Abraham Menashe was born in 1951 to a Jewish family that lived in Egypt for nine generations. In June of 1961, his mother—a widow with three children, departed for France with the help of the Hebrew International Aid Society (HIAS) and the International Red Cross. After a nine-month wait in Paris, his family received a visa (in March of 1962) and emigrated to Princeton, New Jersey, where he attended elementary and high school.
From an early age Abraham Menashe felt a connection to society's less fortunate. At age 15, Menashe volunteered for a summer to care for mentally handicapped children. The following summer, he assisted in building a school for Navaho Indians at the Four Corners Reservation in Ganado, Arizona. During these adolescent years, Abraham was also immersed in art, and in the senior year of high school spent his savings on his first camera—a Nikon FTN. He attended New York University in 1970, but left after one year to forge his own way and discover what he could offer the world as an artist. Over time, he combined his desire to help others with his artistic yearnings by focusing on the human spirit with his camera.
Abraham Menashe has since committed his professional life to humanistic photography. In 1998, he launched this website, making available a 5,000 image library—outtakes from his assignment work—to the editorial, pharmaceutical, and advertising markets.
Menashe lectures on what the photograph can offer beyond its aesthetic value—as a product of the spirit—as an object of contemplation—as an affirmation of life. He taught Photography As Sacred Practice and The Healing Image at New York's International Center of Photography and the Open Center. Abraham Menashe is the author of eight books, and his photographs have graced the pages of numerous national and international publications, including Newsweek, Scientific American, The New York Times, and Time-Life Books. Menashe's photographs are in several museum collections, including New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Brooklyn Museum, and the Museum of Modern Art.
Abraham Menashe is a New York City resident, has a daughter, Rebecca Sarah Menashe, who is an artist and a certified Jivamukti Yoga teacher, now studying Ayurvedic medicine in India. Abraham is a student of the principles of Attitudinal Healing, has studied Tai Chi, and enjoys the wilderness. In his spare time, he writes and collects poems that celebrate intimacy, nature, and the triumphant human spirit.
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prints in public collections:
The Brooklyn Museum
The Jewish Museum, New York
The Kosciosko Foundation
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
The Museum of the City of New York
The Museum of Modern Art, New York
b o o k s
Inner Grace, Alfred A. Knopf, 1980. Fifty black and white photographs that reveal the dignity, courage, and grace inherent in America's multi-handicapped population. The book, published in conjunction with a show at New York's Witkin Gallery, was featured in Time-Life Books' Photography Year, 1981 Edition.
The Face of Prayer, Alfred A. Knopf, 1983. Fifty black and white photographs taken around the world that portray the nature of reverence. The book was published in conjunction with a show at New York's International Center of Photography. Charles Kuralt, then anchor of Sunday Morning, featured both books in separate CBS programs.
Tompkins People, Xlibris 2006. Fifty black and white photographs that put a face on a family of outcasts who took refuge in New York City’s Tompkins Square Park, no longer visible today due to the successful efforts of former Mayor Rudolph Giuliani to rid the City of indigent people.
Couples, Xlibris 2006. Thirty-seven black and white photographs on relationships.
Union Square, A harvest of Grief and Hope, Xlibris 2006. Fifty photographs on the emotions and prayers of the people who gathered at New York City’s Union Square after the September 11th attack. The photographs are followed by the names of the 2,998 victims. A twenty minute audio-visual program of this work is also available to the public. This PowerPoint program was first presented six-month after the tragedy at New York City's Sol-Goldman Y, and later at the Portland Arts Center in Oregon. Two of the photographs from the book were included in Here Is New York, published by Scalo Publishers, 2002, which became a traveling exhibit originating at the Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, DC.
The Healing Moment, Xlibris 2006. Fifty black and white photographs. Moments of revelation—spiritual "awakenings" that deepen one's soul—as experienced through touch, self-acceptance, gratitude, laughter, and empathic bonds with others.
Tea Bags, Xlibris 2006. Forty-three tea bags, photographed alone and in pairs, embodying the dance of courtship and union. The tea bags express joy, seduction, heartbreak, torment, coitus, pregnancy, birth, and family. This series is followed by another series portraying tea bags as blossoms.
After the Rain, Xlibris 2006. Sixteen black and white photographs of broken umbrellas as they were found on New York City streets after the rain, hand tinted to simulate flowers, insects and moths.
o t h e r ••e s s a y s
1st Portfolio, © 1975. Very early work--the first portfolio collection.
Street Poems, © 1976. Fourteen black and white photographs that explore the aesthetic character of street surfaces.
Hand-tinted Work, © 1977. Thirteen hand-tinted black and white photographs.
c o l l a b o r a t i v e • p r o j e c t s
Talking to God: Portrait of a World at Prayer, Stone Creek Publications, © 2006, Edited by John Gattuso.
Homeless In America, Acropolis Press, 1988. A work conceived by the National Mental Health Association, and published in conjunction with a group show at the Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, DC.
The Meaning of Life, Little Brown. 1992.
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c o m m i s s i o n e d • w o r k
Church Center for The United Nations, permanent installation of ten photographs showing the common denominator of prayer.
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a s s i g n e d • w o r k
appeared in over 1,500 publications.
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m a g a z i n e • a r t i c l e s
- Black & White Magazine, Issue 27, October 2003.
- HOPE Magazine, Nov. / Dec 2002.
- The Picture Professional, Issue 2, 2000.
- Lapis, Issue Eight 1999.
- LivingCity, May 1985.
- EPOCA, 1983.
- Judaica Book News, Volume 13, Spring 1983.
- Time-Life Photography Year, 1981.
- Games Magazine, Nov. / Dec. 1979.
- 35 MM Photography, Spring 1979.
- Popular Photography Annual, 1975.
- The Rangefinder,
- Parabola, Volume V, Number 3; Volume IV, Number 4.
- Visual, numero 50, Año VI
- Newsday, November 1963.
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a w a r d s
One to One Media Award for Inner Grace.
Fellowship In Prayer, Inc. grant to complete The Face of Prayer.
Carl Allison Evans Award for The Face of Prayer.
2nd prize, Nikon Photo Contest International, 1976/77.
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m e m b e r
ASMP - American Society of Media Professionals.
ASPP - American Society of Picture Professionals.
APA - Advertising Photographers of America.
NAPP - National Association of Photoshop Professionals.
APIC - Association For The Protection of Internet Copyright.
