O Winston Link

Artist Biography

O. Winston Link has been called one of the greatest photographers of the 20th century, but he was more than that. He was a historian, a storyteller and an artist. Born in Brooklyn, NY in 1914, Link learned about photography from his father. By the time he was in high school, he had built his own enlarger and gained additional experience at a local photo shop, where he processed and enlarged his art, prints and posters. Link was class president from his freshman to his senior year while at the Polytechnic Institute of Brooklyn, and he was photographic editor of both the school's newspaper and yearbook. Link earned his degree in civil engineering during the Depression, and he knew that work for engineers would be scarce. So in 1937 he took a job with Carl Byoir and Associates, a large public relations firm in New York City. When World War II began, he started working as a photographer at a lab where secret military research was being conducted. The lab was adjacent to the Long Island Railroad, and the sights and sounds of the locomotives rekindled his childhood fascination with the steam-powered giants. Link began photographing the passing trains during his spare time.

Following the war, O. Winston Link was again offered a job with Byoir, but he decided to work as an independent photographer. He soon earned a reputation for his ability to capture complicated industrial images using special techniques and lighting effects. Link never really promoted his railroad photographs. But in 1983 several museums in England and the United States organized exhibitions of the N&W photos, and dealers began to take notice. When a book of his photos titled Steam, Steel & Stars was published in 1987, recognition of his art, prints and posters increased dramatically. The Last Steam Railroad in America was published in 1995, and exhibitions of works that appeared in both publications have traveled throughout the U.S., Great Britain and other countries.

O. Winston Link was offered exclusive exhibits at several notable museums, but he wanted a permanent collection of his photographs to be in a place that provided context for his art, prints and posters. When a proposal was made in 2000 for the creation of a museum in Roanoke, Virginia., he agreed upon its location in the historic Norfolk & Western passenger station. The photographer who never sought fame or wealth lived the latter part of his life in Westchester County, NY. He had married and divorced twice, and had a son, Conway, with his first wife Marteal. In 1999 he had a cameo role as a locomotive engineer in the movie October Sky, set in West Virginia. He was photographed a year later with his favorite N&W locomotive for a January 2001 Vanity Fair magazine feature titled "Shooting Past 80 of Photography's Grand Masters.” He was actively involved in the planning of the O. Winston Link Museum when he died of a heart attack at age 86 in January 2001 near his South Salem, NY home.

O Winston Link Art, Prints and Posters Collection