Judy Dater

PROVENANCE: Courtesy of the Artist

Born in Hollywood, California on June 21, 1941, she grew up in her father’s movie theater.   She wanted to be a movie star, and change her name to Gina Lester.  But fate took her to San Francisco where she studied photography, earning her Masters in Art from San Francisco State University in 1966.

Judy Dater has been a major figure in photography’s breakout moment in the 60s.  She is recognized as an artist, photographer, writer and feminist.  Her work has been exhibited worldwide, and is held in many prominent collections including The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Museum of Modern Art NY, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, The Getty Museum and de Young Museum.  

She is the author of several books including her most recent book, Only Human, with an accompanying exhibition at the de Young Museum in 2018.  Other books include: Cycles, with an introduction by Sheryl Conkelton, and essays by Clarissa Pinkola Estés, Donna Stein, and Michiko Kasahara, Kodansha, 1991; Judy Dater: 20 Years, essay by James Enyeart, University of Arizona Press, 1986; Body & Soul: Ten American Women, Photographs by Judy Dater, text by Carolyn Coman, Hill & Co., Boston MA. 1988; Imogen Cunningham: A Portrait, text, photographs and editing, Judy Dater, New York Graphic Society, Boston, MA, 1979; and Women and Other Visions, with Jack Welpott, Morgan & Morgan, Dobbs Ferry, NY, 1975