Bio
As a portrait photographer, Gay Block began in 1973 with portraits of her own affluent Jewish community in Houston and later expanded this study to include South Miami Beach and girls at summer camp. Her landmark work with writer Malka Drucker, RESCUERS: Portraits of Moral Courage in the Holocaust, both a book and traveling exhibit, has been seen in over fifty venues in the US and abroad, including the Museum of Modern Art, NY, in 1992.
In 2003 Block’s 30-year portrait of her Mother in photographs, video, and words, Bertha Alyce: Mother ExPosed, was published by UNM Press and began as a traveling exhibit. Also published in 2003 by Skylight Paths is another collaboration with Drucker, White Fire: A Portrait of Women Spiritual Leaders in America. In 2006, Block re-photographed and interviewed women who were girls in her 1981 series from Camp Pinecliffe. This series is a video titled “Camp Girls.”
Block’s photographs are included in museums and private collections including MoMA New York, San Francisco MoMA, and The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. A forthcoming book from Radius Books, titled About Love: Gay Block Photographs, 1975-2010, is set for spring, 2011.
RESCUERS: Portraits of Moral Courage in the Holocaust
exhibited at the following venues:
1990 Santa Monica College Photography Gallery, Santa Monica, CA
1991 Jewish Community Center, Cleveland, OH
The Public Library, Cincinnati, OH
Lawton Art Gallery, U. of WI at Green Bay, WI
1992 Museum of Modern Art, New York
Presentation House Gallery, Vancouver, BC, Canada
Occidental College, Los Angeles, CA
Michener Fine Art Center, Doyleston, PA
The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, TX
1993 Mahn Und Gedenkstaate, Dusseldorf, Germany
Volkshochschule Dorsten, Recklinghausen, Germany
KZ Gedenkstaate Mittelbau-Dora, Nordhausen, Germany
Galleri F15, Moss, Norway
KZ Gedenkstaate Buchenwald, Germany
Melanchthon Akademie, Cologne, Germany
Virginia Beach Art Center, VA
The Des Moines Art Center, IA
The Corcoran Art Gallery, Washington, DC
Charach-Epstein Museum, West Bloomfield, MI
Levis Jewish Community Center, Boca Raton, FL
Tufts University, Medford, MA
Hollywood Arts/Cultural Center, FL
1994 Kirkpatrick Center, Oklahoma City, OK
Texas A&M University, College Station
Judah Magnes Museum, Berkeley, CA
1995 Witte Museum of Art, San Antonio, TX
Mead Museum, Amherst, MA
Goethe Institute, Emory University, Atlanta, GA
Tabor Center, Denver, CO
Museum at Stonybrook, CUNY at Stonybrook, NY
1996 Public Museum of Grand Rapids, MI
West Nebraska Art Center, Scottsbluff, NE
Christian Brothers University, Memphis, TN
Harold Washington Library, Chicago, IL
1997 Indianapolis Children's Museum, Indianapolis, IN
Greenwich High School, Greenwich, CT
Tandy Center, Fort Worth, TX
1999 Sinclair Community College, Dayton, OH
St. Leo College, St. Leo, FL
Andrews University, Berrien Springs, MI
Hatikvah Holocaust Education Center, Springfield, MA
El Paso Museum of Art, El Paso, TX
Houston Holocaust Museum Houston, TX
Jewish Community Center, Albuquerque, NM
William Benton Museum of Art, University of CT, Storrs
Holocaust Memorial Center, Maitland, FL
Museum of Art, University of CT
2002 Tandy Center, Ft. Worth, TX
Millersville University, Millersville, PA
Boston Public Library, Boston, MA
University of Bern, (U.S. Embassy sponsorship) Switzerland
2004 The History Center, Ft. Wayne, IN
2005 Untitled Art Space, Oklahoma City, OK
2006 Misel Museum, Denver, CO
2019 Holocaust Memorial Gallery, Jewish Family & Community Services, Jacksonville, FL
Levis Jewish Community Center, Boca Raton, FL
2020 Arkansas Tech University, Russellville
2022 Jack Fischer Gallery, Minnesota Street Project, San Francisco, CA