Bill Rauhauser/ photo from his website
Detroit native Bill Rauhauser is still achieving things at age 95.
The latest: The top-shelf professional photographer who has taught at the College for Creative Studies, Wayne State University and the University of Michigan, has received the Kresge Foundation’s prestigious Eminent Artist Award, which comes with a $50,000 prize, B.J. Hammerstein of the Detroit Free Press reports. The award will be officially announced today.
Rauhauser, whose home and studio is in Southfield, is known for his iconic black-and-white photographs — shot mostly on the streets of Detroit, Hammerstein writes, noting that his work has been been displayed at the Detroit Institute of Arts, Museum of Modern Art in New York and the Smithsonian Institution in Washington.
His photographs are currently being shown at the Carl Hammer Gallery in Chicago and he is serving as Artist Advisor for the Board of Directors of the Dept. of Prints, Drawings and Photographs of the DIA.
Hammerstein writes that Gilda Snowden, a professor of fine arts at CCS and a former Kresge artist fellow, said she couldn’t have hoped for a better recipient than her former CCS colleague.
“I have seen how he influenced every photographer around here, and the fact that he’s still so vital and active is a testament to his eagerness to make sure that the photography scene here is one that’s vigorous,” said Snowden
