Bob Thall | American, 1948 -
Bob Thall received both his Bachelor of Arts and Master of Fine Arts from the University of Illinois, Chicago. Thall, like Atget before him, has photographed his native city with continuous and insistent regard for the places, buildings and structures that define it. His vision originates from a deep connection to place, of knowing its specifics and conveying their sights through graceful and compelling observations that are both resolved on the ground glass of his camera, and conveyed through the rich and subtle tones of his photographs.
Thall's photographs of the Chicago urban landscape have been published in four monographs: The Perfect City (1994), The New American Village (1999), City Spaces (2002), and At City’s Edge: Photographs of the Chicago Lakefront (2005).
His photographs are in the collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Museum of Modern Art, Museum of Contemporary Photography, Art Institute of Chicago, Addison Gallery of American Art, Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Santa Barbara Museum of Art, Center for Creative Photography, among others.
He has been the receipt of numerous awards, including a John Simon Guggenheim Foundation Fellowship, Graham Foundation Grant and Fellowships from the Illinois Arts Council.
Thall is currently an Associate Professor of photography at Columbia College, Chicago.