DIRK MCDONNELL (1952-2021) began photographing in the mid-80s when he travelled extensively through Mexico with his 35mm camera. McDonnell has since traveled to photograph life in a number of disparate places, including Turkey, Holland, England, Italy, France, Ireland, and China. Most recently, McDonnell has photographed in Argentina, Death Valley and the Isle of Skye. He also concentrated on photographing the Maine landscape in winter, usually working with a large format camera which enabled him to manipulate the image while shooting.
His “historiographic photographs have clarity, emotional depth and edge,” wrote Philip Isaacson in the Maine Sunday Telegram.
He is in the permanent collection of the Farnsworth Art Museum in Rockland, ME; The Georgia O’Keefe Museum in Santa Fe, NM; the Portland Museum of Art in Portland, ME; Bravo Center in Oaxaca, Mexico; The Museum of Contemporary Photography in Chicago, IL; Colby College Art Museum in Waterville, ME; The Norma Marin Collection at Smith Wellesley; the University of Maine in Machias, ME; and the New Orleans Museum of Art. He is also represented by Robert Klein Gallery in Boston.