Henry Horenstein (born 1947) is an American artist, photographer, filmmaker and educator. He is the author of over 35 books, including a series of instructional textbooks.

Life and work

He studied history at the University of Chicago and earned his BFA and MFA at Rhode Island School of Design (RISD), where he is now professor of photography. He has worked as a professional photographer, filmmaker, teacher, and author since the early 1970s. Honky Tonk: Portraits of Country Music (2003) is a documentary survey of country music during the late 1970s and early 1980s. Honky Tonk has also been presented as an exhibition at many public and private museums and galleries, notably the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History in 2006, the Rhode Island School of Design Museum in 2005, and The Annenberg Space for Photography in 2014. In recent years, Horenstein has been working on short documentary films. His films include Murray (2010), with William A. Anderson and Hillary Spera; Spoke (2014), a celebration of the Austin, Texas, dance hall, the Broken Spoke, which was funded by The Annenberg Space for Photography and screened at the Austin Film Festival; Partners (2018), which premiered in May 2018 at Boston's Museum of Fine Arts; and Blitto Underground (2021), about bohemian Buenos Aires, which premiered at the International Film Festival in Buenos Aires, the Paris Independent Film Festival, and the Berlin International Art Film Festival. His film about Cajun Louisiana, called Marksville, LA, is scheduled for a 2025 release. Speedway 1972, his photographs shot at the Thompson Speedway (Connecticut) 50 years ago, was published by Stanley/Barker (UK) in 2022. We Sort of People, in collaboration with writer Leslie Tucker, was published by Kehrer Verlag (Germany) in 2023. Miles & Miles of Texas will be published by Dallas publisher 1814magazine in 2025. Horenstein lives in Boston.

Publications

Films

Film Credits

Collections

Horenstein's work is held in the following permanent collections:

General references