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Michael Kenna

Michael Kenna

1953

Michael Kenna was born in Widnes, Lancashire, an industrial town in the north-west of England in 1953. As one of five children born to a working class Irish-Catholic family, he ...

Michael Kenna

Biography

Michael Kenna was born in Widnes, Lancashire, an industrial town in the north-west of England in 1953. As one of five children born to a working class Irish-Catholic family, he aspired to enter the priesthood and attended St. Joseph’s College, from 1964 to 1972. His passion for painting soon led him to The Banbury School of Art in Oxfordshire. A year later, he started a program at the London School of Printing, where he graduated with distinction in 1976. “I realized that there wasn’t a chance that I would survive as a painter, so I studied photography because I knew I could at least attempt a living doing commercial and advertising work.” Kenna’s interest in fine art photography was triggered after viewing “The Land” – an exhibition at the Victoria and Albert Museum in 1975, curated by Bill Brandt. Kenna acknowledges the primary influences on his work were Brandt, Atget, Emerson and Sudek, as well as American photographers, Ruth Bernhard, Callahan, Sheeler and Steiglitz.

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