Born in 1945 in Helsinki, Finland. Lives and works in Helsinki.
Education1974 MFA Photography, Rhode Island School of Design (RISD), Providence, RI
The New School for Social Research; The School of Visual Arts
1967 BA English, Wagner College, Staten Island, NY, studied with Dr. Thomas Kendris
Solo Exhibitions (selected)2025 Kotiinpaluu – Homecoming, VB Photographic Center, Kuopio, FI
2025 Ever Since 1969, IVAR Stockholm, Matchstick Palace, Stockholm, SE
2022 Retrospective, Kunstfoyer, München, DE
2022 Self-Portraits (From Last Three Decades Of Five), Cité de l'Image, Clervaux, LU
2021 Same But Different, Savignano Immagini Festival, Reggio Emilia, IT
2021 Two Hundred Seasons, Fotografiska, Tallinn, EE
2020 Two Hundred Seasons, Fotografiska, Stockholm, SE
2020 Arno Rafael Minkkinen – Going the Distance, Persons Projects, Berlin, DE
2019 Retrospective, Erarta Museum of Contemporary Art, St. Petersburg, RU
2018 Taivanranta–Firmamento, retrospective, Cultural Center Gallery, Lima, PE
2017 Minkkinen, Centro Niemeyer, Avilés, ES
2017 Mind Over Matter, Southeast Museum of Photography, Daytona, USA
2017 Floating in the Air, Willas Contemporary, Oslo, NO
2016 Photo & Contemporary Gallery, Turin, IT
2016 Shenzhen Photography Festival, See + Gallery, Shenzhen, CH
2015 7 8 9 0 1, Catherine Edelman Gallery, Chicago, USA
2014 Arno Rafael Minkkinen, Blomqvist Kunsthandel, PUG Gallery, Oslo, NO
2014 Retrospective, Lumière Brothers Center of Photography, Moscow, RU
2013 Photo Festival St. Germain des Prés, Galerie Arcturus, Paris, FR
2013 A Dance of Light, Dance on Camera Festival, Lincoln Center, New York, USA
2012 Palindromes, Phototheatron/Athens House of Photography, Athens, Greece; New York, USA
2011 Arno Rafael Minkkinen, La Biennale de Lyon, Galerie Domus, Université de Lyon, FR
2011 The Journey of Arno Rafael Minkkinen, InFocus Gallery, Cologne, DE
2010 Finnish Pavilion, Shanghai World’s Fair, Shanghai, CH
2009 L’Empire Nu d’Arno Rafael Minkkinen, Valérie Bach Gallery, Brussels, BE
2009 Finnish Footprints: 70 / 08, The Finnish Institute, Paris, FR
2009 Cavallo Point, Golden Gate National Park at Fort Baker, San Francisco, USA
2008 The Celebrity Solstice Art Collection, Celebrity Solstice Photo Gallery
2008 Arno Rafael Minkkinen, Galerie Agathe Gaillard, Paris, FR
2007 Malmö Museet, Fotografi i Fokus Festival, Malmö, SE
2006 Arno Rafael Minkkinen, 12th Lianzhou International Photo Festival, Lianzhou, CH
2005 SAGA: The Journey of Arno Rafael Minkkinen, Thirty-Five Years of Photographs,
DeCordova Museum and Sculpture Park, Lincoln, USA
2003 Arno Rafael Minkkinen, Tibor de Nagy Gallery, New York, USA
2002 Arno Rafael Minkkinen, Robert Klein Gallery, Boston, USA
2001 Arno Rafael Minkkinen, Retrospective, Église Saint Georges, Musée de Normandie,Caen, FR
2000 Arno Rafael Minkkinen, Joel Soroka Gallery, Aspen, USA
2000 The Body as an Expression of the Subconscious, Metropolitan Museum of Photography, Tokyo, JP
1999 Frequent Flyer, Photo & Contemporary, Turin, IT
1998 Arno Rafael Minkkinen, Body & Photography, American Cultural Center, Prague, CZ
1998 Ten Minutes Past Midnight, Gallen Kallela Museum, Helsinki, Finland; Mois de la Photo, Paris, FR
1998 High Noon, Barry Friedman Ltd., New York, USA
1998 Body Land, Galerie Clairefontaine, LU
1996 Arno Rafael Minkkinen, Retrospective, Castello Fortezza, Montalcino, IT
1996 Waterline touring retrospective: Musée de la Photographie, Charleroi, Belgium; Museet for Fotokunst,
Brandts Klædefabrik, Odense, Denmark; Sundsvall Museet, Sundsvall, SE
1995 Arno Rafael Minkkinen, L’Artothèque de Caen and Musée de Normandie, Caen, FR
1995 Waterline, Musée de l’Élysée, Lausanne, Switzerland; Pori Art Museum, Pori, FI
1995 Arno Rafael Minkkinen, Braggiotti Gallery, Amsterdam, NL
1995 The Big Five, Laterna Magica, Helsinki, FI
1995 Arno Rafael Minkkinen, Houk Friedman Gallery, New York, USA
1994 Arno Rafael Minkkinen, Akehurst Gallery, London, UK
1994 Arno Rafael Minkkinen, Galerie L’Imagerie; Centre Jean Savidan, Lannion, FR
1993 Arno Rafael Minkkinen, Galerie du Château d’Eau, Toulouse, FR
1992 Arno Rafael Minkkinen, Prague House of Photography, Prague, CZ
1991 Finnice, Retrospective, Museum of Modern Art, Nice, FR
1990 Arno Rafael Minkkinen, Peri Center of Photography, Turku, FI
1989 Arno Rafael Minkkinen, Bannister Gallery, Rhode Island College, Providence, USA
1988 15 Years in Front of My Camera, Galerie Viviane Esders, Paris, FR
1988 Arno Rafael Minkkinen, Oulu Art Museum, Oulu, FI
1987 Arno Rafael Minkkinen, Galerie Vrais Rêves, Lyon, FR
1985 Mattomies, Galerie Viviane Esders, Paris, FR
1985 PORI PARIS, POLAROID KUVIA, Pori Art Museum, Pori, FI
1984 Arno Rafael Minkkinen, Photographic Museum of Finland, Helsinki, FI
1983 Father and Son, Robert Klein Gallery, Boston, USA
1982 Arno Rafael Minkkinen, Yuen Lui Gallery, Seattle, USA
1979 Arno Rafael Minkkinen, Canon Photo Gallery, Amsterdam, NL
1979 Frostbite, Addison Gallery of American Art, Andover, USA
1976 Arno Rafael Minkkinen, Fotografiska Museet at Moderna Museet, Stockholm, SE
1973 White Underpants, Gallery for Creative Photography, Copenhagen, DK
1972 Freemale, Soho Photo Gallery, New York, USA
Group Exhibitions (selected)
2025 15 Fotografiska years, Fotografiska, Stockholm, SE
2025 Recent Arrivals: Expanding the Collection, Robert Klein Gallery, Southend, Boston, USA
2025 Confluences, Fondation François Schneider, Wattwiller, FR
2025 The High Life: Contemporary Photography and the Birds, Museum of Botany, Marie Selby
Botanical Gardens, Sarasota Downtown Campus, Florida, USA
2025 DEEP BEAUTY, Mudec, Milan, IT
2024 See a World in a Grain of Sand, Ivar Stockholm, SE
2022 Nuages - In memoriam Françoise Nuñez (1957–2021), Galerie Camera
Obscura, Paris, FR
2021 La Suite, Fundación PROA, Buenos Aires, AR
2021 The Naked & the Nude: Reflections on Edward Weston, Northlight Gallery,
Arizona State University,Tempe, USA
2021 Art of Illusion: Photography and Perceptual Play, The Nelson-Atkins
Museum of Art, Bloch, L11, Kansas City, USA
2018 Ansel Adams in Our Time, Museum of Fine Arts Boston, Boston, USA
2018 Architecture and the Human Form, De Cordova Museum, Lincoln, USA
2017 Bodies in Water, De Cordova Museum, Lincoln, USA
2017 Foto View: Finland, Landskrona Museum of Art, Landskrona, SE
2016 Wild Strawberries, Wäinö Aaltosen Museo, Turku, FI
2016 The Kiss, Lumière Brothers Center of Photography, Moscow, RU
2015 Barbado Gallery, inaugural group exhibition, Lisbon, PT
2015 After the Moment: Reflections on Robert Mapplethorpe, Contemporary Art Center, Cincinnati, USA
2015 Water, Water, Everywhere, Nordic Light Festival, Kristiansund, NO
2014 Festival d’Images, Vevey, CH
2014 Self-portraits, Galerie Les Douches, Paris, FR
2013 Paris Photo, Galerie Camera Obscura, Paris, FR
2013 The Finnish Frame of Mind (with Niko Luoma), Galerie Valérie Bach, Brussels, BE
2013 Views on Landscapes: Scandinavian Photography, Museum of Modern Art, Bogota, CO
2012 Performing for the Camera: Stéphane Janssen Collection, Arizona State University
Art Museum, Tempe, USA
2012 A New Vision, Modernist Photography, Currier Museum of Art, Manchester, USA
2011 Paris Photo, Robert Klein Gallery, Photo & Contemporary, Paris, FR
2011 Water, Sense and Sensation, Wäinö Aaltosen Museo, Turku, FI
2010 Salute to the Masters, Dali City International Photography Festival, Dali City, CH
2010 Fondation Vincent Van Gogh, Arles, FR
2010 Out of the Box, DeCordova Museum and Sculpture Park, Lincoln, USA
2009 Reality Revisited,Moderna Museet, Stockholm, SE
2008 Tracking Traces, Kiasma Contemporary Museum of Art, Helsinki, FI
2008 40th Year Anniversary Exhibition, Finnish Museum of Photography, Helsinki, FI
2007 One Shot Each, Museet for Fotokunst, Brandts Klædefabrik, Odense, DK
2006 Nordic Light Festival, Kristiansund, NO
2005 To Look or To See, Finnish Museum of Photography, Helsinki, FI
2004 Fotosintensi Photography Festival, Chiesa di S. Agostino, Piacenza, IT
2003 Armory Show, Photography, Tibor de Nagy Gallery, New York, USA
2003 An American Century of Photography: From the Dry-Plate to the Digital, Denver Art Museum,
Denver, USA
2002 Subjectivity: Photographs of Themselves, Stéphane Janssen Collection, ASU Art Museum. Tempe, USA
2001 Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris, FR
2000 Century of the Body, Musée de l’Élysée, Lausanne, CH
2000 Photography in Boston, DeCordova Museum and Sculpture Park, Lincoln, USA
2000 In the Spirit of the Masters, Kerava Art Museum, Kerava, FI
2000 An American Century of Photography: Dry-Plate to Digital, Nelson-Atkins Museum, Kansas City, KS;
Seattle Art Museum, Seattle, USA
1999 Self-portraits, Maison Européenne de la Photographie, Paris, FR
1998 Ficcions intimes, Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris, FR
1997 The Body in the Lens, Musée des Beaux-Arts, Montreal, CA
1996 Bathers, Washington Center for Photography, Washington, USA
1995 Water, Robert Klein Gallery, Boston, USA
1994 Air Water Earth: Focus on Finnish Art, Turku Art Museum, Turku, FI
1993 Collection Photographique de la Fondation Vincent Van Gogh, Musée de la Photographie, Mougins, FR
1992 Finnice, Kerava Art Museum, Kerava, FI
1991 NEA Regional Grant Awards, Boston Center for the Arts, Boston, USA
1990 Clichés: Le Choix des Sens, French Cultural Center, Paris, Fr; Musée de l’Élysée, Lausanne, CH;
Beaunord, Brussels, BE
1988 Splendor & Misery of the Body, Musée d’art moderne de la ville de Paris, Paris, FR
1988 Selections 4, Polaroid Collection, Photokina, Cologne, DE
1986 Victor Barsokevitch Museum, Kuopio, FI
1984 Photography as Phantasy, Santa Barbara Museum of Art, Santa Barbara, USA
1978 Tusen Och En Bild, Fotografiska Museet at Moderna Museet, Stockholm, SE
Selected CollectionsBC Partners, London, UK
Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris, FR
Bibliothèque Municipale de Lyon, Lyon, FR
The Celebrity Art Collection Solstice, Oslo, NO
Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris, FR
Center for Creative Photography, University of Arizona, Tempe, USA
Currier Museum of Art, Manchester, USA
DeCordova Museum and Sculpture Park, Lincoln, USA
The Carl Gustav Ehrnrooth Collection, Helsinki, FI
The Fogg Art Museum, Harvard University, Cambridge, USA
Fondation Vincent Van Gogh, Arles, FR
Fotografiska Museet at Moderna Museet, Stockholm, SE
Gallen-Kallela Museum, Espoo, FI
High Museum, Atlanta, USA
International Center of Photography, New York, USA
Kerava Art Museum, Kerava, FI
Kiasma, Museum of Contemporary Art, Helsinki, FI
Kunsthaus, Zurich, CH
Mount Holyoke College Museum of Art, Mount Holyoke, USA
Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, FR
Musée de l’Élysée, Lausanne, CH
Museet for Fotokunst, Brandts Klædefabrik, Odense, DK
Museo Nazionale Alinari Della Fotografia, Florence, IT
Museum of Fine Arts Boston, Boston, USA
Museum of Fine Arts Houston, Houston, USA
Museum of Modern Art, New York, USA
National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, CA
New Orleans Museum of Art, New Orleans, USA
Polaroid International Collection, Cambridge, USA
Rhode Island College, Providence, USA
Saastamoinen Foundation, Helsinki, FI
Santa Barbara Museum of Art, Santa Barbara, USA
Photographic Museum of Finland, Helsinki, FI
Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Photography, Tokyo, JP
Viktor Barsokevitch Center, Kuopio, FI
WestLicht Schauplatz Museum, Vienna, AT
Wäinö Aaltosen Museo, Turku, FI
Selected Publication
2019 Minkkinen, Kehrer Verlag, Heidelberg, DE
2011 Arno Rafael Minkkinen, Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1, No. 14 Collection 16 ½, Lyon, FR
2010 Balanced Equation, Lodima Press Portfolio Series. Revere, Pennsylvania, USA
2008 Homework / Suomen Kuvat, The Finnish Photographs of Arno Rafael Minkkinen, 1973 to 2008,
Like Publishing, Helsinki, FI
2005 SAGA: The Journey of Arno Rafael Minkkinen, Thirty Years of Photographs, Chronicle Books,
San Francisco, California, USA
1999 Body Land, Motta, Milan, 1997; Nathan, Paris, 1988; Smithsonian Institution Press,
Washington, DC, USA
1998 Ten Minutes Past Midnight, Musta Taide, Akseli Gallen-Kallela Museo, Tarvaspää, FI
1994 The Waterline Portfolio, Aperture Foundation, New York, NY, USA
1981 New American Nudes: Recent Trends & Attitudes, Morgan & Morgan, USA
1978 Frostbite, Morgan & Morgan, Dobbs Ferry, NY, USA
Selected Awards and Grants
2019 German Photo Book Prize Winner, Monograph of the Year 2019 | 2020
2017 Suomen Leijonan Pro Finlandia Medal, presented by the President of Finland
2015 John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation Fellowship
2013 Lucie Award for Achievement in Fine Art, Lucie Foundation, Carnegie Hall, New York, NY
2011 Nancy Donahue Professor of Art, University of Massachusetts Lowell
2006 Finnish State Art Prize in Photography
2006 Special Jury Prize, Lianzhou International Photo Festival, Lianzhou, CH
2006 Finnish Photographic Arts Book Grant: Homework: The Finnish Photographs, 1973 to 2008
2004 Massachusetts Cultural Council Artist Fellowship in Photography
1994 Grand Prix du Livre, Waterline, 25th Rencontres d’Arles Festival, Arles, FR
1992 Order of the Lion First Class Medal (knight), Helsinki, FI
1991 National Endowment for the Arts Regional Fellowship
