Ralph Marshall came to Cleveland from the Manchester College of Art in his native England in 1966. A graduate of St. Peter's College at the University of Birmingham, Ralph had come to the United States because he had been appointed chairman of the Cleveland
institute of Art photography department. In the years that he served on the faculty, Ralph became nationally known for the fine quality of hi commercial work. Publications and advertising directors of multinational corporations sought him out because they knew that his work would reveal unexpected and intriguing dimensions of their organizations. He did not restrict himself to teaching and commissions. For a number of years, Ralph had pursued his own personal, open ended photographic series, titled Celebration. This project took him all over the world to the running of the bulls in Pamplona, Spain, to the festival of the Day of the Dead in Mexico, and to the blessing of the sardine fleet in Portugal. At all of these events, he trained his camera lens on people in the act of rejoicing in the progression of life. He was a photographer with a painter's eye and an uncommon sensitivity to the human condition.