Background
David Bruce Cratsley was born on December 24, 1944 in Canton, New York, United States.
Bruce Cratsley And William Leight, by Elsa Dorfman
Bruce Cratsley And Honey, by Elsa Dorfman
gallery administrator Photographer
David Bruce Cratsley was born on December 24, 1944 in Canton, New York, United States.
David Bruce Cratsley received a Bachelor of Arts from Swarthmore College in 1966, and did graduate study in art history at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia from 1966 to 1967. Attending a master class with Lisette Model at the New School for Social Research in 1972.
Since 1977 David Bruce Cratsley has been assistant to the director of Witkin Gallery, Inc., in New York City. Previously, he had been gallery manager (1976-1977) and administrative assistant to the director of library at Magnum Photos (1972-1973 and 1975) in New York City. He worked for the Parke-Bernet Galleries in New York as a consultant to their silver department, and also in their Houston, Texas, office, 1970-1971, and for Sotheby & Co., London, as a silver and heraldry specialist, 1967-1969.
As "Bruce Cratsley", he exhibited in various New York galleries, like: Laurence Miller Gallery, Howard Greenberg Gallery and Witkin Gallery. Cratsley was represented by Yancey Richardson Gallery, a dealer of fine art photography based in SoHo.
In 1978 he contributed the photo sequences for the musical The Class, performed by The New Ballet School at the New York City Center. In 1980, Cratsley's work, Atlantic City, 1977, an August beach scene, exhibited at the 11th Anniversary show at the Witkin Gallery, sold for $175.
David Bruce Cratsley documented the Lesbian and Gay life, and in particular the New York City LGBT Pride March. Another event he documented was Wigstock, an annual outdoor drag festival that began in the 1980s in Manhattan's East Village that took place on Labor Day. Pictures from both events are now at the New York Public Library, in their permanent collection.
In 1999, he was included in the volume Desire: contemporary photography from the visual AIDS archive project.
Works by Cratsley are also at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Bibliothèque nationale de France and the Harvard Art Museums.
Quotes from others about the person
Robert Klein said of Cratsley: "Bruce transforms commonplace things through a keen sense of light and composition, and very skilled printing".
Elsa Dorfman: "We're long distance friends. The phone. No email. No fax. He's star 90 from every phone in my house and in my studio."
David Waine, Cratsley's lover who he often portrayed, died of AIDS-related illness in 1991. At the time of his own death, Cratsley was in a long-term relationship with William Leight.