Jeff Wall

Jeff Wall (*1946, Vancouver) is considered one of the most influential figures in contemporary photography. A trained art historian, he began engaging with photography in the 1960s—the heyday of Conceptual Art—and has shaped the medium since the 1970s through his large-format, back lit transparencies. His works range from classical reportage to elaborate constructions and montages, typically produced in formats more traditionally associated with painting. Jeff Wall describes his photographs as “prose poems”—a term he adopted from Charles Baudelaire—to emphasize their complex structures and their ability to evoke broad constellations of meaning and tension rather than conveying a fixed narrative or singular idea. His staged, cinematic images remain open to interpretation, inviting viewers to experience aesthetic pleasure in the suspension of truth claims. The artist has been represented by Galerie Rüdiger Schöttle since 1981.

The settings of his photographic tableaux range from everyday urban scenes to dramatically charged moments—carefully constructed and rich in art historical, literary, and cinematic references. Wall sees himself as a director of his images and cites painting and film as central influences. His works reference artists such as Velázquez, Manet, Delacroix, and Hokusai, and take up themes from Kafka, Mishima, and Ralph Ellison, among others.
In addition to these elaborately staged, cinematic images—such as Mimic (1982) and Picture for Women (1979)—Wall has also created photographs that draw on the style of documentary imagery, such as Still Creek, Vancouver, winter 2003. Since the mid-1990s, he has expanded his practice to include traditional black-and-white gelatin silver prints, some of which were shown at documenta X. As a co-founder of the Vancouver School, he has also published writings on fellow artists such as Rodney Graham and Ken Lum. His works explore the tension between reality, representation, and staging within the context of urban visual culture.

Jeff Wall's works are included in renowned international collections, including MoMa, New York City; Art Institute of Chicago; Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh; Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York; Montreal Museum of Contemporary Art, Montreal; Tate, London; Centre Pompidou, Paris; Fondation Cartier, Paris; Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo, Turin; De Pont Museum, Tilburg; The George Economou Collection, Athens; Museo Reina Sofía, Madrid; Moderna Museet, Stockholm; Kunsthaus Zürich; Kunstmuseum Basel; Hamburger Bahnhof – Museum für Gegenwart, Berlin; Staatliche Museen zu Berlin; Hamburger Kunsthalle, Hamburg; K20/K21 – Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen, Düsseldorf; Lenbachhaus, Munich; Sammlung Goetz, Munich; Pinakotheken, Munich; Städel Museum, Frankfurt; Museum Ludwig, Cologne.