Yellow-Blue 2002-03
Oil on canvas
171 x 230cm
1955
David Stephenson was born in 1955, and studied at the University of Colorado and then the University of New Mexico, completing an MFA in 1982. He moved to Australia that same year to take up a position teaching photography at the University of Tasmania School of Art, where he completed a PhD in Fine Art in 2001. A fascination for the vast in space and time has led him to travel and photograph extensively around the world, with journeys to Europe, the Himalayas, and both the Arctic and Antarctic.
Stephenson’s photographs have been exhibited extensively internationally, including solo exhibitions at the Art Gallery of New South Wales (1993), the Australian Centre for Contemporary Art (1994), the Paisley Museum and Art Gallery, Scotland (1995), the National Gallery of Victoria, (1998), the Cleveland Museum of Art (2001), and the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery (2001). His work is represented in many public and private collections including the Art Gallery of New South Wales, the Art Gallery of South Australia, the Bibliotheque Nationale in Paris, the National Gallery of Australia, the National Gallery of Victoria, the Queensland Art Gallery, the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery, the International Museum of Photography and Film at George Eastman House, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Museum of Modern Art in New York.
A meditation on the sublime has sustained David Stephenson’s artistic practice over 30 years, which has evolved through long-term, interrelated projects of inquiry. His photographs of the sublime ceilings of European sacred architecture have been published in two monographs with Princeton Architectural Press: Visions of Heaven: The Dome in European Architecture (2005) and Heavenly Vaults: From Romanesque to Gothic in European Architecture (2009, and showcased worldwide in many exhibitions.
While travelling for these projects Stephenson made his first photographs of cities at night, bringing together a number of his previous interests, including the idea of the sublime, environmental concerns, and the transcendental power of light. The glowing “light city” seems the perfect emblem of so much that is both good and bad in our industrialized culture: an extraordinary example of a monumental technological sublime, where awe, beauty, and human aspiration are tinged with the horror of potential environmental catastrophe, our engine of modernity seemingly running on empty.
A key aspect of these city pictures is the explosion in growth of the modern city. The visible symbols of economic aspiration such as the skyscraper have spread across the globe. Every reasonably sized city contains a downtown area of high buildings, with urban sprawl often extending for hundreds of square miles, and all those buildings glowing with electric light from sundown through to the early hours. With the vast majority of this electric power generated by coal-fired thermal power stations, it is not difficult to see that this situation has a finite timeframe, before the fuel runs out or climate change has drastic effects on the world’s ecosystems, requiring major changes to take place in the entire fabric of our modern industrialized culture. That many of these cities were founded as ports and are located at sea level, making them highly vulnerable to rising sea levels, gives further urgency to a close scrutiny of the modern city.
2001 Doctor of Philosophy, University of Tasmania
1982 Master of Fine Art, University of New Mexico
1980 Master of Art, University of New Mexico
1979 Bachelor of Fine Art with Honors, University of Colorado
Bachelor of Art with Honors (Art History), University of Colorado
(Solo)
2011 A Survey, Boutwell Draper Gallery, Sydney
Transcendence: photographs by David Stephenson, Monash Gallery of Art, Melbourne
Light Cities: Tokyo Melbourne San Francisco Las Vegas New York,
Julie Saul Gallery, New York
2010 Light Cities: Sydney Boston Perth Tokyo Melbourne Osaka,
Boutwell Draper Gallery, Sydney
2009 Heavenly Vaults, John Buckley Gallery, Melbourne
Dusk to Dawn, Boutwell Draper Gallery, Sydney
David Stephenson, Highland Gallery, Boulder, Colorado
2008 Star Drawings, John Buckley Gallery, Melbourne
David Stephenson, O'Sullivan Art Gallery at Regis University, Denver
David Stephenson: Sublime Symmetries, Australian Embassy, Washington, D.C.
2007 Vaults, Julie Saul, New York
Vaults, Bett Gallery, Hobart
Vaults 2006-07, Boutwell Draper, Sydney
Selected Photographs 1993-2003, John Buckley Gallery, Melbourne
Marking Time, Carnegie Gallery, Hobart
2006 Symétries sublimes, photographies de David Stephenson,
Centre Culturel Calouste Gulbenkian, Paris, curated by Jorge Calado, with full colour 140 page catalogue
2005 Drawing Time, Boutwell Draper Gallery, Sydney
2004 David Stephenson, Christine Abrahams Gallery, Melbourne
Cupolas, Julie Saul Gallery, New York
Dome Photographs 2000-2003, Jackson Fine Art, Atlanta
2003 David Stephenson: The Dome Project, Candace Perich Gallery, Katonah, NY
Skeletons, Bett Gallery, Hobart
Skeletons, Boutwell Draper Gallery, Sydney
2001 Starlight: David Stephenson Photographs, Cleveland Museum of Art, USA
Space + Light: David Stephenson Photographs, 1982-1996, Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery, Hobart
Dome Photographs, 1993-2000, Bett Gallery, Hobart
2000 Heaven, Julie Saul Gallery, New York
Cupolas, Australian Centre for Photography, Sydney
Dome, CAST Gallery, Hobart
Virtual Dome, Robert Lindsay Gallery, Melbourne
1999 Stars, Robert Lindsay Gallery, Melbourne
Domes, Dolphin, Kansas City
1998 Sublime Space: David Stephenson Photographs 1989-98,
National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
Anatomies, Robert Lindsay Gallery, Melbourne
1997 Domes, Julie Saul Gallery, New York
Domes , Dick Bett Gallery, Hobart
1996 Transfigurations , Robert Lindsay Gallery, Melbourne
1995 Transfigurations, Paisley Museum and Art Gallery, Scotland for
Fotofeis International Festival of Photography in Scotland
1994 Winter, James Danziger Gallery, New York
Dark Nature, Dick Bett Gallery, Hobart
(collaboration with Anne MacDonald)
The Ice, Australian Centre for Contemporary Art, Melbourne
1993 Dissolution, Melbourne Contemporary Art Gallery, Melbourne
The Ice, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney
1992 Vast , Dick Bett Gallery, Hobart
Vast , Australian Centre for Photography, Sydney
1991 Vast , Contemporary Art Centre of South Australia
Vast , Melbourne Contemporary Art Gallery
1990 Untitled 1989-90, Melbourne Contemporary Art Gallery, Melbourne
Untitled 1989-90, Australian Centre for Photography, Sydney
1989 David Stephenson , Selected Photographs 1979-89, Salamanca Place
Gallery, Hobart
David Stephenson , Gallerie Cimitiere, Launceston
1988 David Stephenson , Salamanca Place Gallery, Hobart
1987 Mountain/Sea, Chameleon Gallery, Hobart
David Stephenson , Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery, Sydney
1985 David Stephenson , Ivan Dougherty Gallery, Sydney
David Stephenson , The Friends of Photography, Carmel
1984 David Stephenson , The Developed Image, Adelaide
1983 The Divided Landscape, Robert Freidus Gallery, New York
David Stephenson , The Developed Image, Adelaide
Extended Landscape, Tasmanian School of Art Gallery, Hobart
1982 David Stephenson, Australian Centre for Photography, Sydney
1981 David M Stephenson, Camerawork Gallery, San Francisco
Trans Alaska Pipeline, ASA Gallery, University of New Mexico,
Albuquerque
Group Exhibitions
2011 Three Views - David Stephenson, Mark Kimber, Luke Roberts, John Buckley Gallery, Melbourne
City of Hobart Art Prize, Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery, Hobart
25 Years / 25 Artists, Julie Saul Gallery, New York
25 Years – an unfolding journey, Bett Gallery, Hobart
Deep Water: Photographs 1860-2000, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
Photography and Place: Australian landscape photography, 1970s until now, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney
River Effects: the waterways of Tasmania, Centre for the Arts, Hobart
Art + Architecture 11, Boutwell Draper Gallery, Sydney
2010 In the Balance, Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney
Stormy Weather: Contemporary Landscape photography,
National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
2009 Looking up: a view of contemporary photography,
Ambient Art Projects, Las Vegas
Shared Sky, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
Vertigo, Monash Gallery of Art, Melbourne
Natural World, Glen Eira City Council Gallery, Melbourne
2008 Neo-Goth: Back in Black, University of Queensland Museum of Art,
Brisbane, Australia
Photography and Architecture, Parc de Sceaux, Paris
2007 Ingenuidades: Fotografia e Engenharia 1846-2006, curated by Jorge Calado
Galeria de Exposições Temporårias da Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian, Lisbon;
Centre for Fine Arts, Brussels (BOZAR)
Light Sensitive: Contemporary Australian Photography from the Loti Smorgon Fund, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
ABN AMRO Emerging Artist Award, Sydney
Cross Currents: Focus on Contemporary Australian Art,
Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney
2006 From an Island South (Asialink/Devonport Regional Gallery touring exhibition curated by Jane Stewart) touring venues in Asia.
aniGma-2006 The 3d Novosibirsk International Festival of Digital Imaging,
Animation & Video-Art, Novosibirsk State Art Museum, Russia, curated by Andrey Martynov.
Different Dimension, 1st Novosibirsk International Festival of contemporary
photography, Novosibirsk State Art Museum, Russia, curated by Andrey Martynov.
A Precipitation in Time, Devonport Regional Gallery, Devonport,
curated by Troy Ruffels
Artbank: Celebrating 25 Years of Australia Art, Redland Art Gallery,
Queensland, and national tour, curated by Antonia Syme et al.
2005 Studies in Meditation, Candace Perich Gallery, Katonah, New York.
Looking South, Plimsoll Galley, Centre for the Arts, Hobart.
The Place Where Three Dreams Cross,
Plimsoll Galley, Centre for the Arts, Hobart (national tour).
Breaking Ice, Adam Art Gallery,
Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand.
Idiosyncrasy: Painting and Photography, Qld Centre for Photography, Brisbane.
Transformer, Long Gallery, Hobart.
Points of View: Australian Photography, 1985-95,
Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney.
Olhares Estrangeiros, Fotografias de Portugal, Colecçao da Caixa de Depositos, Fidelidade Mundial Chiado 8, Lisbon.
2004 Josephine Ulrick & Win Schubert Foundation for the Arts Photography Award
Gold Coast City Art Gallery, Surfers Paradise.
I want to take you higher, McKenzie Fine Art, New York.
Australian Art Fair, Royal Exhibition Building, Melbourne.
Tidal: City of Devonport Art Prize (Tasmanian Artist Award winner)
Devonport Regional Gallery, Devonport.
The Nature Machine, Queensland Art Gallery, Brisbane
2003 Sky Lounge – Future Projections, National Museum of Australia, Canberra
First Impressions: Contemporary Australian Photograms,
National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne.
Future Perfect, Bett Gallery, Hobart and assorted venues.
Second Sight: Australian Photography in the National Gallery of Victoria, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne.
American Beauty, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney.
2002 Gold Coast Ulrick Schubert Photographic Art Award (winner)
Gold Coast City Art Gallery, Surfers Paradise.
Melbourne Art Fair, Royal Exhibition Building, Melbourne
Fieldwork: Australian Art 1968-2002, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne.
In Sequence, Dolphin Fine Art, Kansas City.
2001 Striking: Contemporary Australian Photography from the Monash Gallery of
Art Collection, Monash Gallery of Art, Melbourne.
Between Phenomena-The Panorama and Tasmania,
Plimsoll Gallery, Centre for the Arts, Hobart.
Night Light: Photographs of heavenly bodies, 1885-2000,
Robert Klein Gallery, Boston.
1999 Mount Wellington – Peak and Pinnacle, Allport Library and Museum of
Fine Arts, State Library of Tasmania, Hobart.
An American Century of Photography: From Dry-Plate to Digital,
Phillips Collection, Washington, D.C. and national tour.
Artificial Nature: a survey of vintage and contemporary photograms,
Julie Saul Gallery, New York.
Striking: Contemporary Australian Photography from the Monash
Gallery of Art Collection, Gold Treasury Museum, Melbourne,
Casula Powerhouse Gallery, Sydney.
Earth Sky, Jackson Fine Art, Atlanta.
Tempus Fugit/Time Flies, Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City.
1998 Waterproof, Festival of 100 days/EXPO '98,
Belem Cultural Centre, Lisbon.
Click, Robert Lindsay Gallery, Melbourne.
Parliament House Photography Project: David Stephenson and Debra Phillips,
Parliament House, Canberra
Constellations, University of Missouri-Kansas City Gallery of Art,
Kansas City.
Drawings from Light 2: The Contemporary Imagination,
Waverley City Gallery, Melbourne.
Ground Control, Lombard-Freid Contemporary Art, New York.
1997 Oceans and Galaxies, Karen McCready Fine Art, New York.
Vantage, Australian Centre for Photography, Sydney.
Site and Sensibility - selections from the Art Bank Collection,
S. H. Irvin Gallery, Sydney.
What's New II, Waverley Gallery, Melbourne.
The Blake Prize, State Library of New South Wales, Sydney.
1996 Imagine Nature, Plimsoll Gallery, University of Tasmania Centre for the
Arts, Hobart.
Brushing the Dark: Recent Art and Tasmania, Tasmanian Museum and Art
Gallery, Hobart, and national tour.
The Power to Move: Recent Australian Photography, Queensland Art
Gallery, Brisbane.
Inheritance, Australian Centre for Photography, Sydney.
Contemporary Australian Photography from the collection of the National
Gallery of Victoria, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne.
Out Takes: Obscure Works by Gallery Artists, Julie Saul Gallery, New York.
Gold Coast City Conrad Jupiters Art Prize (winner), Gold Coast City Art
Gallery, Queensland.
City of Hobart Art Prize, Carnegie Gallery, Hobart.
1995 Likeness, Centre for Contemporary Photography, Melbourne.
Figure/Ground, Dick Bett Gallery, Hobart.
The Derwent Collection: Australian Art of the 1980s and 1990s, Tasmanian
Museum and Art Gallery, Hobart.
The Blundstone Contemporary Art Prize (Aquisitive Award) Queen
Victoria Museum and Art Gallery, Launceston, and national tour.
1994 Tradition and the Unpredictable: The Allan Chasanoff Photographic Collection,
Museum of Fine Arts, Houston.
Pictograms: Aspects of Contemporary Photographic Practice, Monash
University Gallery, Melbourne and national tour.
The Full Spectrum: Colour and Photography in Australia 1860s to 1990s,
National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne.
Landed: Landscape Art in Australia, 1960-90, Australian National Gallery,
Canberra.
Antarctica: Secrets of the Frozen World, Tasmanian Museum and Art
Gallery, Hobart, and Museum of Victoria, Melbourne.
An American Century of Photography: From Dry-Plate to Digital,
Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, and international tour.
Tableaux: Works from the Monash University Collection, Monash
University Gallery, Melbourne.
1993 To the Surface-Contemporary Landscape, Centre for the Arts, Hobart.
Artists in Antarctica-Visions of the Frozen World, Tasmanian Museum and
Art Gallery, Hobart.
Reflex, Centre for Contemporary Photography, Melbourne, and national
tour.
1992 A Show of Strength, Dick Bett Gallery, Hobart.
Location, Australian Centre for Contemporary Art, Melbourne, and
Australasian tour.
Intimations of Mortality, Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide.
Contemporary Works, Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery, Hobart.
1991 42° South, Chameleon Gallery, Hobart, and Australia/ NZ tour.
David Stephenson/Ray Arnold, Cradle Mountain Visitor Centre, Tasmania.
Agfa National Photography Exhibition, Albury Regional Art Centre, New
South Wales.
1990 Fragmentation and Fabrication: Recent Australian Photography, Art Gallery
of South Australia, Adelaide.
1989 Night, Nacht, Noir, Chameleon Gallery, Hobart.
Tableaux Mourant, Fine Arts Gallery, University of Tasmania.
1988 Australian Photography: the 1980's, Australian National Gallery, Canberra
and national tour.
The CSR Photography Collection, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney.
Landfall, Chameleon Gallery, Hobart.
A Place For Art, Centre for the Arts Gallery, Hobart.
1987 Photogenics: Works from the University Collection, University of Tasmania
Fine Arts Gallery, Hobart.
Australian Contemporary Photographers, National Gallery of Victoria,
Melbourne.
On Collecting Photographs: Master Photographs from St. Louis Private
Collections, University of Missouri, St. Louis.
The New Romantics, Macquarie Galleries, Sydney, and regional tour.
1986 New Views: Landscape Photographs From Two Continents, University of
Missouri, St, Louis.
CSR Photography Project, Queensland Art Gallery and regional tour.
Recent Australian Photography, Australian National Gallery, Canberra.
1985 Festival of Perth Exhibition, Editions Gallery, Fremantle.
Approaching Landscape, Chameleon Gallery, Hobart and Penrith Regional
Gallery, New South Wales.
1984 Tenth Anniversary Exhibition, Australian Centre for Photography, Sydney.
1983 Australian Perspecta 1983, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney,
and national tour.
Landscape/Cityscape, Susan Spiritus Galley, Newport Beach.
Not a Picture Show, Long Gallery, Hobart, and national tour.
Recent Acquisitions, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco.
1982 Recent Acquisitions, Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Year of the Tree, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney.
Southwest Regional Photography, ASA Gallery, University of New Mexico,
Albuquerque.
Northlight Southwest, Northlight Gallery, Arizona State University.
1981 New Photographs, Robert Freidus Gallery, New York.
Masterpieces from the Permanent Collection, San Francisco Museum of
Modern Art, San Francisco.
Northlight Southwest, Northlight Gallery, Arizona State University,
Tempe.
Contemporary Photoworks, Downtown Centre for the Arts, Albuquerque.
Five States Photography, ASA Gallery, University of New Mexico.
Exposure Time V, James Madison University, Harrisonburg, Virginia.
Exposure 1981, Cheltenham Art Centre, Pennsylvania.
Sixth Annual Magic Silver Show, Murray State University, Murray,
Kentucky.
Prints and Photographs, The Print Club, Philadelphia.
1980 Western Landscape Photography, 1850-1980, Crocker Art Museum, Sacramento, California.
Contemporary Photography, Skidmore College, Saratoga Springs,
New York.
La Grange National V, CVAA Art Gallery, La Grange, Georgia.
Eccentricities, California Institute of the Arts, Valencia.
Conceptions Southwest, ASA Gallery, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque.
Northlight Southwest, Northlight Gallery, Arizona State University, Tempe.
Photospiva 80, Spiva Art Center, Joplin, Missouri.
University of New Mexico Travelling Exhibition, to galleries in New York,
Maine, Virginia, and Texas.
Photo-Media, ASA Gallery, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque.
MA/MFA Exhibition, University of New Mexico Art Museum,
Albuquerque.
1979 Photograph as Document, California Institute of the Arts, Valencia.
Photoworks, Bellevue Art Museum, Washington.
Exposure: Ideas and Images in Contemporary Photography, Boulder Arts
Centre, Colorado.
Colorado Photographers, Emmanuel Gallery, Auraria Campus, Denver
Pictures, Diablo Valley College Gallery, California.
Four Corners Exhibition, Northlight Gallery, Arizona State University,
Tempe.
Boulder Arts 1979, Boulder Arts Centre, Colorado.
Albuquerque Contemporary Arts, Downtown Centre for the Arts and Meridian Gallery, Albuquerque, New Mexico.
1978 Works on Paper, Dallas Museum of Fine Arts, Texas, and seven gallery
regional tour.
Institutional Collections:
Ackland Art Museum, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Arizona State University, Tempe
Art Bank, Sydney
Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney
Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide
Bellevue Art Museum, Bellevue, Washington
Bibliotheque Nationale, Paris
Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington D.C.
Crocker Art Museum, Sacramento
Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center, Vassar College, New York
Gold Coast City Art Gallery, Queensland
International Museum of Photography at George Eastman House, Rochester
La Grange College, La Grange, Georgia
Library of Congress, Washington D.C.
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
Monash Gallery of Art, Melbourne
Monash University Museum of Art, Melbourne
Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney
Museum of Fine Arts, Houston
Museum of Modern Art, New York
National Collection of Photography, Centro Português de Fotografia, Oporto
National Gallery of Australia, Canberra
National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City
Parliament House, Canberra
Queensland Art Gallery, Brisbane
Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery, Launceston
San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco
Sheldon Memorial Art Gallery, University of Nebraska
Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery, Hobart
University of New Mexico Art Museum, Albuquerque
University of New South Wales, College of Fine Arts, Sydney
University of Sydney
University of Tasmania, Hobart
Victorian Department of Education, Melbourne
Wellesley College Museum of Art, Massachusetts
Corporate Collections
Bank of America
Caixa de Depositos, Lisbon
Citibank
Cleveland Clinic
Deutsche Bank
Goldman Sachs & Co
Kerry Stokes Collection
Mellon Financial Corp.
Pfizer, Inc.
Wesfarmers Collection
Grants and Commissions:
2002 IRGS Grant (with Bill Hart)
2001 Australia Council Visual Art/Craft Fund Project Grant
2002 Australian Research Council Grant
1996 Australia Council Visual Art/Craft Fund Project Grant
1995 Australian Research Council Grant (with A MacDonald, R. Arnold)
1993 Arts Tasmania Project Grant (with Anne MacDonald)
1992 Australia Council Visual Arts/Crafts Board Overseas Studio Grant
1991 University of Tasmania Antarctic Commission
1990 Tasmanian Arts Advisory Board Art in Public Places Commission
1989 Tasmanian Arts Advisory Board Art in Public Places Commission
1988 University Research Grant
1985 University Research Grant
1984 New Parliament House Photography Commission
1983 CSR Photography Project Commission
Tasmanian Arts Advisory Board Grant
1980 National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship
1979 Ford Foundation Grant, through the University of New Mexico
Books and Catalogs:
Isabel Hesketh: “David Stephenson”, in Rachel Kent: In the Balance: Art for a Changing World, Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney, 2010
Anne Marsh: Look: Contemporary Australian Photography since 1980, Macmillan, Melbourne, 2010
David Stephenson: Heavenly Vaults: From Romanesque to Gothic in European Architecture, Princeton Architectural Press, New York, 2009.
Daniel Palmer: “David Stephenson”, chapter in Blair French and Daniel Palmer: Twelve Australian Photo-Artists, Piper Press, Sydney, 2009
Alison Kubler: Neo-Goth: Back in Black, University of Queensland Museum of Art,
Brisbane, Australia, 2008
Angela Faris-Belt: The Elements of Photography, Focal Press (Elsevier), Burlington, MA and Oxford, UK, 2008
Helen Ennis: Photography and Australia, Reaktion Books, London, 2007
Daniel Palmer: “David Stephenson”, chapter in John Stringer: Cross Currents: Focus on Contemporary Australian Art, Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney, 2007
David Stephenson: Visions célestes: Les plus belles coupoles d'Europe, Éditions Citadelles & Mazenod, Paris, 2007.
Lynne Andrews: Antarctic Eye: the Visual Journey, Studio One, Tasmania, 2007.
Jorge Calado: Ingenuidades: Fotografia e Engenharia 1846-2006, Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian, Lisbon, 2006.
Jorge Calado: David Stephenson: Sublime Symmetries, Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, Lisbon, 2006.
Roslynn D. Haynes: Tasmanian Visions: Landscapes in Writing, Art, and Photography, Polymath Press, Tasmania, 2006.
David Stephenson: Visions of Heaven: The Dome in European Architecture, Princeton Architectural Press, New York, 2005.
Isobel Crombie and Susan van Wyk: Second Sight: Australian Photography in the National Gallery of Victoria, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, 2003.
David Stephenson (with essay by Greg French): Skeletons, Space + Light Editions, Hobart, 2003.
Charles Green and Jason Smith: Fieldwork: Australian Art 1968-2002, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, 2002.
Jan Schall, editor: Tempus Fugit: Time Flies, Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, and University of Washington, Seattle, 2001.
David Stephenson (with essay by Keith F. Davis): Stars, Julie Saul Gallery, New York, Robert Lindsay Gallery, Melbourne, Space + Light Editions, Hobart, 1999.
Blair French, editor: Photo files: an Australian photography reader, Power Publications, Power Institute, University of Sydney, Sydney, 1999.
Susan Van Wyk: Sublime Space: David Stephenson Photographs, 1989-98,
National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, 1998.
Keith F. Davis: An American Century of Photography: From Dry Plate to Digital (2nd Edition, Revised and Enlarged), Abrams, New York, 1998.
Jorge Calado: A Prova de Agua/Waterproof, Edition Stemmle, Zurich, 1998.
David Stephenson : "Transfigurations", 5 colour illustrations pp. 98-103, in Pedersen, B M , editor: Fine Art Photography 2, Graphis Inc, New York, 1997.
Victoria Hammond, editor: Brushing the Dark- Recent Art and Tasmania, Contemporary Art Services Tasmania, Hobart, 1996.
Peter Hay, editor: Imagine Nature, School of Art, University of Tasmania, 1996.
Anne Kirker: The Power to Move, Queensland Art Gallery, Brisbane, 1996.
David Stephenson (with essay by Victoria Hammond): Cupolas, Julie Saul Gallery, New York, Robert Lindsay Gallery, Melbourne, and Dick Bett Gallery, Hobart, 1996.
Alasdair Foster, Ken Gill, and Euan McArthur, editors: Fotofeis '95- International Festival of Photography in Scotland, Fotofeis Ltd, Edinburgh, 1995.
Edward Colless: The Error of My Ways, Institute of Modern Art, Brisbane, 1995.
Stuart Koop and David Stephenson: The Ice, Australian Centre for Contemporary Art, Melbourne, 1994.
Museum of Fine Arts: The Allan Chasanoff Photographic Collection: Tradition and the Unpredictable, Houston, 1994.
Keith F. Davis: An American Century of Photography: From Dry-Plate to Digital, Hallmark, Kansas City, 1994.
David Stephenson: "Marks in the Landscape: Notes 1979-1991", Our Common Ground- A Celebration of Art, Place & Environment, Australian Institute of Landscape Architects & The Centre for Environmental Studies, Hobart, 1994.
Ray Arnold: To the Surface-Contemporary Landscape, Plimsol Gallery, Centre for the Arts, Hobart, 1993.
Juliana Engberg: Location, Australian Centre for Contemporary Art, Melbourne, 1992.
John Mcqueenie: 42° South, Chameleon, Hobart 1991
Fred Levine: "And we fill the void with our presence- An introduction to the photographs of David Stephenson", Vast: Photographs from Europe and Antarctica 1990-91, by David Stephenson, Contemporary Art Centre of South Australia, Adelaide, 1991
National Association for Visual Arts: Who's Who of Australian Artists, Thorpe, Melbourne, 1991.
Max Germaine: Artists and Galleries of Australia, Craftsman House, Sydney, 1990
Sue Backhouse: Tasmanian Artists of the Twentieth Century, Pandani Press, Hobart, 1988
Jim Logan: Night, Nacht, Noir, Chameleon Contemporary Art Space, Hobart, 1989
Anne MacDonald: Tableaux Mourant, University of Tasmania, Hobart, 1989
Helen Ennis: Australian Photography: The 1980's, Australian National Gallery, Canberra, and Melbourne Oxford University Press, Oxford, Auckland, New York, 1988
Sandra Byron: The CSR Photography Project Collection, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 1988
Jonathon Holmes: Photogenics: Works From The University Collection, University of Tasmania, Hobart, 1987
David Stephenson: Mountain/Sea, Chameleon, Hobart, 1987
Graeme Sturgeon: The New Romantics, Macquarie Galleries, Sydney, 1987
Tom Patton: New Views: Landscape Photographs From Two Continents University of Missouri, St. Louis, 1986
Christine Godden: CSR Photography Project: Selected Works, CSR, Ltd. Sydney, 1986
Jan McDonald: Australian Artists' Index, Arts Libraries Society, Sydney, 1986.
David Stephenson: New Landscapes: Photographs From Two Continents University of Tasmania, Hobart, 1985
Ray Arnold: Approaching Landscape, Chameleon, Hobart 1985
Glen Puster and Gayle Pollard: Not a Picture Show, Hobart, 1983
Bernice Murphy: Australian Perspecta 1983, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney
Tasmanian School of Art: Extended Landscape, Hobart, 1983
Harvey Himmelfarb and Roger D. Clisby: Large Spaces in Small Places, A Survey of Western Landscape Photography: 1850-1980, Crocker Art Museum, Sacramento, 1980
Boulder Arts Center: Exposure: Ideas and Images in Contemporary Photography, Boulder, Colorado, 1979
Articles and Reviews
Robert Nelson: “Sublime infinity beyond the ceiling”, The Age, Melbourne, February 6, 2008.
Brian Sholis: “David Stephenson, Julie Saul Gallery, New York”, artforum.com/critics’ picks, September 14, 2007.
Margarett Loke: “David Stephenson: Heaven”, The New York Times, February 11, 2000.
Stuart Koop: “David Stephenson”, Art/Text, No. 64, Sydney, February 1999.
Peter Timms: “Finding that uncool beauty in nature”, The Age, Melbourne, 5 May 1999.
Elisabeth Kirsch: “David Stephenson: Domes”, Kansas City Star, July 29, 1999.
Anna Clabburn: “Male artists meet the heroic challenge”, The Age, Melbourne, 16 September 1998.
Courtney Kidd: "The Unframed Eye: Perspectives on Antarctica", Art and Australia, Volume 33, Number 4, Sydney, 1996.
John MacDonald: "Peaks of inspiration", Sydney Morning Herald, 4 May 1996.
Giles Auty: "Theories with holes", The Weekend Australian, 11-12 May 1996.
Susan Falkiner: "Brushing the Dark", Art Monthly Australia, No. 90 June 1996.
Barb Smith: "Fotofeis International Festival of Photography in Scotland", Art Monthly Australia, No. 90 June 1996.
Freda Freiberg: "Photography"(review of Transfigurations at Robert Lindsay Gallery), The Age, Melbourne, 20 September 1996.
Michael Read: "Phenomena", in See, Issue 1:4, The Friends of Photography,San Francisco, 1995.
Adrian Colman: "Time and the Photographer", Research News No. 6, University of Tasmania, Hobart, 1993.
Jonathon Holmes: "The Green and the Wild: Dark Nature, Anne MacDonald and David Stephenson",Artlink,
Elwyn Lynn: "Exposure to contrast", The Weekend Australian, July 31-August 1, 1993.
Elwyn Lynn: "Photos to go places", The Weekend Australian, August 7-8, 1993.
Greg Neville: "Conditioned Reflex", The Age, Melbourne, December 15, 1993.
"Breaking Rules, Okay", Australian Photography, Sydney, December 1993.
Greg Neville: "An art in search of identity", The Age, Melbourne, December 31, 1993.
Robert Rooney: "Focus on Asian Relations", The Weekend Australian, December 5-6, 1992.
Sean Kelly: "42 Degrees South", Art & Text, Number 39, May 1991, Melbourne
Greg Neville: "Stephenson has nature's power of astonishment", The Age, Melbourne, 22 November 1991
Edward Colless: "David Stephenson", Photofile, Number 34, Australian Centre for Photography, Sydney, December 1991
Stephanie Radok: "Anti-aesthetics", Artlink, Vol 11 No 4, Summer 1991/92, Adelaide, 1991.
Beatrice Faust: "Focus is on the dignity of labor", The Age, Melbourne, 2/3/90
Stuart Koop: "David Stephenson at Melbourne Contemporary Art Gallery", Agenda, Ewing and George Paton Gallery, Melbourne University, Melbourne, 1990
Photographs reproduced in Island , Issue 45, Spring 1990, Hobart
David McDowell: "Playing Dead and Other Affectations", Photofile, Summer 1989-90
Susan Leggett: "Monumental landscapes related to man", The Mercury, Hobart. 9/9/89
Edward Colless: "Hobart Commentary", Art and Australia, September 1989
Beatrice Faust: "Glamour, mystery, and magic", The Age, 24/6/87, Melbourne
Heather Curnow: "Mountain/Sea", Photofile, Sydney, Spring 1987
Heather Curnow: "Talented interpreter captures essence of Tassie landscape", The Mercury, 6/8/87, Hobart
John McDonald: "Romantics under the umbrella", Sydney Morning Herald, 26/9/87
Elwyn Lynn: "Rescued from their ersatz agony", The Weekend Australian, 26-27/9/87
Mark Hinderacker: "Panoramas..", Sydney Morning Herald, April 1,1985
Jonathon Holmes: "Resuming our journey into the landscape...", Art and Australia, Volume 22, Number 4, Sydney, 1985
Geoffrey Lea: "Baring nature's soul", The Mercury, 20/7/85, Hobart
Brian Allison: "David Stephenson", Photofile, Australian Centre for Photography, Sydney, Autumn 1984
Jonathon Holmes: "Provincialism and Art", Island 14, Hobart, 1983
Marion Hardman: "Not a Picture Show (Calling the Shots)", supplement to Island 16, Hobart, 1983
Jonathon Holmes: "Not a Picture Show", Photofile Spring 1983 Australian Centre for Photography, Sydney, 1983
Annette Van den Bosch: "Anzart-in-Hobart", Art Network Winter 1983, Melbourne, 1983
Jonathon Holmes: "Contemporary Visual Arts in Tasmania", Australian Art Review, Sydney, 1983
Jonathon Holmes: "Contemporary Visual Arts in Tasmania", Studio International, Volume 196, Number 1002, London, October 1983
Ben Lifson: "The Conscience of Collections", The Village Voice, July 22-28, New York, 1981
Visual Studies Workshop: Afterimage, Volume 8, Number 5, Rochester, New York,1980
Ned Rifkin: "Southwest 1978- Works on Paper", Artweek, Number 18, San Francisco, 1978