 (b. 1951) emerged in the 1980s as part of a generation of photographers who sought to explore and challenge the boundaries of the medium. Over the past three decades, he has become known for his meticulously planned and executed photographs involving a variety of individuals, including friends, relatives, anonymous strangers, pole dancers, and street hustlers, among others. Deploying his subjects in preconceived yet seemingly random positions and contexts, diCorcia’s images are far from candid snapshots, but rather explore the tension between the casual and the posed, the accidental and the fated. At once documentary and theatrical, his work operates in the interstices of fact and fiction.

Born in Hartford, Connecticut, diCorcia attended the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, and received his MFA from Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut, in 1979. The artist's first solo museum exhibition was organized by The Museum of Modern Art, New York, in 1993. Since 2007, his work has been represented by David Zwirner, where he has had four solo exhibitions at the gallery’s New York location, including 

 (2013), which coincided with the publication of a large-scale book by SteidlDangin; and 

 (2015), which was first shown in 2013 at David Zwirner, London. In 2019, a solo presentation of diCorcia’s work was on view at the gallery’s Hong Kong location, and in 2020, David Zwirner Paris presented the artist's seventh solo exhibition with the gallery.

The artist’s work has been the subject of solo exhibitions at various major institutions worldwide, including the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, Madrid (1997); Sprengel Museum, Hannover, Germany (2000); Whitechapel Art Gallery, London (2003); Foam Fotografiemuseum, Amsterdam (2006); Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston (2007); and Los Angeles County Museum of Art (2008).

In 2012, work by diCorcia was included in a major retrospective on the American artist Edward Hopper at the Grand Palais, Paris. In 2013, a major career-spanning survey of diCorcia's work, consisting of more than one hundred photographs from six series, was organized by the Schirn Kunsthalle Frankfurt. The exhibition traveled later that year to De Pont Museum, Tilburg, The Netherlands, followed by The Hepworth Wakefield, England, in 2014, marking the most comprehensive presentation of diCorcia’s work in Europe to date.

Works by diCorcia are held in public collections worldwide, including the Centre Pompidou, Paris; De Pont Museum, Tilburg, The Netherlands; Los Angeles County Museum of Art; The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, Texas; Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, Madrid; Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles; The Museum of Modern Art, New York; National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC; National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo; San Francisco Museum of Modern Art; Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York; Tate, United Kingdom; Victoria and Albert Museum, London; and Whitney Museum of American Art, New York. The artist lives and works in New York.

Philip-Lorca diCorcia: Heads

PhilipLorca diCorcia: Heads | Books

David Zwirner is an art gallery with locations in New York, Los Angeles, London, Paris and Hong Kong. We present physical and online exhibitions, podcasts, books, and more.