CARL TOTH

TOTH--Carl W. December 7, 1947 - August 20, 2022. Beloved father, husband, brother, son and teacher, Carl Toth was an innovative artist creating five major bodies of work over his career. Whether produced with Super 8 movie cameras or color copiers, Carl's conceptually challenging work resides in the space between real and constructed-or-de- constructed existences. Carl received an AAS degree in Photography at Rochester Institute of Technology, a BA in English Lit and an MFA in Photography at SUNY Buffalo, and an internship at the George Eastman House. His mentors were Nathan Lyons, Bob Heinecken, Don Blumberg and the poet Robert Creeley. Upon graduation he became Artist-in-Residence at Cranbrook Academy of Art in Detroit founding a Department of Photography for the prestigious graduate program where he pursued the tradition of innovation set by the Saarinens and the Eames'. He explored the relationship of literature, cinema and literary theory to still photography and photo-montage. Carl's work is in the permanent collections of the Museum of Modern Art in New York, the International Museum of Photography, the Australian National Gallery, the Detroit Institute of Arts, the Art Institute of Chicago, the San Francisco Museum of Art, the Philadelphia Museum of Art and others. Carl received three National Endowment for the Arts Fellowships and three Michigan Creative Artists Grants. He was named Honored Educator by the Midwest and National Societies for Photographic Education in 2000 and 2006 respectively. In his 35 years at Cranbrook he provided good-humored, provocative guidance to hundreds of dedicated students. Carl was a compassionate man who gave more to others than to himself in his sensitive, generous way. The memories of abounding love, playfulness and curiosity will be cherished by his sons Matthew and Benjamin. With their dad they experienced space travel in appliance boxes, Formula 1 races in the studio, the miraculous resurrection of defunct goldfish, midnight Santa visits, ingenious Halloween costumes and the wonders of the cosmos. The life of love, intellectual growth and creativity shared with Judith, Carl's wife of 38 years is her proof of the kismet of having met in the darkroom. Carl's buoyant spirit lives in the hearts of all he touched. Be at peace.