Don Donaghy

Nuns on Steps, Washington, D.C.

1965

Don Donaghy was a fourth-generation native of Philadelphia. He studied commercial art at the Philadelphia Museum School of Art but found himself uninterested in pursuing a career in the commercial industry. Donaghy was drawn to the streets of Philly with his camera, where he dedicated himself to street photography. The artist collective of photographers called the New York School of Photography was a group that would help shape Donaghy's passion and philosophy. Among the artists within the hoard that he collaborated with were Robert Frank, Weegee and Richard Avedon. Donaghy kept true to himself and created work that sought to express personal truth about life and art. His photographs have been published in The New York School, Photographs 1936–63 and The Last Photographic Heroes: American Photographers of the Sixties and Seventies. In addition to being internationally exhibited for most of the 20th century to today, Donaghy's work is in the permanent collections of establishments such as the Smithsonian American Art Museum, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the New York Public Library and the Museum of Modern Art.

(Biography provided by PDNB Gallery)