This chronology presents an overview of Eliot Porter’s life and accomplishments. It draws upon several sources, including the bibliography compiled by Milan Hughston in Eliot Porter (Boston: New York Graphic Society Books, Little Brown and Company, in association with the Amon Carter Museum, Fort Worth, Texas, 1987); the autobiographical material included in the same publication; the chronology included in Eliot Porter: The Grand Canyon (Munich: Prestel; New York: ARTnews, 1992); Nancy Barrett’s chronology in Intimate Landscapes (New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1979); and material from Porter’s archives, housed at the Amon Carter Museum. Those interested in a fuller view of Porter’s life are encouraged to consult these sources.

1901-1944 | 1946-1970 | 1971-2002

1971

  • Becomes a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences
  • Presents the Alfred Stieglitz Memorial Lecture at Princeton University
  • Exhibition: Eliot Porter Photographs of Classical Greece and Asia Minor. Aline Porter Paintings (St. John’s College, Santa Fe, New Mexico, December 4–19; group exhibition; thirty-six prints)

1972

  • Travel: Iceland, July–August
  • Book: Birds of North America: A Personal Selection (New York: E. P. Dutton and Company; seventy-five illustrations)
  • Book: Peter Matthiessen, The Tree Where Man Was Born; Eliot Porter, The African Experience (New York: E. P. Dutton and Company; ninety-two illustrations)
  • Portfoltio: Iceland. Portfolio Two (San Francisco: Sierra Club). Twelve dye-transfer prints, one page of text by Porter; edition: 110; one hundred for sale.

1973

  • Travel: Egypt, January–February, and September, to photograph ancient monuments for E. P. Dutton and Company
  • Exhibition: Eliot Porter Retrospective (University of New Mexico Art Museum, Albuquerque, March 20–April 15, and other venues through 1975; organized by Beaumont Newhall and circulated by the University of New Mexico Art Museum; 240 prints)

1974

  • Travel: Antarctica, December–January 1975; returns November 1975–March 1976

1975

  • Exhibition: Color Photography Now (Jewett Art Center, Wellesley College Museum, Wellesley, Massachusetts, September 29–October 27; group exhibition; seventeen prints)

1976

  • Exhibition: Eliot Porter Retrospective (Santa Monica College, Santa Monica, California, September 22–October 20, and other venues through 1978; circulated by the Western Association of Art Museums Traveling Exhibition Service; seventy-five prints)
  • Exhibition: Antarctica (59th Street Gallery, St. Louis, January 31–February 29, and other venues through 1979; circulated by Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service; forty-five prints with 144 paintings by Daniel Lang

1977

  • Exhibition: The Great West: Real/Ideal (University of Colorado, Boulder, September 9–October 15, and other venues through 1981; circulated by the Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service; group exhibition; twelve prints)
  • Book: Moments of Discovery: Adventures with American Birds (New York: E. P. Dutton and Company; sixty-four illustrations)
  • Portfoltio: Birds in Flight.(Santa Fe and New York: Bell Editions), Eight dye-transfer prints, nine pages of text; edition: twenty, plus six artist’s copies.

1978

  • Exhibition: Mexican Church Interiors: Color Dye-Transfers by Eliot Porter and Ellen Auerbach (Sander Gallery, Washington, D.C., September 30–October 28; one hundred prints)
  • Book: Antarctica (New York: E. P. Dutton and Company; eighty-seven illustrations)

1979

  • Begins to exhibit regularly at a variety of commercial galleries
  • Receives an honorary Doctor of Science degree from Dickinson College, Carlisle, Pennsylvania
  • Exhibition: Intimate Landscapes (Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, November 14–January 20, 1980; fifty-five prints)
  • Exhibition: Photographs of Maine by Eliot Porter (University of Maine, Orono, July 15–September 30; one hundred prints)
  • Book: Intimate Landscapes: Photographs by Eliot Porter (New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art; fifty-five illustrations)
  • Portfoltio: Intimate Landscapes (New York: Daniel Wolf Press, Inc.). Ten dye transfer prints; edition: 250

1980

  • Travel: China and Macao, June–July; returns September–October 1981; travels to Macao and Hong Kong in May 1985
  • Exhibition: Eliot Porter: Visual Explorations (Art Center, Amarillo, Texas, December 10–January 18, 1981, and other venues through 1982; fifty prints)
  • Exhibition: Color Photographs by Marie Cosindas and Eliot Porter (Art Institute of Chicago, March 15–May 4; ninety-six prints)
  • Book: Peter Levi, The Greek World (New York: E. P. Dutton and Company; eighty-three illustrations)
  • Portfoltio: Eliot Porter, Glen Canyon (New York: Daniel Wolf Press, Inc.). Ten dye transfer prints; edition: 250.

1981

  • Exhibition: 1981 Festival of the Arts: Eliot Porter Retrospective (Sweeney Center, Santa Fe, New Mexico, October 9–18; eighty-three prints)
  • Exhibition: American Photographers and the National Parks (Oakland Museum, Oakland, California, May 2–July 5, and other venues through 1983; organized and circulated by the National Park Foundation; group exhibition; ten prints)
  • Book: Wallace Stegner and Page Stegner, American Places (New York: E. P. Dutton and Company; eighty-nine illustrations)
  • Portfoltio: In Wildness (New York: Daniel Wolf Press, Inc.). Ten dye transfer prints; edition: 300.

1982

  • Portfoltio: Santa Fe Center for Photography: Portfolio I (Santa Fe: Santa Fe Center for Photography). Five prints, one print by Porter; edition: sixteen; ten for sale

1983

  • Book: All Under Heaven: The Chinese World. Text by Jonathan Porter (New York: Pantheon Books; 127 illustrations)

1984

  • Portfoltio: China (New York: DEP Editions, Inc.). Seven dye transfer prints; introduction by Jonathan Porter; edition: fifty, plus ten artist’s proofs

1985

  • Exhibition: Eliot Porter and Richard Misrach: Landscape and Color (Film in the Cities, St. Paul, Minnesota, June 5–26; twenty prints)
  • Book: Eliot Porter’s Southwest (New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston; ninety illustrations)

1986

  • Travel: Spends last summer on Great Spruce Head Island, Maine
  • Exhibition: Eliot Porter’s Southwest (Museum of Natural History, Albuquerque, New Mexico, January 11–March 30; sixty prints)
  • Exhibition: Retrospective: Eliot Porter and Beaumont Newhall (Photo Gallery International, Tokyo, Japan, November 6–December 13; thirty prints)
  • Book: Maine (Boston: Little, Brown and Co., A New York Graphic Society Book; eighty-six illustrations)

1987

  • Exhibition: Eliot Porter (Amon Carter Museum, Fort Worth, Texas, October 31, 1987–January 3, 1988, and other venues through 1988; 129 prints)
  • Book: Mexican Churches (Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press; eighty-eight illustrations)
  • Book: Eliot Porter (Boston: New York Graphic Society Books and Little, Brown and Co. in association with the Amon Carter Museum; 156 illustrations)

1988

  • Book: The West (Boston: Little, Brown and Co., A New York Graphic Society Book; eighty-seven illustrations)

1989

  • Book: Iceland. Text by Jonathan Porter (Boston: Bulfinch Press and Little, Brown and Co.; fifty-six illustrations)

1990

  • Dies in Santa Fe, November 2; estate bequeathed to the Amon Carter Museum, Fort Worth, Texas
  • Book: Monuments of Egypt (Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press; 102 illustrations)
  • Book: Nature's Chaos, Text by James Gleick (New York: Viking; 102 illustrations)
  • Book: Mexican Celebrations, with Ellen Auerbach (Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press; ninety-two illustrations)

1992

  • Book: The Grand Canyon (Munich: Prestel; New York: ARTnews; sixty-four illustrations)

1996

  • Book: Vanishing Songbirds: The Sixth Order: Wood Warblers and Other Passerine Birds (Boston: Bulfinch Press and Little, Brown and Co.; 125 illustrations)

1997

  • Exhibition: A Passion for Birds: Eliot Porter's Photography (Amon Carter Museum, Fort Worth, Texas, November 8–January 18, 1998; ninety-eight prints)
  • Book: John B.Rohrbach, A Passion for Birds: Eliot Porter's Photography (Fort Worth: Amon Carter Museum; twenty-three illustrations)

2001

  • Book: Eliot Porter: The Color of Wildness (Fort Worth: Amon Carter Museum; 119 illustrations)

2002

  • Exhibition: Eliot Porter: The Color of Wildness (Amon Carter Museum, Fort Worth, Texas, December 21, 2002–March 23, 2003, and other venues through April 4, 2004; 162 prints)

1901-1944 | 1946-1970 | 1971-2002