Keith Carter

(b. 1948) Keith Carter is an internationally recognized photographer who has exhibited in over 115 solo shows in 13 countries.  Sixteen monographs of his expressive work have been published, including a fifty-year retrospective book in 2018. Carter is known for creating blurred images with limited depth of field, which give his work a sense of awe and mystery. 

He speaks frequently about the importance of belonging to a particular place and being able to recognize beauty in the mundane: “It’s not so much what you see, it’s the significance that you see in things that give them resonance.” His fascination with the people, animals and landscapes of Southeast Texas has resulted in a highly popular following among museum curators and collectors. 

Carter is a recipient of the prestigious Texas Medal of Arts (2009), the Lange-Turner Prize from the Center for Documentary Studies at Duke (1991), and the Regent’s Professor Award from the Texas State University System (2010). He currently holds the endowed Walles Chair of Art at Lamar University. Carter's photographs can be found in the permanent collections of the Art Institute of Chicago; National Portrait Gallery, Washington, D.C.; the J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles, California; the Museum of Fine Arts Houston; The Smithsonian American Art Museum; and The Wittliff Collections at Texas State University, San Marcos, Texas  and The Art Museum of Southeast Texas in Beaumont. His work has been collected by numerous celebrities including Elton John, Bruce Springsteen, Julia Roberts, Ralph Lauren, George W. Bush and Michelle and Barack Obama.