Before moving to Los Angeles, where he has taught at UCLA and USC, he was curator of photography at the Art Institute of Chicago. He is a regular contributor to publications such as the Los Angeles Times and West Magazine.
TCF Ep. 399 - Colin Westerbeck
Awards
Reva and David Logan Prize for New Writing on Photography.
2000: J. Dudley Johnston Award from the Royal Photographic Society for the writing of photographic criticism and history.
Publications
Westerbeck, Colin (1992). What's New, Prague. Chicago: Art Institute of Chicago. pp. 33 pages. ISBN 0-86559-114-8.
Art Institute of Chicago; Ishimoto, Yasuhiro; Isozaki, Arata; Westerbeck, Colin; Fuminori Yokoe. Yasuhiro Ishimoto: A Tale of Two Cities. Chicago, Ill: Art Institute of Chicago. ISBN 0-86559-170-9.CS1 maint: Multiple names: authors list (link)
Rossen, Susan F.; Colin L. Westerbeck (Author), Art Institute Of Chicago (Author) (1999). African Americans in art: selections from the Art Institute of Chicago. Chicago, Ill: The Art Institute of Chicago in association with University of Washington Press. pp. 136 pages. ISBN 0-295-97833-3.CS1 maint: Multiple names: authors list (link)
Renaissance jewelry in the Alsdorf Collection. Chicago, Ill: Art Institute of Chicago. 2000. pp. 136 pages. ISBN 0-86559-153-9.
Westerbeck, Colin; Meyerowitz, Joel (2001). Bystander: a history of street photography: with a new afterword on street photography since the 1970s. Boston: Bulfinch Press. pp. 440 pages. ISBN 0-8212-2726-2.
Westerbeck, Colin; Bey, Dawoud; James Vanderzee; Van Der Zee, James; (Editor) (2004). The James Van Der Zee studio. Chicago, Ill: Art Institute of Chicago. pp. 36 pages. ISBN 0-86559-210-1.CS1 maint: Multiple names: authors list (link)CS1 maint: Extra text: authors list (link)
Westerbeck, Colin; Schaffner, Ingrid (2005). Accommodations of Desire. Los Angeles: Curatorial Assistance, Inc. pp. 128 pages. ISBN 0-9707913-2-1.
Westerbeck, Colin (2005). Joel Meyerowitz. London: Phaidon Press. pp. 128 pages. ISBN 978-0-7148-4509-8.
Wagner, Bruce; Breisch, Kenneth A.; Keller, Judith; Westerbeck, Colin (2006). Where We Live: Photographs of America from the Berman Collection. Los Angeles: J. Paul Getty Trust: J. Paul Getty Museum. pp. 192 pages. ISBN 0-89236-854-3.
Westerbeck, Colin (2007). Irving Penn: A Career in Photography. Chicago, Ill: Art Institute of Chicago. pp. 192 pages. ISBN 0-300-12236-5.