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6:00 - 6:30: Member and Guest Meet & Greet
6:30: Meeting begins

Detailed directions to the Metropolitan Opera Guild with map and street views.

John Dugdale is a remarkable and much loved artist.  Over the past twenty years, working in a state of near blindness, he has created photographs as if from his soul. John, at age 53, has reached a notable level of artistic acclaim with his photographs in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and the Whitney Museum in New York City, among other noteworthy collections, and more than twenty solo exhibitions worldwide.

Dugdale's theme is one of survival and the triumph of the creative spirit; his vision is of gracious beauty, emotionally rich and sensual.  John was diagnosed HIV positive over 21 years ago and nearly struck blind.  Life forced him to see and photograph in a new and more personal way.

John's pictures are influenced by 19th century imagery, as seen in his dream-like portraits or in his ordered still-lifes.  From image to presentation the artist's hand is apparent from start to finish.  He began to use a nineteenth century large format camera producing classic, ethereal blue cyanotypes, a simple rustic process invented in 1842. John has also produced albument and platinum prints.

Born in Connecticut in 1960, John lives and works in his attic studio in Greenwich Village and his 19th century farmhouse located in Upstate New York.  A successful commercial photographer, he graduated from the School of Visual Arts in 1984. His subjects are portraits and figure studies of his friends and family, flowers, still-lifes of his collection of antique china and glass, and the rural landscape of his home.  They are also intimate glimpses of private moments and personal space.  There is a tranquil and timeless quality to his work.

Pictured here is a self portrait from 2016.