Bill Peronneau Biography

Philladelphia, 1946 -

Originally a photojournalist, whose images went some way to defining the Civil Rights movement in American history, self-taught photographer Bill Peronneau has expanded his range and now works on large-scale personal projects that take him several years each to complete.

Peronneau's work is indicative of his healthy respect for the formal tradition of the early 20th Century masters of photography. One could say that it all began with the Paul Strand exhibition at the Philadelphia Museum of Art in 1970. It was in the mid-70s when his encounters with the art of photography became full-time. Peronneau works with the themes of seascape, portraiture, cityscape, still-life and the nude. Most of his career was spent living in Philadelphia, but in November of 1994, during a short visit to Northumberland he decided that the far northeast corner of England was where he would find his work. He has been there ever since.

Selected permanent collections: - Library of Congress, Washington, DC, USA. - 'The Plummer-Miller Collection', Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA. - Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn, New York. - New York Public Library, New York. - The National Gallery of New Zealand, Wellington, New Zealand.

Selected solo exhibitions: - Los Angeles Art Photographers Association, Venice, California, USA. - Art Alliance of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA. - Foto Gallery, New York. - American Institute of Architects, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA. - Special Photographers Company, London.

Selected group exhibitions: - 'Particulars', Selections from the Miller Plummer Collection of Photography, International Museum of Photography, George Eastman House, Rochester, New York. Traveling to Philadelphia Art Museum and Jewett Arts Center, Wellesley, Massachusetts, USA. - 'Pennsylvania Photographers', The Allentown Art Museum, Allentown, Pennsylvania, USA. - 'Ten Contemporary Photographers', Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, New York. - 'Triptychs', Los Angeles Art Photographers Association, Los Angeles, California, USA. - 'Three American Photographers', African-American Historical and Cultural Museum, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA.

Selected bibliography:

Time Magazine, USA.

The New York Times, USA.

The Village Voice, USA.

The Independent, UK.

The Guardian, UK.