Arthur Tress

Arthur Tress (born November 24, 1940) is an American photographer. He is known for his staged surrealism and exposition of the human body.

Early life and education Photograph by Tress of an abandoned car and unfinished apartment house at Breezy Point, Queens, in 1973. It was taken for the Environmental Protection Agency's Documerica program to photographically document subjects of environmental concern.

Tress comes from a Jewish background; his parents immigrated from Europe. His sister was the lawyer and gay rights advocate Madeleine Tress.

At age 12, he began to photograph members of the circus and dilapidated buildings around Coney Island in New York City, where he grew up. Tress has said that "growing up as a gay man in the 1950s was not easy, especially at school."

In the late 1960s, he made a series of surreal photographs about children's dreams, using staged scenarios.

Tress resided in Cambria, California, for 25 years, and now lives in San Francisco.

Publications

Open Space in the Inner City: Ecology and the Urban Environment. New York: New York State Council on the Arts, 1971 Arthur Tress: The Dream Collector. Text by John Minahan. Richmond: Westover, 1972 New York: Avon, 1974 Shadow. A Novel in Photographs. New York: Avon, 1975. Theater of the Mind. Text by Duane Michaels, Michel Tournier and A.D. Coleman. Dobbs Ferry: Morgan and Morgan, 1976. Reves. Text by Michel Tournier. Brussels: Complexe, 1979. Talisman. Edited by Marco Livingstone. Oxford: Museum of Modern Art, Oxford, 1986. The Teapot Opera. Photographs and text by Arthur Tress. Goro International, 1986 Abbeville, 1988 Male of the Species: Four Decades of Photography by Arthur Tress. Text by Michale Tournier. Fotofactory, 1999. Fish Tank Sonata. Bulfinch, 2000. Arthur Tress: Fantastic Voyage: Photographs 1956-2000. Bulfinch, 2001. Memories. Photographs by Arthur Tress, Poems by Guillaume Apollinaire. 21st, 2003 Arthur Tress: Facing Up. Top Choice, 2004. Arthur Tress San Francisco 1964 by James Ganz. Prestel USA, 2012. Arthur Tress: Transréalités. France: Contrejour. 2013. Egypt 1963 One. Southport, England: Café Royal, 2014. Edition of 150 copies. Egypt 1963 Two. Southport, England: Café Royal, 2014. Edition of 150 copies. Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris: 12 prints (as of December 2019) George Eastman Museum, Rochester, New York: 5 prints (as of December 2019) Honolulu Museum of Art Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, California: 138 prints (as of December 2019) Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York: 3 prints (as of December 2019) Museum of Contemporary Photography, Chicago, Illinois: 14 prints (as of December 2019) Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Texas: 14 prints (as of December 2019) San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco, California: 4 prints (as of December 2019) Whitney Museum of Art, New York: 33 prints (as of December 2019)

Awards 2012: Honoree: Achievement in Fine Art, Lucie Awards