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Todd Webb was born in 1905 in Detroit, Michigan. He attended the University of Toronto from 1924-25 and then worked as a stockbroker until the crash of 1929. Over the next few years he had a variety of jobs including gold prospector and a job with the U.S. Forestry Service. In 1933, he returned to Detroit and worked for Chrysler Motors. It is here that he and friend Harry Callahan joined the Chrysler Camera Club.
In 1941, Todd Webb attended a 10 day workshop given by Ansel Adams. Between 1942 and 1945 he was a photographer in the Marines and he corresponded frequently with Alfred Stieglitz. In 1946 he worked as a freelance photographer in New York and worked with the Photo League. Using a 4 x 5 camera, he photographed architecture, street scenes, and bridges. At this time he also had his first one man show. Between 1947-49 Webb worked with Roy Stryker and the Standard Oil Company before moving to Paris. In Paris he worked with magazines documenting the effects of the Marshall Plan. In 1953, Todd Webb returned to New York with his wife, Lucille Minqueau, whom he met in Paris.
The Guggenheim Foundation gave Todd Webb a grant in 1955 for a photo study on the itinerary of the pioneers across the United States. This study resulted in two books. Todd Webb later became the photographer for the United Nations General Assembly and worked for the World Health Organization. In 1958 he spent eight months photographing the Sahara desert for African nations. In 1961, Todd Webb and his wife went to visit Georgia O'Keefe in New Mexico and shortly after moved to Santa Fe. Here Todd Webb published two more books. Webb spent the next several years traveling and sometimes lived for a short time in countries such as France and England. He moved to Maine in 1980. In 1979 Webb received an NEA grant and his work is in such collections as the Museums of Modern Art of New York and of Tokyo, Chicago Art Institute, and the Amon Carter Museum.
For more information on Todd Webb see Looking Back: Memoirs and Photographs by Todd Webb with forward by Michael Rowell.
Member of The Association of International Photography Art Dealers (AIPAD)
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