Arthur Ollman was born in 1947 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He earned a B.A. in art history from the University of Wisconsin in 1969 and an MFA from Lone Mountain College, San Francisco in 1977. As an artist, his work is by more than thirty museums world-wide. Mr. Ollman was the director of the Museum of Photographic Arts (MoPA) in San Diego, California from its inception in 1983 until 2005. He curated more than 70 exhibitions for MoPA including a three-part exhibition series on the subject of immigration to America: Points of Entry and the critically acclaimed The Model Wife, which examines the institution of marriage through the relationships of nine artists who photographed their wives over many years.
Arthur Ollman’s night photography from the 1970s was included in Keith Davis’ original Night Light exhibit, and was an early inspiration for a number of artists in The Darkness Darkness exhibit. Since retiring from MOPA, Mr. Ollman has begun to photograph again, after a long hiatus from his own photography.