Todd Webb (American, 1905-2000)
Webb started out as a stock broker who lost his fortune in the Crash of 1929. Afterwards, trying to find a profession, he prospected for gold, worked as a forest ranger, wrote short stories, and picked up a camera, which led him to a life of traveling and meeting creative people. Influenced by a workshop from Ansel Adams, he employed the sharp focus technique of “straight photography.” He later met Alfred Stieglitz and his wife Georgia O’Keeffe who introduced him to Beaumont Newhall, the man who would give Webb his first major exhibition at The Museum of The City of New York. After living in Paris during the early 1950s, he returned to walk and photograph old pioneer trails of the American West.
