Herbert Migdoll

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Herbert Migdoll (May 11, 1934 – April 19, 2025) was an American painter, environmental installation artist, and photographer. He is best known for being the Joffrey Ballet’s company photographer and later its design director, a role he held from 1968 to 2016. His photographs appeared on covers of LIFE, Time, The New York Times Magazine, and other major magazines. He wrote the book Dancers Dancing, and his work is in the Museum of Modern Art in New York.

Born in Jersey City, New Jersey, Migdoll studied at Pratt Institute (where he studied under Sibyl Moholy-Nagy) before transferring to Cooper Union, graduating in 1957. He also did undergraduate work at NYU and MIT and received a Fulbright scholarship in 1968 for photography research in Denmark. He served as Art Director of Dance Magazine for 25 years. Migdoll died in the Bronx on April 19, 2025, at the age of 90.

Awards include the Adolph Gottlieb Painting Award (2005), the Vogelstein Painting Award (1989), and a National Endowment for the Arts grant (1980).