He was so respected by the NYPD that they let him fit a police radio in his car, but even with that edge, his uncanny ability to show up at a crime scene before the police even knew about the crime gave him his nickname. Weegee was so fast that he must be getting tip-offs […]
New Mexico, 1957 (Figure 13) Part I By Carl Chiarenza Originally Published in IMAGE Magazine: Journal of Photography and Motion Pictures of the International Museum of Photography at George Eastman House, Volume 34, Number 3–4, Fall–Winter, 1991 Sometimes an idea gets the better of us as individuals, as professionals, as artists, as essayers of a […]
From the series American Surfaces Looking at Stephen Shore’s large-format pictures of America, it might be hard to believe the images were once controversial. The Landscape of Stephen Shore at the ICP By Carl Gunhouse, May 22, 2007 Looking at Stephen Shore’s large-format pictures of America, it might be hard to believe the […]
Francis Bacon, 1963 “When you take someone smiling,” he explained to his niece, “they look stupid.” By Sebastian Smee, March 22, 2004 Taking celebrity portraits involves making a crucial decision. You can embrace the celebrity machine, relishing your own role in the business of image-creation; this was the approach of Cecil Beaton and […]
By Reinhold Mißelbeck, Curator for Photography and New Media, Museum Ludwig, Cologne, Edition Stemmle, Schaffhausen, 1992 Looking at Gottfried Helnwein’ portraits, we once again experience the shock of the new, of an unprecedented view of the person opposite. I have observed many people confronted with these portraits for the first time and again and again […]
As soon as the technique is available, Gursky proceeds to the digital manipulation of the image. By Stefan Beyst INTRODUCTION After the big retrospective in the MoMA 2001, a new big show in the Munich ‘Haus der Kunst’ is dedicated to the photographer whose ’99 cent II Diptychon’ (1999) has recently been auctioned at Sotheby’s […]
David Wojnarowicz, 1981 Some Sort of Grace – David Wojnarowicz’s Archive of the Death of Peter Hujar By Emily Colucci In his essay, “Living Close to the Knives,” on the death of his lover and artistic mentor Peter Hujar, a renowned New York photographer, David Wojnarowicz explains, “and his death is now as if it’s […]
Stephen Shore. Merced River, Yosemite National Park, California, August 13, 1979 In 1982, a slender yet hugely impressive version of Uncommon Places was released. Its impact was felt almost immediately, forever changing the course of art photography, and securing Stephen Shore a place within the canon of photographic history. By Aaron Schuman, originally published […]
“To be sure, that is also the expression of a particular vital consciousness.” (Essay excerpt from Der Rote Bulli ,Stephen Shore and the New Düsseldorf Photography 2010, brought to ASX by NRW-Forum Düsseldorf) By Christoph Schaden, NRW-Forum Düsseldorf, 2010 The typical historical account of the effect a body of photography exercises on its viewers unfolds […]
Seated Transvestite with Crossed Ankles, N.Y.C., 1966 Since there were few spaces for photographers to exhibit or sell their work in the late fifties, Arbus had to continually seek out magazine work. The Missing Photographs: An Examination of Diane Arbus’s Images of Transvestites and Homosexuals from 1957 to 1965 By Laureen Trainer Much […]
“I’ll see a house and think, ‘But how is it going to add to my body of work?’ And that’s dangerous. A lot of times I just won’t take it.” By Justin Berton, February 1, 2006 From the outside, Todd Hido’s home looks perfectly normal. You might even pass it by without a second thought. […]