B.A. King

Biography

B.A. King was born in Toronto in 1934. He attended preparatory schools in Canada and the US, then went to St. Andrews College in Ontario, and completed his B.A. at Hamilton College, in Clinton, New York. He did additional studies at the Sorbonne in Paris, France. He went to New England as a young man to work in his grandfather's small business. King has had solo exhibitions at the Pucker Gallery in Boston, the Harrison Gallery in Williamstown, the Witkin Gallery in New York, The Worcester Art Museum, The Royal Ontario Museum, The Minneapolis Institute of Art, The Photographer's Gallery in London, and The National Film Board of Canada in Montreal. His works have illustrated numerous publications, including titles such as From Snow to Snow: Robert Frost Poetry; Snow Season: Poetry by Emerson, Holmes, Longfellow and Whittier; Time and Quiet; Versed in Country Things: Robert Frost Poetry; A Year to Remember: A New England Day Book; and This Proud Place: About New England. Mr. King is married with four children and five grandchildren and resides in Southborough, Massachusetts and Cape Porpoise, Maine.

Style

B.A. King's works capture fleeting moments in nature like the shadow of a fox as he runs along, a team of horses as they run down a steep slope, or the golden dust around a horse wrangler as he rides out on the range. King uses different printing processes for different images depending on their subject.

Statement

I'm a restless explorer of whatever neighborhood I'm in, and my life has been dominated by wanting to show people what I found that I admired on my rambles. I'm fascinated by nature and dazzled by human potential. Sometimes I think my business is people, and of photography as my way of reaching them. The riddle I live with is how can wild nature and humankind live together and both thrive? Grace is what I worship (another word for balance and decency in my vocabulary) and I'm likely to photograph anything that tugs or tickles my soul. Some Thoughts about Horses Children are fascinated by horses. They are big and beautiful. And the notion of riding a horse does things for children they dream of; it makes them bigger and extends their range. There have always been horses around the edges of my life. When we were younger children, my sister, who's two years older, and I belonged to a pony club in Toronto. Together we owned a nasty little black horse with a white face named Blaze. He was a showy creature and looked cute with a child on his back. We loved him dutifully, but were always glad to get off him. We rented by the hour an old black mare with a name that suited her perfectly: Patience. Whichever of us rode out on Blaze got to ride home on Patience.

Honors

Kin'gs works have been included in numerous private and public collections, including the the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Museum of Modern Art, New York, Rhode Island School of Design, Chrysler Museum of Art, Cleveland Museum of Art, DeCordova Museum, Fitchburg Museum, Fogg Museum, Hood Museum, Minneapolis Institute of Art,and Worcester Art Museum. His work has shown at The Harrison Gallery in 2005, 2009, and 2010, the Pucker Gallery in Boston, the Witkin Gallery in New York, and the Photographer's Gallery in London.

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