Rodney Smith photographs | Gilman Contemporary Sun Valley, ID

In each of his carefully-crafted compositions, he banishes the chaos of modern life for another that is grounded in a romantic view of the past. Like Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland, he asks us to follow him down the rabbit hole to a fantastical place that is just beyond our reach, but one intended to inspire us to be better versions of ourselves. - Paul Martineau, Curator of Photographs, J.Paul Getty Museum.

Rodney Smith (1947-2016) was a renowned New York-based photographer who in the tradition of Avedon, Penn and William Klein, transcended fashion photography into fine art. With a career that lasted more than 45 years, Rodney Smith developed a unique style balancing technical mastery and a desire to portray the best of humanity.

Long acclaimed for his iconic black and white images that combine portraiture and landscape, Smith created enchanted worlds full of subtle contradictions and surprises. Using only film and light, his unretouched, dreamlike images are matched in quality by the craft and physical beauty of his prints. In 2002 Smith began experimenting with color film and continued to create timeless, classic images that reflect his innate playfulness and curiosity.

Smith’s work continues to be shown at museums and galleries worldwide. In 2021 the J. Paul Getty Museum acquired ten of his photographs for their permanent collection. In May of 2023 Getty Publications will release, Rodney Smith: A Leap of Faith, a collection of essays and photographs chosen by Paul Martieau, Curator of Photography at the J. Paul Getty Museum, with contributions by Rebecca A. Snef and Leslie Smolan and with an introduction by Graydon Carter.

In addition to the J. Paul Getty Museum’s collection, Smith’s work is included in Houston Museum of Fine Arts (Houston, TX); Museum of Fine Arts (Boston, MA); Philadelphia Museum of Art (Philadelphia, PA); Bayley Museum, University of Virginia (Charlottesville, VA); Museum of Art, Brigham Young University (Salt Lake City, UT); Rose Art Museum, Brandeis University (Waltham, MA); National September 11th Memorial & Museum (New York, NY); and Yale University Art Gallery (New Haven, CT) and the Portland Museum of Art (Portland, ME).

Rodney Smith will always be remembered as a creator who cared deeply about sharing his vision of the world with humor, grace, and optimism.