Brian Lanker

Brian Lanker’s early roots in newspaper photojournalism began at the Topeka Capital-Journal, where in addition to winning the Pulitzer Prize for Feature Photography, he was twice named Newspaper Photographer of the Year. His work for LIFE Magazine and Sports Illustrated received numerous international awards.

Lanker was perhaps best known for his book and exhibition of portraits entitled, “I Dream A World: Portraits of Black Women Who Changed America.” The debut exhibition at the Corcoran Gallery of Art in Washington D.C. set attendance records for the 111 year old museum. The book, “I Dream A World” is out of print, but the photographs survive in museum collections, including the Mulvane Art Museum, Washburn University, Topeka, Kansas.

Personally, for Lanker, his greatest honor was being selected and featured, along with W. Eugene Smith, Henri Cartier-Bresson and Eliot Porter, in “Images of Man,” an audio visual educational program.

He directed his first documentary film, “They Drew Fire: Combat Artists of WWII,” a highly acclaimed PBS prime time program, in 1998. His book “Shall we dance” was published in 2008.