Farrell Grehan, photographer
Gelsey Kirkland and George Balanchine, 1970
Farrell Grehan (1926–2008) was an American photographer whose work appeared in LIFE and National Geographic for nearly half a century. Trained as a painter, he brought an artist’s eye for color and form to wildflowers and wilderness, to the buildings of Frank Lloyd Wright, and to portraits of the artists of his time.
David Alfaro Siqueiros, Mexico, 1966
Biography
A painter’s eye, a reporter’s reach
For twelve years a contract photographer for LIFE, Grehan photographed Salvador Dalí, Alexander Calder, Marcel Duchamp and Martha Graham, and was chosen by Edward Steichen for The Family of Man at the Museum of Modern Art.
Biography
Kvaløya, Norway
Photographs
Places, people and the natural world
A selection from an archive that spans nearly every American state and more than twenty countries, from Walden Pond and the Maine woods to Yemen, Lapland and the Nile.
View photographs
Goldthread, Maine
Books
From wildflowers to Frank Lloyd Wright
The Odyssey Book of American Wildflowers (1964), John Muir’s Wild America (1976) and Visions of Wright (1997) are among the books built around his photographs.
Books
Flour sellers, Sana’a, North Yemen
Career
LIFE, National Geographic and the Museum of Modern Art
Magazine assignments, six exhibitions at the Museum of Modern Art, and a place among The Great LIFE Photographers.
Career highlightsLicensing and inquiries
Looking for a photograph?
The archive is cared for by Farrell Grehan’s sons, Patrick and Chris. If you are searching for a particular image, or want to license or publish his work, we would be glad to hear from you.
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