An Iconic street photographer with a unique style, Bruce Gilden was born in Brooklyn, New York in 1946. He first went to Penn State University but he found his sociology courses too boring for his temperament and he quit college. Gilden briefly toyed with the idea of being an actor but in 1967, he decided to buy a camera and to become a photographer. Although he did attend some evening classes at the School of Visual Arts in New York, Bruce Gilden is to be considered substantially a self-taught photographer.

The photographic style of Bruce Gilden is defined by the dynamic accent of his pictures, his special graphic qualities, and his original and direct manner of shooting the faces of passers-by with a flash. Gilden’s powerful images in black and white and now in color have brought the Magnum photographer worldwide fame.

Gilden has received many awards and grants for his work, including National Endowments for the Arts fellowships (1980, 1984 and 1992), French “Villa Medicis Hors les Murs” grant (1995), grants from the New York State Foundation for the Arts ( 1979, 1992 and 2000), a Japan Foundation Artist Fellowship (1999) and in 2013 a Guggenheim Foundation fellowship.

Bruce Gilden joined Magnum Photos as a nominee in 1998 and became a member in 2001. He lives in Beacon, New York.

2013  Guggenheim Fellowship
2000, 1992, 1979  New York Foundation for the Arts (Artist’s Fellowship), New York, USA.
1999  The Japan Foundation Artist’s Fellowship.
1996  European Publishers’ Award for Photography.
1995  Villa Medicis Hors les Murs Artist’s Fellowship.
1992, 1984, 1980  National Endowment for the Arts Photographer’s Fellowship.

2024  Why These? Fotografiska, NY (opens 20 June)
2023  The Circuit, Polka Gallery, Paris
2022  Wall Portraits, Leica Gallery, London
2021  Images Gibellina, Sicily, Italy
2020  Lost and Found, Polka Gallery, Paris
2020  Lost and Found, 10 Corso Como, NY
2018  This Land, Pier 24, San Francisco
2018  Leica at Photo London, London
2016  Leica Gallery, London
2015  Polka Gallery, Paris
2015  Un Nouveau Regard sur la mobilité urbaine, Paris Metro
2015  Cob Gallery, London
2014  Robert Morat Gallery, Berlin / Hamburg
2013  Higher Pictures Gallery, New York
2012  Leica Japan, Tokyo
2012  Metenko Museum of Photography, Ekaterinenburg, Russia
2012  Photoville, Brooklyn, NY
2012  Look 3, Charlottesville, VA
2011  Derby Museum & Art Gallery, England
2010  Amador Gallery, NY
2008  Teen Have Gallery, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
2006  Bruce Silverstein Gallery, NY
2006  Sala Municipal de Exposiciones San Benito, Valladolid, Spain
2003  Carla Sozzani Gallery, Milan
2003  Festival International de la Mer, Vannes, France
2003  Fotographie Forum, Frankfurt, Germany
2003  Fotografisk Centrum, Copenhagen, Denmark
2001  Visa Pour L’image, Perpignan, France
2000  Shadai Gallery, Tokyo
2000  Agathe Gaillard Gallery, Paris
2000  Gallery of Photography, Dublin
1999  Arquivo Fotografico Municipal, Lisbon
1998  Nikon Salon, Tokyo
1998  L’imagerie Centre Savidan, Lannion, France
1997  The Royal Photographic Society, Bath, England
1997  Galerie le Château D’eau, Toulouse, France
1997  Encontros da Imagem, Braga, Portugal
1997  Robert B. Menschel Photography Gallery, Syracuse University, Syracuse, New York
1994  Leica Gallery, NY and Solms, Germany
1997  Gallery 292, NY
1994  Centre Regional de la Photographie, Nord Pas-de-Calais, France
1994  Agathe Gaillard Gallery, Paris
1993  Fotogalería San Martin, Buenos Aires
1993  Musée de la Photographie, Charleroi, Belgium,
1993  Galerie Bodo Niemann, Berlin
1993  Musée de l’Élysée, Lausanne, Switzerland
1993  The Special Photographers Company, London
1993  Galeria Forum, Tarragona, Spain
1993  German-American Institute, Heidelberg
1992  The Chrysler Museum, Norfolk, Virginia
1992  Galerie FNAC, Paris (traveling exhibition)
1992  Schlossmuseum, Kleve Fotogalerie in der Schwanenberg, Germany
1991  Photographic Museum of Finland, Helsinki
1991  Fotograficentrum, Stockholm
1991  Blatent Image/Silver Eye, Pittsburgh, PA
1990  Agathe Gaillard Gallery, Paris
1989  Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris
1988  Blue Sky Gallery, Portland, Oregon
1988  Houston Center for Photography, Houston, Texas
1986  Les Rencontres d’Arles, France
1977, 1979, 1984  OK Harris Gallery, NY

2025  Fotografiska, Stockholm, Sweden (upcoming)
2023  Documenting Israel: Visions of 75 Years, Museum of Tolerance, Jerusalem
2020  Triennial, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, Australia
2020  Open for Business, Magnum Photographers on Commission, Deutsche Börse, The Cube, Eschborn, Germany
2016  Strange and Familiar, Manchester Art Gallery, Manchester, England
2016  Strange and Familiar, England seen by foreign photographers, Barbican Center, London
2015  Framing Bodies, Hasselblad Center, Goteborg, Sweden
2014  Postcards from America, Milwaukee Art Museum, Milwaukee, WI
2012  Street Photography Now, London
2010  Never Just Looking, Galerie Thomas Zander, Cologne, Germany
2008  ’70s American Photography, Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris
2007  60 Years of Fashion Photography from Magnum, Magnum Print Room & Atlas Gallery, London
2007  Tokyo Seen by Magnum Photographers, Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Photography, Japan
2004  Magnum’s New Yorkers, Museum of the City of New York, NY
2002  New York: Capital of Photography, The Jewish Museum, NY
2002  Life of the City, The Museum of Modern Art, NY
2001  New York September 11 by Magnum Photographers, (traveling exhibition and book)
2000  New York Now, Museum of The City of New York, NY
1999  Magnum – Our Turning World, Barbican, London
1994  Who’s Looking at the Family, Barbican, London
1994  Hasselblad Center, Gothenburg, Sweden
1994  Magic Moments: 40 Years of Leica M, (traveling exhibition)
1994  Uber die Grossen Städte, Marstall, Berlin
1993  Recent Acquisitions, Museum of Modern Art, NY
1991  Regards sur Médecins sans Frontières, (traveling exhibition)
1991  Means Streets: American Photographs from the Collection, Museum of Modern Art, NY
1989  Mois de la Photo, Montreal, Canada
1988  Victoria and Albert Museum, London
1988  NYC – Same Street 3 Views, Houston FotoFest, TX
1987  57th & 5th, Pace/Macgill, NY
1987  Twelve Photographers Look at Us, Philadelphia Museum of Art, PA

Pier 24, San Francisco, CA
The Getty Museum, Los Angeles, CA
Bill Block Collection, Los Angeles, CA
Elton John Collection, Atlanta, GA
Archive of Modern Conflict, London
Martin Parr Foundation, Bristol, England
Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Photography, Tokyo
Museum of Modern Art, New York
The Royal Photographic Society, Bath, England
Victoria and Albert Museum, London
Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia, PA
Galerie du Chateau d’Eau, Toulouse, France
Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, TX
Paris Audiovisuel, France
Museet for fotokunst, Odense, Denmark
Moderna Museet, Stockholm, Sweden
Photographic Museum of Finland, Helsinki, Finland
Musée de l’Elysée, Lausanne, Switzerland
The Chrysler Museum, Norfolk, VA
Fonds National d’Art Contemporain, Paris
The Dreyfus Corporation, New York
Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn, New York
National Gallery of Canada
Fogg Art Museum, Cambridge, MA
Wilson Centre for Photography, London
Milwaukee Art Museum, Milwaukee, WI
The Carpenter Center For Visual Arts, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA
The Hasselblad Collection, Gothenburg, Sweden
Center For Creative Photography, Tucson, AZ
Arquivo Fotografico Municipal, Lisbon
National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, Australia