Will McBride
Will McBride (January 10, 1931 – January 29, 2015) was an American photographer in reportage, art photography and book illustration as well as a painter and sculptor.
Will McBride
![Will McBride and female model, Southern France, 1975. The photograph was taken during 6th Rencontres Internationales de la Photographie, Arles, 1975, at 'Les Beaux de Provence' caves. Will was in a strange mood, at that time [photographer was not sure whether he might be cuffed his ears -- which was not the case;]. Nikon 24mm lens.](https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/f6/Will_McBride_1975.jpg/1280px-Will_McBride_1975.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail)
Wolfgang H. Wögerer, Wien · Self-photographed · CC BY 3.0
- Name
- Will McBride
- Born
- January 10, 1931
- Birthplace
- St.
- Died
- 29 January 2015
- Place of death
- U.S.
- Occupation
- Photographer
- Nationality
- United States
- Fields
- photography · art of sculpture · painting · illustration
- Education
- Syracuse University · School of the Art Institute of Chicago · University of Vermont · Freie Universität Berlin
- Honours
- Dr. Erich Salomon Prize
- Languages
- English · German
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wikidata · Q2576541
In this article
Key facts
Key facts
• Name — Will McBride • Born — January 10, 1931 • Birthplace — St. Louis, Missouri, U.S. • Died — 29 January 2015 • Place of death — U.S. • Occupation — Photographer
Life
Life
McBride was born in St. Louis, Missouri and grew up in Chicago. He was trained as a painter by Norman Rockwell and went on to study drawing and painting at Syracuse University, where he graduated in 1953. From 1953 to 1955 he served in the United States Army at Würzburg, Germany as a lieutenant, and would remain in Germany until his death. 1969 McBride divorced his wife Barbara (née Wilke, married 1959) with whom he had three children: Shawn-, Robin-, and Brian McBride. His work has been published in the German youth magazine Twen, among other European magazines. Twen provoked a scandal when they published McBride's portraits of his pregnant wife Barbara in 1960. The bulk of his photography work is not often seen in the USA. McBride's work includes nudity and has experienced censorship. McBride received censure for the photography in his 1975 book Show Me! (German title Zeig Mal!). Solo exhibitions of his work since 2000 have included at the Galleria d'Arte Moderna, Bologna, the Dany Keller Galerie, Munich, Galerie argus fotokunst, Haus am Waldsee, Berlin and C/O Berlin. In 2004 McBride received the Dr. Erich Salomon Prize from the German Society for Photography. He died in 2015, age 84.
Life and career
Dated record
Life and career
The full dated record · 2 entries
1931
Will McBride was born on 10 January 1931.
2015
Will McBride died on 29 January 2015.
Places
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Places
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St. Louis.
Birth place
Berlin.
Death place
Selected books
• Show Me!, 1975. (German title Zeig Mal!). • Foto-Tagebuch 1953 - 1961, 1982. • Adenauer und seine Kinder - Fotografien von 1956-1968, 1994. • My Sixties, 1994. • I, Will McBride, 1997. (Retrospective) • Coming of Age, Aperture, 1999. (Introductory essay, "Ways of Being Human", by Guy Davenport). • Situationen Projekte: Ein Fotobuch, 2000. *

Grabschild auf dem Grab des amerikanischen Photographen Will McBride auf dem Französischen Friedhof II in Berlin.
Harvey Kneeslapper

Das Grab des amerikanischen Photographen Will McBride auf dem Französischen Friedhof II in Berlin.
Harvey Kneeslapper
The Will McBride Archive
Following an agreement between the heirs, ownership of McBride's entire artistic estate, including 65 years of photographic production and correspondence are incorporated in the Will McBride Archive located in Bristow, Germany. This includes the ownership of copyright which has passed to his son, Shawn M. McBride. The archive is accessible for research, collaborates with publishers and facilitates exhibitions, confirms authenticity of work and issues a limited number of reprints.
Text attribution
Licensing
Text attribution
Part of the biographical narrative on this page reuses licensed material. Its origin, revision and licence are recorded here.
The biographical narrative on this page is based on the Wikipedia article Will McBride (photographer), revision 1329343831 (EN edition), by its contributors. VALÉORINE has edited that text and built its own documentary record around it. The reused material is available under CC BY-SA 4.0, and this page's reuse of it is offered under the same licence. Everything else on this page — the chronology, the holdings, the evidence, the plates and the connections — is VALÉORINE's own record. Sources and licences.
Notes from the source article
Cited by Wikipedia
Notes from the source article
These works are cited by the source article, in its own numbering. They are recorded as its citations, not as sources VALÉORINE has verified.
- 1.Legendary photographer Will McBride dies aged 84. Dazed. 30 January 2015.
- 2.Remembering Will McBride by Alister Mackie. Another Magazine. 2 February 2015.
- 3.Will McBride "Coming of Age" Exhibition at Gendell Gallery.
- 4.Deutsche Welle (www.dw.com). Photographer Will McBride dies.
- 5."A Berlin love story: Photography", The Economist (Online), London, November 7, 2014. Retrieved October 25, 2021.
- 6.McBride's bio; profile photo of pregnant wife, from the archive of the Deutsches Historisches Museum
- 7.Will McBride. www.danykellergalerie.de.
- 8.Gallery argus fotokunst - fine photographic prints: Will McBride. www.argus-fotokunst.de.
- 9.Will McBride. 1 July 1993.
- 10.Will McBride. C/O Berlin. 18 September 2014.
- 11.The Dr. Erich Salomon Award of the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Photographie (DGPh). German Society for Photography.
- 12.Woods, Amanda. Wandering Worpswede, the artist community in Germany's Lower Saxony. Adventures All Around. 30 August 2017.
- 13.UnDo.Net. Quattro mostre. 25 January 2005.
References
Citations
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authority record
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Further particulars
Held on the record
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Formation and teaching. McBride studied at Syracuse University, School of the Art Institute of Chicago, University of Vermont and Freie Universität Berlin. McBride received Dr. Recorded with the occupation visual artist. McBride worked at Berlin. Recorded as having studied at Syracuse University, School of the Art Institute of Chicago and University of Vermont.
Recognition and collections
Erich Salomon Prize
Work by Will McBride is
Städel Museum and J. Paul Getty Museum
Activity and practice
The Encyclopedia exists whether or not anything is for sale. Corrections are recorded rather than overwritten, and every version of this record is kept. Published 16 August 2026.
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