Much has been written of Ron Galella. Widely regarded as the most famous and most controversial celebrity photographer in the world—he's been dubbed “Paparazzo Extraordinaire” by Newsweek and “the Godfather of U.S. paparazzi culture” by Time and Vanity Fair—Galella is clearly willing to take great risks to get the perfect shot. As a result, he has endured two highly publicized court battles with Jacqueline Kennedy-Onassis, a broken jaw at the hands of Marlon Brando, and a serious beating by Richard Burton’s bodyguards before being jailed in Cuernavaca, Mexico. But ultimately, it is his passion for the fine art of photography, coupled with a dedicated do-it-yourself approach to his craft—few artists can claim his level of skill in making their own prints—that sees Ron's body of work exhibited at museums and galleries throughout the world, including the Museum of Modern Art in both New York and San Francisco, the Tate Modern in London, and the Helmut Newton Foundation Museum of Photography in Berlin. Ron's passion for photojournalism has also given rise to many highly acclaimed books including Disco Years, which was honored as Best Photography Book of 2006 by The New York Times, and Smash His Camera, a documentary of his life and career by Oscar-winning director, Leon Gast (When We Were Kings, 1996), which premiered at the 2010 Sundance Film Festival and received the Grand Jury Award for Directing in the U.S. Documentary category. The film was also well-received at the 54th BFI London Film Festival prior to airing on the BBC throughout the United Kingdom, and Europe.

 

Tantamount to his recognition here at home, the government of Basilicata graciously honored Ron, whose father, Vincenzo Galella, was born in Muro Lucano, by making him an honorary citizen of the Italian region in 2009. Basilicata also opened Ron Galella: Italian Icons, a traveling exhibit of over 70 of Ron’s photos, at Palazzo Lanfranchi’s Carlo Levi Hall in Matera. In conjunction with the opening, Ron launched Viva l’Italia!—a collection of over 225 images of Italian and Italian-American celebrities from Frank Sinatra to Sophia Loren.

 

A native New Yorker, Ron served as a United States Air Force photographer during the Korean conflict before attending the Art Center College of Design in Los Angeles, where he earned a degree in Photojournalism.

BORN 1931, Bronx, New York
  Lives and works in New Jersey
   
   
EDUCATION
   
1958 BFA | Art Center College of Design, Los Angeles
   
   
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
   
2012 O'Reilly, "Review," June 10, 1986
  Ron Galella : Paparazzo Extraordinaire, Foam Amsterdam, Amsterdam, Netherlands
  Ron Galella : Paparazzo Extraordinaire, C/O Berlin, Berlin, Germany
   
2011 Ron Galella : Paparazzo Extraordinaire, C/O Berlin, Berlin, Germany
  Boxing With the Stars, A. Galerie, Paris, France
  Vintage Galella, Hamiltons Gallery, London, England
  Vintage Galella, Hamiltons Gallery, London, England
  Jackie : My Obsession, Young Gallery, Knokke, Belgium
   
2010 Viva Italia !, College d”Europe, Bruges, Belgium
  Smash His Camera : The Notorious Photographs of Ron Galella, Clic Galley, New York, NY
  That’s Great : Andy Warhol by Ron Galella, Clic Gallery, New York, NY
  That’s Great : Andy Warhol by Ron Galella, Clic Gallery, New York, NY
  The Photographs of Ron Galella, Lena Di Gangi Gallery, Totowa, NJ
   
2009 Viva l’Italia Exhibition Extravaganza, Centaur Theatre, Montreal, Canada
  Ron Galella : Italian Icons, Palazzo Lanfranchi, Matera, Italy
  Viva l’Italia !, Archeology Museum of Muro Lucano, Muro Lucano, Italy
   
2008 Offguard : Ron Galella Photography, GMW Law Offices, Den Haag, Netherlands
  Warhol by Galella : That’s Great, Staley-Wise Gallery, New York, NY
  Warhol by Galella : That’s Great, Staley-Wise Gallery, New York, NY
  Warhol by Galella : That’s Great, The Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel, Hollywood, CA
  Warhol by Galella : That’s Great, Le Bon Marche, Paris, France
   
2007 Warhol by Galella : That’s Great, Le Bon Marche, Paris, France
  Disco Years, Galerie Wouter van Leeuwen, Amsterdam, Netherlands
  Disco Years, PowerHouse Arena, Brooklyn, NY
   
2006 Ron Galella : The One and Only Paparazzo, Buro Beeldende Kunst Vlissinger, Bruges, Belgium
  Disco Years, Paul Kasmin Gallery, Ney York, NY
  Ron Galella : The Kennedys, PowerHouse Arena, Brooklyn, NY
   
2005 Ron Galella Exclusive Diary : Caught Off-Guard, New York, NY
  Ron Galella Exclusive Diary : Caught Off-Guard, Artelibro Festival of Art & Books, Bologna, Italy
  The Photographs of Ron Galella, Galerie Wouter van Leeuwen, Amsterdam, Netherlands
   
2004 Ron Galella Exclusive Diary, Photology, Milan, Italy
   
2003 Flick, Holt-Renfrew, Toronto, Canada
   
2002 The Photographs of Ron Galella, Paul Kasmin Gallery, New York, NY
  Ron Galella Retrospective, The Warhol Museum, Pittsburgh, PA
   
   
GROUP EXHIBITIONS Picturing New York : Photographs from The Museum of Modern Art, Irish museum of Modern Art, Dublin, Ireland
  Picturing New York : Photographs from The Museum of Modern Art, La Casa Encendida, Madrid, Spain
  Picturing New York : Photographs from The Museum of Modern Art, Museo di Arte Moderna e Contemporanea di Trento e Rovereto
  Celebrities : Andy Warhol and the Stars, Hamburger Bahnhof Museum Fur Gegenwart, Berlin, Germany
   
2008 Pigozi and the Paparazzi with Ron Galella and Helmut Newton, Helmut Newton Foundation Museum of Photography, Berlin, Germany
  Street + Studio : An Urban History of photography, The Tate Modern Museum, London, England
   
2007 That 70s Show, PowerHouse Arena, Brooklyn, NY
  Warhol Is Dead!, PowerHouse Arena, Brooklyn, NY
   
2006 Superstars : From Warhol to Madonna, Kunstforum, Vienna, Austria
   
   
COLLECTIONS The Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco, CA
  The Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY
   
   
SELECTED PUBLICATIONS Jackie : My Obsession, Ron Galella, Ltd
  Boxing with the Stars, Verlhac Editions
  Man in the Mirror : Michael Jackson by Ron Galella, PowerHouse Books
  Viva l’Italia !, Ron Galella
  No Pictures, PowerHouse Books
  Warhol by Galella : That’s Great, Verlhac Editions / The Monacelli Press / Seeman Henschel Verlag
  Disco Years, PowerHouse Books
  Ron Galella Exclusive Diary, Photology
  The Photographs of Ron Galella 1965-1989, Greybull Press
  Offguard : A Paparazzi Look at the Beautiful People, McGraw Hill Book Company
  Jaqueline, Sheed and Ward
   
   
VISITING ARTIST
   
2009 Archeology Museum of Muro Lucano, Muro Lucano, Italy
  Università degli Studi della Basilicata - Facoltà di Lettere e Filosofi, Matera Italy
  Centaur Theater, Montreal, Quebec, Canada
   
1987 The Learning Annex, New York, NY
   
1984 “Photo ’84 District News Conference”, The New York Coliseum, New York, NY
   
1981 Ohio State University, Columbus Ohio