Bruce Cratsley

Inspired by the technique of Eugene Atget and other early photographers, Bruce Cratsley works in a classically Modern style. Shadows and reflections, reminiscent of film noir, suggest human presence in the artist's intimate photographs. Images of masks and mannequins, a motif inspired by the Surrealists, have an eerie sense of life arrested. They include a magical night view of the Brooklyn Bridge illuminated by fireworks, scenes of Venice and Paris, as well as portraiture, including an image of his companion as he was dying of AIDS, a disease that Cratsley himself battled for almost a decade.



Cratsley began the study of photography in 1972 with Lisette Model. He worked in New York galleries for ten years, leaving his position as Director of Graphics and Photography at Marlborough Gallery in 1986 to pursue a career as an artist. His work is represented in public collections throughout the world and has been the subject of solo exhibitions in New York, Boston, Philadelphia, Venice, and London.

Courtesy of the Brooklyn Museum