Visual art
Bill Rauhauser
1918–2017 · photographer, educator
Detroit street photographer who documented the city from the 1940s onward and taught photography at the College for Creative Studies for over thirty years.
- Born
Detroit, Michigan- Died
aged 98- Birth name
- Warren C. Rauhauser
- Also known as
- Warren C. Rauhauser
- Detroit years
- 1918–2017
- Field
- Visual art
01 / The Detroit story
The Detroit story
Rauhauser was born in Detroit in 1918, bought his first camera by mail order for 39 cents in 1933, and from 1938 attended the Silhouette Camera Club above a Detroit camera shop. He earned a degree in architectural engineering at the University of Detroit in 1943 and spent 25 years as an engineer, photographing in his spare time. With a 35mm camera he caught the energy of wartime Detroit and later, almost incidentally, recorded the urban renewal projects and social changes of the 1950s to 1970s. In 1951 Edward Steichen came to the DIA to recruit work for The Family of Man and chose Rauhauser's Three on a Bench, Detroit River for the famous exhibition. In 1964 he co-founded the Group Four Gallery, devoted to photography, and he helped the DIA build its photography program as a volunteer. From 1970 he taught at the College for Creative Studies for more than three decades. In 2014 he was named Kresge Eminent Artist. He died in 2017, aged 98.
Highlights
- Three on a Bench, Detroit River chosen by Steichen for The Family of Man
- Co-founded Detroit's Group Four photography gallery (1964)
- Taught at the College for Creative Studies from 1970 for over 30 years
- Kresge Eminent Artist (2014)
02 / Their Detroit places
Their Detroit places 3
Where they lived, worked, performed and liked to hang out. Closed and demolished places stay here too, because they are part of the city's history.
Worked here · 1970–2000s
College for Creative Studies
Where he taught the history, theory and technique of photography for more than 30 years.
Studied here · until 1943
University of Detroit Mercy (former University of Detroit)
Where he earned his degree in architectural engineering in 1943.
Worked here · 1951, 1970s
Detroit Institute of Arts (Friday Night Live!)
Where Steichen picked his photograph in 1951 and where he later volunteered to help build the photography collection.