16
Lee Friedlander
New York City
- Estimate
- $25,000 - 35,000
$43,750
Lot Details
Gelatin silver print, printed 1970s.
1966
7 3/8 x 11 in. (18.7 x 27.9 cm)
Signed, titled 'NYC', dated in pencil and copyright credit reproduction limitation stamp on the verso.
Specialist
Full-Cataloguing
Catalogue Essay
“I always wanted to be a photographer. I was fascinated with the materials. But I never dreamed I would be having this much fun.”
-Lee Friedlander
While working as a freelance photographer at the start of his career, Lee Friedlander’s shadow would inevitability fall within the frame of the picture he was about to shoot. He later remarked, “at first, my presence in my photos was fascinating and disturbing. But as time passed… I was able to add a giggle to those feelings.” Thus a typical accident in photography turned into Friedlander’s art, with his acceptance that the camera's lens focused both behind, on himself, and ahead, on his subjects. To this effect, Peter Galassi wrote “his shadow became the protagonist of minidramas of the street.” Such is the case with the present lot, New York City, 1966 in which Friedlander trails a blonde female on a bright, sunny day, leaving his “Self Portrait” on her styled bob and fur coat.
Lee Friedlander’s obsession with photographing on the streets, and breaking the conventional rules of photography, is also evidenced in following lot, New York City, 1965 (lot 20). Though this picture demonstrates a keen observation of line and shadow, it comes with a quintessential Friedlander twist: the emergence of a passerby’s leg stepping into the right of the frame. By leaving in what others are taught to leave out, Friedlander wakes us up to the moment.
Combined with lot 14, New Orleans, 1973 and lot 15, Cody, Wyoming, 2000 the offerings in this sale span 35 years of Friedlander’s renowned career.
-Lee Friedlander
While working as a freelance photographer at the start of his career, Lee Friedlander’s shadow would inevitability fall within the frame of the picture he was about to shoot. He later remarked, “at first, my presence in my photos was fascinating and disturbing. But as time passed… I was able to add a giggle to those feelings.” Thus a typical accident in photography turned into Friedlander’s art, with his acceptance that the camera's lens focused both behind, on himself, and ahead, on his subjects. To this effect, Peter Galassi wrote “his shadow became the protagonist of minidramas of the street.” Such is the case with the present lot, New York City, 1966 in which Friedlander trails a blonde female on a bright, sunny day, leaving his “Self Portrait” on her styled bob and fur coat.
Lee Friedlander’s obsession with photographing on the streets, and breaking the conventional rules of photography, is also evidenced in following lot, New York City, 1965 (lot 20). Though this picture demonstrates a keen observation of line and shadow, it comes with a quintessential Friedlander twist: the emergence of a passerby’s leg stepping into the right of the frame. By leaving in what others are taught to leave out, Friedlander wakes us up to the moment.
Combined with lot 14, New Orleans, 1973 and lot 15, Cody, Wyoming, 2000 the offerings in this sale span 35 years of Friedlander’s renowned career.
Provenance
Literature