about
Born in Chicago in 1942, Ron Gordon has spent a lifetime capturing the city’s residents and evolving urban landscape. Becoming a graduate in 1965 of the University of Illinois with a bachelors in English and French, Gordon spent a formative year in France teaching English in French Lycée. He moved back to Chicago in 1973 to open his own photography studio and darkroom print lab where over the decades, his work has focused on documenting the changing face of Chicago as an architectural and historic preservation photographer. His career outside of capturing the city includes serving as an Adjunct Professor of Photography for Architecture Students at the Institute of Design at the Illinois Institute of Technology from 1999 to 2010. In 2016, Ron relocated to Durham, North Carolina, continuing his interest in capturing urban and natural landscapes.
Collections
- The Chicago History Museum :
- https://www.chicagohistory.org/ron-gordon-visual-materials-1971-2016/
- Fred Jones Jr. Museum of Art University of Oklahoma Carol Beesley Collection
- The Art Institute of Chicago
- Printers Row Chicago Transportation Building Manhattan Building Donohue Building
- Museum of Contemporary Photography Columbia College Chicago
- Illinois State Museum Purchase Award
- Harvard Graduate School of Design
- Paris Art Center
- Czarnowski Exhibit Services Chicago
VISIT https://www.chicagohistory.org/ron-gordon-visual-materials-1971-2016/
Past Exhibitions
- 2025 Golden Belt Community Show “Donny” the Rooster archival pigment print
- 2024 Bwac, Brooklyn Waterfront Artists Coalition, exhibition Red Hook Brooklyn, 7 Exhibition Photographs silver prints
- 2023 Click Photo Fest 7 vintage polaroid prints at Golden Belt
- 2022 Fruit Group show Vivian Maier vintage Pronts, Sandra Steinbrecher photographs, Ron Gordon 13 exhibition photographs silver prints
- 2016 Maxwell Street’s Last Hope Group Exhibit Uri-Eichen Gallery
- 2015 Chicago Reader in Black and White Group Exhibit Gage Gallery
- 2014 Landscapes 40 Years Retrospective Exhibition Prospectus Gallery
- 2011 Look and Listen Festival NY Exhibition Performance Photographs
- 2010 Group Exhibition Key Note Lecture Dubuque Main Street Architecture Days
- 2010 Founding Member and President of the Board Chicago Photography Collective
- 2009 Celebration A Tribute to Change Prospectus Gallery
- 2008 Not Just Another Pretty Face Group Exhibition Hyde Park Art Center
- 2008 Made in Pilsen Group Exhibit Featured Artist Prospectus Gallery
- 2007 Changing Landscape One Man Exhibit Prospectus Gallery
- 2005 New Work One Man Exhibit Chicago Arts District Gallery
- The Saving of the Zook House A Photographic Essay Hinsdale Center for the Arts
- 2000 Chicago in the Year 2000 Chicago Documentary Project
- 1999 Hyatt Photography Project
- 1997 Projects for Historic American Building Survey HABS
- 1996 Illinois Photographers in the 90’s: The Midwest Photographers Project
- 1996 Chicago School of Professional Psychology Exhibition
- 1996 Artist to Artist Group Show
- 1993 Residence Work in ProgressPortfolio Notes Ucross Foundation, Wyoming
- 1989 Changing Chicago Exhibit and Book Focus Infinity Fund Chicago Cultural Center
- 1988 Ron Gordon Photographs American Institute of Architecture Chicago
- 1985 Left to Right Randolph Street Gallery
- 1985 150 Years of Chicago Architecture exhibit Museum of Science and Industry
- 1985 Wide Perspectives: Nine Viewpoints Museum of Contemporary Photography
- 1984 Le Couleur Straight The Paris Art Center Paris, France
- 1983 Chicago the Architectural City The Art Institute of Chicago
- 1983 Baseball One Person Exhibit The Chicago Journal
- 1983 Space Framed 1: Work by a Contemporary Photography Harvard University
- 1981 Images from architecture Group Exhibit Columbia College Gallery Chicago
- 1981 The Architectural Photograph The Chicago Architecture Foundation
Critic reviews
