Vera Lutter

Vera Lutter (* 1960 in Kaiserslautern) is an artist living and working in New York City. She is known for her large-scale photographs of shipyards, airports, factories and the Egyptian pyramids.

Vera Lutter's career


In 1985 Vera Lutter began studying sculpture at the Academy of Fine Arts in Munich. She successfully completed her studies in 1991. She then went to New York to study "Photography and Related Media" at the School of Visual Arts. In 1995 she also successfully completed her studies with a Master of Fine Arts (MFA).

Vera Lutter's technique


While still a student, Lutter began to explore the technique of the camera obscura, also known as the pinhole camera. This medium will become the focus of her work. Lutter's works require hours or sometimes weeks of exposure and result in a negative print of the scene. Due to this working method, Vera Lutter experiences a very selective working process and the amount and variety of shots is much more limited than with other photographers.
The often large formats of her works are intended to give the viewer the feeling of being able to dive directly into the scene depicted.

In 2001, Vera Lutter was honoured with membership of the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation. The foundation supports individuals who have already demonstrated an extraordinary capacity for science or exceptional creative ability in the arts. Two years later, she is awarded the Pollock-Krasner Foundation Fellowship. The foundation's goal is to provide financial support to freelance artists.

Her work is represented internationally in museums and public art collections, such as the Centre Pompidou in Paris, the Kunstpalast in Düsseldorf, the Museum of Modern Art (MoMa) in New York and the Israel Museum in Jerusalem.

Brooklyn Bridge: May 23, 2015, 2015, Gelatin silver print, unique, 32 × 51 cm

RHEINBRAUN, XIV: September 1, 2006, 2006, Gelatin silver print, unique, 229 × 142 cm

Radio Telescope, Effelsberg, XII: September 9, 2013, 2013, Gelatin silver print, unique, 240 × 210 cm

Ca' del Duca, Venice: July 23, 2008, 2008, Gelatin silver print, unique, 50,6 × 60,7 cm

Collection

The Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago IL., USA
Boston Museum of Fine Arts, Boston MA., USA
Brooklyn Museum, New York NY., USA
Centre Pompidou, Paris, France
Chrysler Museum of Art, Norfolk VA., USA
Davis Museum, Wellesley MA., USA
Dia Art Foundation, New York NY., USA
The Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, Fort Worth TX., USA
The J. Paul Getty Museum Los Angeles, CA., USA
The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York NY., USA
Harvard Art Museums& Fogg Museum, Cambridge MA., USA
The Israel Museum, Jerusalem, Israel
Kunsthaus, Zürich, Switzerland
Lenbachhaus, München, Germany
Los Angeles County of Art, Los Angeles CA., USA
Museum Kunstpalast, Düsseldorf, Germany
Museum of Fine Arts, Houston TX., USA
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York NY., USA
Middlebury College Museum of Art, Middlebury VT., USA
Minneapolis Institute of Art, Minneapolis MN., USA
The Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, Fort Worth TX., USA
Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago IL., USA
Museum of Fine Arts, Houston TX., USA
The Museum of Modern Art, New York NY., USA
The National Gallery of Art, Washington D.C., USA
Neue Galerie, New York NY., USA
Neue Nationalgalerie, Berlin, Germany
New York Public Library, New York NY., USA
North Carolina Museum of Art, Raleigh NC., USA
San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco CA., USA
Whitney Museum of American Art, New York NY., USA

Vita

1960
Born in Kaiserslautern.
1985/1991
Studies of sculpture at the Academy of Fine Arts in Munich.
1993
German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) Grant.
1995
Completion of studies in "Photography and Related Media" at the School of Visual Arts in New York City.
1997
Fellowship from the International Center for Advanced Studies, project on cities and urban knowledge at New York University.
1999
ZF Friedrichshafen Cultural Foundation Grant.
2001
John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation Fellowship & Artist-in-Residence at International Artists Studio Program in Sweden (IASPS).
2002
Pollock-Krasner Foundation Grant.