German photographer. Between 1978 and 1981, he was a student at the Folkwangschule in Essen and, between 1981 and 1987, he was at the Art Academy in Düsseldorf. His early work was basically a sequence of photographs with the same theme and later (1984) he did isolated photographs, each with a different motif. In 1987, he held his first one-man show at Düsseldorf airport and, in 1989, he received the first prize for German Photography. In the same year, he participated in the first Photo-Triennal in Esslingen and, in 1990, in the Venice Biennale. In 1991, he won the Art Prize in Bremen and the Rente Prize awarded by the Kunsthalle in Nuremberg. In 1994, the Deichtorhallen, in Hamburg, devoted an exhibition to him. Gursky's photos are linked to the great tradition of European painting. His themes are landscapes, interiors, genre paintings, architecture and abstraction. His works range from realism to Minimal Art. Gursky has applied the memory of painting to his work. Currently, he lives and works in Düsseldorf.
