressive Institute of Design in Chicago - the brainchild of Bauhaus pioneer László Moholy-Nagy - Metzker developed a distinctly experimental style early on. He combined disciplines, broke conventions, and elevated photography to new artistic heights. After his first solo exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York in 1967, major retrospectives followed in leading museums across the United States, including the J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles. Yet this influential photographer long remained underexposed.

This new edition is the first publication in years devoted entirely to Metzker - a book that finally provides the recognition his work deserves. Featuring 150 black-and-white photographs, largely drawn from the archives of the Ray K. Metzker Estate in Philadelphia, City Lux offers a renewed look at his oeuvre. The photographs display an unparalleled mastery of light and composition: geometric cityscapes filled with vertical and horizontal lines, surprising double exposures, layered negatives, and abstract grid structures. Each image testifies to Metzker's unique position as a modern master of monochrome photography.

The accompanying texts are by Carrie Springer, former curator at the Whitney Museum of American Art, and Vicki Harris, representative of the Metzker Estate in Philadelphia. The book was compiled by Françoise Morin and Philippe Séclier, curators of the exhibition Ray K. Metzker: City Lux at the A Foundation in Brussels (2024).