Joseph Sterling (1936–2010) began photographing at age eleven in his native Texas, inspired by a teacher and a single Harry Callahan photograph he saw in a magazine. In 1956, he left Texas State College to study at the Institute of Design (ID) in Chicago, where he learned under Callahan, Aaron Siskind, and Frederick Sommer. Sterling earned his B.S. in 1959 and M.S. in 1962. His Master’s thesis, The Age of Adolescence, was a technically rigorous photographic essay capturing the hopes and uncertainties of American working-class teenagers, framed within the design and pattern aesthetics taught at the ID and rooted in the Bauhaus tradition. This work, expanded to include influences like the Beatles invasion, was published by GreyBull Press in 2005 with an essay by David Travis, then curator at the Art Institute of Chicago.
While at the ID, Sterling was part of a notable circle known as the “ID 5,” which included Joseph Jachna, Charles Swedlund, Kenneth Josephson, and Ray Metzker. This group was featured in a special issue of Aperture magazine titled after the collective. From 1960 to 1990, Sterling had a successful career as a magazine and corporate photographer, earning numerous awards while continuing his personal work and traveling widely. He also played a key role in establishing the photography department at Columbia College Chicago and taught and lectured at both the Institute of Design and the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.
Sterling’s photographs have appeared in Aperture magazine, Time-Life’s This Fabulous Century, and other publications. His work is held in major collections including the Museum of Modern Art, New York; George Eastman House; the Art Institute of Chicago; and the Museum of Contemporary Photography in Chicago.