- Term
Bruce Davidson
- Alternate Term
Davidson, Bruce
- Occupation/Role
photographer
- Nationality/Ethnicity
American
- Date
born 1933
- Remarks
Bruce Davidson was born in Oak Park, Illinois, in 1933. When he was 10, his mother built him a darkroom in their basement and Davidson began taking photographs. Soon after, he approached a local photographer who taught him the technical nuances of photography, in addition to lighting and printing skills. At 16, Davidson won his first major photography award, the Kodak National High School snapshot contest. Davidson attended the Rochester Institute of Technology and Yale University and for his college thesis created a photo essay that was published in Life in 1955, documenting the emotions of football players behind the scenes of the game. Following college, Davidson was drafted into the US Army, where he served in the Signal Corps at Fort Huachuca, Arizona, attached to the post's photo pool. When, stationed in Paris, he met Henri Cartier-Bresson, a later colleague with the Magnum photo agency. After his military service, in 1957, Bruce Davidson worked briefly as a freelance photographer, before joining Magnum the following year. From 1961 to 1965, Davidson chronicled the events and effects of the Civil Rights Movement around the country, in both the North and the South. In support of his project, Davidson received a Guggenheim Fellowship in 1962, and his finished project was displayed at the Museum of Modern Art in New York. He lives in New York City with his wife, Emily.