Murray Riss

Murray Riss is one of the South's most-acclaimed photographic artists. He received his MFA from the Rhode Island School of Design, where he studied under Harry Callahan, an influential 20th Century photographer. Riss came to Memphis in 1968 to establish a photography department at Memphis College of Art, where he taught for nearly 20 years, during which time he also served as an adjunct lecturer in photography and film at Rhodes College and as a guest lecturer at the University of Haifa,...See more

Murray Riss is one of the South's most-acclaimed photographic artists. He received his MFA from the Rhode Island School of Design, where he studied under Harry Callahan, an influential 20th Century photographer. Riss came to Memphis in 1968 to establish a photography department at Memphis College of Art, where he taught for nearly 20 years, during which time he also served as an adjunct lecturer in photography and film at Rhodes College and as a guest lecturer at the University of Haifa, Israel, Department of Art. Riss' photographs are part of the permanent collections of national and international museums, including the Museum of Modern Art, New York, the Minneapolis Museum of Art, the Art Institute in Chicago, the National Gallery of Canada, Ontario, the New Orleans Museum of Art, the Biblioteque National Paris, and the Philadelphia Museum of Art. His work has appeared in various journals, magazines and books. Three of the eights books that exclusively feature Riss' work are: In the Shadow of the Elms, First Shooting Light, and A Bridge to Peter. See less