Ralph Gibson (b. 1939, Los Angeles, California) studied photography while in the Navy and then at the San Francisco Art Institute. He began his professional career as an assistant to Dorothea Lange and went on to work with Robert Frank on two films. Gibson is widely regarded as both a prolific photographer and bookmaker, and founded Lustrum Press in the early 1970s. Gibson's numerous awards include three grants from the National Endowment for the Arts, a John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Fellowship, and the Leica Medal of Excellence. His photographs are in major public and private collections worldwide, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and the Modern Museum of Art. He divides his time between New York and France.
