Ralph Gibson

Ralph Gibson (born January 16, 1939) is an American art photographer best known for his photographic books. His images often incorporate fragments with erotic and mysterious undertones, building narrative meaning through contextualization and surreal juxtaposition.

Early life and education

Gibson enlisted in the United States Navy in 1956 and became a Photographers Mate studying photography until 1960. Gibson then continued his photography studies at the San Francisco Art Institute between 1960 - 1962. He began his professional career as an assistant to Dorothea Lange from 1961 to 1962 and went on to work with Robert Frank on two films.

Work

Gibson has maintained a lifelong fascination with books and book-making. Since the appearance in 1970 of THE SOMNAMBULIST, his work has been steadily impelled towards the printed page. In 1969 Gibson moved to New York, where he formed Lustrum Press in order to exert control over the reproduction of his work. Lustrum Press also published Larry Clark's Tulsa (1971). To date he has produced over 40 monographs, current projects being State of the Axe published by Yale University Press in Fall of 2008 and NUDE by Taschen (2009). His photographs are included in over one hundred and fifty museum collections around the world, and have appeared in hundreds of exhibitions. He has worked exclusively with the Leica for almost 50 years.

Ralph Gibson (fighter pilot)

Ralph "Hoot" Duane Gibson (November 7, 1924 – January 2, 2009) was an American flying ace of the Korean War. He became the nation's third jet fighter ace with a total tally of five downed MiG-15 fighters. He also flew in the Vietnam War, and was a former lead pilot for the Air Force Thunderbirds.

Early life

Gibson was born in 1924, in Keensburg, Illinois and raised in Mt. Carmel. He entered USAAF flight school in 1943 and graduated the next year. Gibson did not participate in World War II becoming a second lieutenant later in 1946 while participating in the occupation of Japan.

Korean War

Gibson requested combat duty at the onset of the War in 1950. He flew the F-86 Sabre with the 4th Fighter-Interceptor Wing based at Kimpo Air Base in Korea. Having been promoted to first lieutenant, Gibson entered the war with the advantage of some 1,792 hours of pilot-in-command fighter time. Gibson's tally began on June 18, 1951 with the downing of two MiG-15s. He was credited with two further kills on July 11 and September 2, and his last on September 9. The fifth kill earned him the status of ace. By this time he had been awarded the Silver Star twice, and by the end of the War he had flown 94 combat missions.

Ralph Gibson (political activist)

Ralph Siward Gibson (19 February 1906 – 16 May 1989) was an Australian communist organiser and writer.

Gibson was born in Hampstead in London to W.R. Boyce Gibson and Lucy Judge, née Peacock. The elder Gibson was appointed to the chair of philosophy at the University of Melbourne in 1911, and the family moved to Toorak, before relocating to Mont Albert in 1918. The younger Ralph attended Glamorgan Preparatory and Melbourne Church of England Grammar schools before graduating from the University of Melbourne in 1927 with a Bachelor of Arts (Hons) in history and politics.

In 1925 Gibson was one of the founders of the university Labor Club and was active in the Labor Guild of Youth. He returned to England in 1927 and received a Master of Arts from the University of Manchester in 1930. He was an organiser for the British Labour Party at the 1929 general election before returning to Australia in 1931 to work as an extension lecturer for the Workers' Educational Association in 1931. Gibson became disillusioned with the Scullin government and its failure to deal with unemployment, and joined the Communist Party of Australia in January 1932.