Bill Rauhauser: A Lifetime in Photography
Story by Ellen Piligian • Interview photos by Roy Feldman

At age 86, Bill Rauhauser seems at least 20 years younger. Sitting in his Southfield home amid his collection of books that range in subject matter from WWII to art, his collection of jazz and classical music, a new electronic drum set (a gift from his son last Christmas) and his own photographs from over 60 years in the field, Rauhauser is energetic, prolific and still obsessed with his craft.

Founder of, arguably, the first photographic gallery in the Midwest and possibly the country when he opened Group Four Gallery in Detroit in 1964, Rauhauser has been a pioneer in more ways than one.

Modest when it comes to seeing himself as any kind of "artist," he says with a bit of trepidation that he was one of three people who popularized photography in Detroit. Besides himself, he names Ellen Sharp, now retired from her position as curator of the Graphic Arts department at the Detroit Institute of Arts; and Tom Halstead, who recently closed his long-time photographic gallery in Birmingham.

Recalls Rauhauser: "When I first met [Ellen] 30 or 35 years ago, the photographic collection [at the DIA] had 50 prints. That was it. Now there are over 10,000. She was responsible for that." As for Halstead: "He played a tremendous role in bringing photographers and work in. I think the three of us were really at the heart of that photographic development in Detroit." Story continues...
View slide show | View thumbnails
Read Bill Rauhauser's article: "Group Four 1965-1968"