Michael Kenna

Michael Kenna, Daybreak Reflection, Angkor Wat, Cambodia, 2018

Cambodia

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Michael Kenna, Huangshan Mountains, Study 3, Anhui, China, 2008

Huangshan Mountains - China

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Michael Kenna, Charles Bridge, Study 12, Prague, Czech Republic, 2008

Czech Republic

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New Zealand

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South Korea

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Switzerland

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Ukraine

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Michael Kenna, School Yard, Heptonstall, Yorkshire, England, 1983

United Kingdom

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Biographical Information

Michael Kenna (British, b. 1953) was born in Widnes, England, and is one of the most influential landscape photographers working today. His mysterious photographs, often made at dawn or in the dark hours of night, concentrate primarily on the interaction between the natural landscape and human-made structures. Kenna is both a diurnal and nocturnal photographer, fascinated by times of day when light is at its most pliant. His long time-exposures, which might last throughout the night, often record details in the photographs that the human eye is not able to perceive.

Kenna is particularly famous for the intimate scale of his photography and his meticulous personal printing style. He works in the traditional, non-digital, photographic medium. His exquisitely hand crafted black and white prints, which he still makes himself in his darkroom, reflect a sense of refinement, respect for history, and thorough originality.

During Kenna’s career, his photographs have been shown in nearly 500 one-person gallery and museum exhibitions throughout the world, and are included in over one hundred permanent institutional collections, including; The Bibliotheque Nationale, Paris; The Metropolitan Museum of Photography, Tokyo; The Museum of Modern Art, New York; The National Gallery, Washington, D.C.; The Shanghai Art Museum, Shanghai; and The Victoria and Albert Museum, London.  Michael Kenna received the prestigious Officer des Arts et des Lettres medal in Paris in 2022.

Over ninety monographs and exhibition catalogs have been published on Kenna’s work, including  Michael Kenna – A Twenty Year Retrospective (Treville, 1994 and Nazraeli Press, 2000); Impossible to Forget (Marval and Nazraeli Press, 2001); Japan (Nazraeli Press and Treville Editions, 2003); Michael Kenna – A Retrospective (BnF, 2009); China (Posts and Telecom Press, 2014); France (Nazraeli Press, 2014); Forms of Japan (Prestel, 2015); Rouge (Prestel 2016); Rafu (Nazraeli Press and Shuppan Kyodosha, 2018), Beyond Architecture – Michael Kenna (Prestel 2019) ; Buddha (Prestel 2020); Northern England 1983-1986 (Nazraeli Press 2021); Flesh of Stone (Noir Editions 2022); Arbres/Trees (Skira Editions 2022)

Please note that other works may be available that are not currently on our website.