not. His contention has been that all photographs
are manipulations and that there is no authentic
image; photographic reality is an illusion, whether
manipulated by a computer or the photographer’s
choice of lenses. Therefore, the only truths in
photography are the surfaces represented. In
2000, Ruff was offered a professorship at his
Alma matter, the Kunstakademie. He currently
lives and works in Du ̈sseldorf, where he continues
his visual quest for the ordinary.
KellyMaronSeealso:Becher, Bernd and Hilla; Gursky, Andreas;
History of Photography: the 1980s; Hu ̈tte, Axel;
Photography in Germany and Austria; Portraiture;
Postmodernism; Struth, Thomas; Typology
Biography
1958 Born in Zell am Hamersbach, West Germany.
Received first camera, 1974. 1977–1985, attended Kun-
stakademie, Du ̈sseldorf; studied with Bernd Becher.
Began association with Galerie Ru ̈diger Scho ̈ttle;
Munich, Germany, 1981. 1982, won Kunstakademie’s
Paris stipend. 1986, won Jurgen Ponto Foundation
Prize. 1986, shared studio with photographers Andreas
Gursky and Axel Hu ̈tte. 1998, invited to photograph
villas designed by Mies van der Rohe. 2000, received
professorship at Kunstakademie. Currently lives and
works in Du ̈sseldorf.
Selected Individual Exhibitions
1984 Galerie Konrad Fischer; Du ̈sseldorf, Germany
1988 Museum Schloß Hardenberg, Velbert, and Portikus;
Frankfurt, Germany
Ydessa Hendeles Art Foundation; Toronto, Canada
1989 Galerie Beber; Rotterdam, The Netherlands
303 Gallery; New York, New York
Cornerhouse; Manchester, England
Portraits, Houses, Stars; Stedelijk Museum; Amsterdam
1990 Stuart Regen Gallery; Los Angeles, CA
1991 Galerie Lia Rumma; Naples, Italy
1992 Newspaper Photos; Mai 36 Galerie; Lucerne, Switzerland
1993 Deweer Art Gallery; Otegem Belgium
1994 White Cube; London, England
1995 Deutscher Pavilion (Venice Biennale); Venice, Italy
1996 Portraits, Houses, Stars, Night; Fraenkel Gallery; San
Francisco, CA
Rooseum Center for Contemporary Art: Malmo ̈,Sweden
1997 Thomas Ruff –Kleine Portra ̈ts; Dryphoto; Prato, Italy
Oeuvres 1979–1997; Centre national de la photogra-
phie; Paris, France
1998 Gallery Koyanagi; Tokyo Japan
2000 New Works; Galerie Wilma Tolksdorf; Frankfurt Germany
Nudes; David Zwirner; New York, NY
2001 Chabot Museum; Rotterdam, The Netherlands
Galeria Helga de Alvear; Madrid, Spain
2002 l.m.v.d.r; Contemporary Fine Arts; Berlin, Germany
and Galerie Estrany De La Mota; Barcelona, Spain
Thomas Ruff; Museet for Samtidsku ̈nst; Oslo, Norway
Indentificaciones; Museo Tamayo; Mexico
2003 Mai 36 Galerie; Zurich, Switzerland (also 1988, 1993,
1995, 1999, and 2001)
Thomas Ruff: Photographs, 1979–Present; Tate Liver-
pool; Liverpool, England (traveled to Museu de Arte
Contemporanea de Serralves; Porto, Portugal)
Thomas Ruff; Centrum Sztuki Wspo ́lczesnej Zamek
Ujazdowski; Warsaw, Poland
Nudes und Maschinen; Kestner Gesellschaft; Hann-
over, Germany
Thomas Ruff; Pusan Metropolitan Art Museum;
Pusan, KoreaSelected Group Exhibitions
1982 Works by Young German Photographers; Art Galaxy;
New York, NY
Ausstellung B;Ku ̈nstlerwerkstatten Lothringer Straße;
Munich, Germany
1983 Laputa; Gutenbergstraße 62 e. V.; Stuttgart, Germany
1985 Ku ̈nstlerische Fotografie des 20. Jahrhunderts; Univer-
sitatsmuseum Marburg; Germany
1986 Reste des Authentischen; Museum Folkwang, Essen
and Photographers Gallery; York
FOTO cliche ́; Gallery Victoria Miro, London and
Orchard Gallery; Derry, England
1987 Foto/Realismen; Villa Dessauer; Bamerg, Germany
(traveled to Ku ̈nstverein Munchen; Munich and
Grundkreditbank; Berlin)
1988 Aperto 88; Venice Biennale; Venice, Italy
BiNationale; Kunstverein; Du ̈sseldorf, Germany (tra-
veled to Kunsthalle; Kunstsammlungen NRW; Du ̈ssel-
dorf, and Museum of Fine Art and ICA; Boston, MA)
1989 Tenir l’image a`distance; Muse ́e d’art contemporain
Montreal; Montre ́al, Canada
32 Portraits; Photography in Art; Ku ̈nstrai Amster-
dam, The NetherlandsThomas Ruff, Portrait (Heinz Haussman), 1988, Chromo-
genic development print, Collection Museum of Contem-
porary Art, Chicago, Gerald S. Elliott Collection. Original
in color.
[Photograph#Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago]RUFF, THOMAS