Susan Unterberg is a New York-based photographer and philanthropist. She has been represented by the Lawrence Miller Gallery, and later Yancey Richardson Gallery, both in New York. Her work has been exhibited across the U.S. and abroad, with dedicated shows at such institutions as the New Museum and a retrospective at the Contemporary Art Center in Cincinnati, Ohio. Unterberg is represented in major public collections such as the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Museum of Modern Art, the Jewish Museum, all in New York, and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. She has been awarded fellowships and residencies at Yaddo, MacDowell, Djerassi Artists Program, the American Academy in Rome, and Bogliasco. In 2019 she was awarded NYU’s Distinguished Alumni Award, as well as being honored at the Skowhegan Awards Dinner; and in 2020 Art Table awarded her for Distinguished Service to the Visual Arts, and she was awarded Moore College of Art and Design’s Visionary Woman Award. In 2022, Unterberg had an exhibition at the NYU Steinhardt Gallery.
Her work is primarily color photographs taking the form of portraiture, human and animal, most recently manifested as digital photocollages and artist books that take into account contemporary politics. Her work has encompassed video installation, book form, and large and small format color prints.
In 2018, Unterberg stepped forward as the founder and primary funder of the Anonymous Was A Woman Award, which has awarded $25,000 grants to more than 230 women-identifying artists over the age of 40 since 1996.
In 2022, MacDowell named Unterberg the third recipient of the Marian MacDowell Arts Advocacy Award for her work with Anonymous Was A Woman.
Portrait courtesy Anonymous Was A Woman
