Sunrise

Sunset

A 30-second online art project:

Peter Burr, Sunshine Monument

Learn more

Learn more at whitney.org/artport

Skip to main content

Eliot Porter
1901–1990

Introduction

Born 6 December 1901, Porter took up photography in 1930. He taught biochemistry at Harvard University until 1939, when he became a professional freelance photographer in Cambridge, Massachusetts, after being encouraged by Ansel Adams and Alfred Stieglitz. In 1940, Porter began to specialize in colour photography. From 1944 to 1946, Porter worked as a freelance landscape and wildlife photographer in Winnetka, Illinois. In 1946, Porter settled in Santa Fe, New Mexico, where he photographed birds for Audubon Magazine. In 1955-1956, Porter travelled to Mexico with photographer Ellen Auerbach to photograph Mexican churches. From 1967 to 1971, Porter took three photographic trips to Greece and Turkey. Porter undertook three expeditions to photograph in Antarctica from 1975 to 1977. Many of his nature photographs are firmly linked with the Sierra Club and its promotion of conservation causes. He died 2 November 1990.

Country of birth

United States

Roles

Artist, photographer, physician, professor

ULAN identifier

500007426

Names

Eliot Furness Porter, Eliot Furness, Eliot F. Porter

View the full Getty record

Information from the Getty Research Institute's Union List of Artist Names ® (ULAN), made available under the ODC Attribution License. Accessed April 27, 2024.