Hernández-Claire, José

A graduate of the University of Guadalajara as an Architect in 1972, he studied photography at the Pratt Institute in New York, USA, from 1978 to 1982 with Philip Perkis, Arthur Freed, Paul McDonough, and in Rockport, Maine, USA, with David Vestal and Don Mc Culin. He met Manuel Álvarez Bravo in 1980 in N.Y. and André Kertèsz, who significantly influenced his work, as did Henri Cartier-Bresson. He began his essay on the people of New York working as a photographer and urban designer for the Manhattan Planning Department between 1980 and 1982. In 1980, he obtained a master's degree in Urban Design from the Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, N.Y., and had his first solo photographic exhibition at the ARC Gallery in New York in 1982. He has been teaching at the University of Guadalajara since 1973 and has been a Full-time Research Professor since 2005. In 1984, he received a scholarship from the CMF-INBA for the Production of the Photographic Essay. In 1989, he received the Grant for Creators and Artists from FONCA. He was the co-founder and first photography editor of the newspaper Siglo 21 in Guadalajara in 1991. His photographs have been published in numerous national and international newspapers and magazines such as Diario16, El país, Le Monde, Los Angeles Times, and La Jornada, among others. He published the book titled "De sol a Sol." His work is found in important collections such as the Nicéphore Niépce Museum in France; the L'Elisée Museum in Lausanne, Switzerland; the Hungarian Museum of Photography in Kecskemét, Hungary; the Portland Museum in Rockport, Maine, USA; the Luz y Tiempo collection, formed by Manuel Álvarez Bravo for the Televisa Foundation; as well as at the Center of the Image, Mexico City. His work has been exhibited in numerous countries: USA, France, Spain, Germany, England, Belgium, China, Canada, Cuba, India, Mexico, Brazil, among others. He has had over 90 solo and group exhibitions. He has received important national and international awards such as: Guggenheim Fellowship from N.Y. in 2001, International Journalism Award Rey de España in 1992, WHO Ambassador Award, Geneva, Switzerland in 1988; Nikon Award and First Place in Photojournalism, Rockport Maine, USA in 1985; Leica-Mother Jones Scholarship, as representative for Latin America, 1995. He has been a member of the National System of Art Creators of FONCA since its foundation in 1993; and in the editions 1997, 2005, and 2011. He was awarded the Cuartoscuro Award for Career Achievement in 2014 in Mexico City, and recently he was distinguished with the PREMIO JALISCO 2015 in the Cultural Sphere.