Garry Winogrand
Garry Winogrand (
1928,
New York City â€"
1984) was a noted
street photographer known for his portrayal of America in the early 1960s.
Winogrand studied painting at
City College of New York and
painting and
photography at
Columbia University in New York City in 1948. He also attended a photojournalism class taught by
Alexey Brodovich at
The New School for Social Research in New York City in 1951.Winogrand made his first notable appearance in
1963 at an exhibition at the
Museum of Modern Art (MOMA) in New York City. This show included
Minor White,
George Krause,
Jerome Liebling and
Ken Heyman.
In
1966 Winogrand exhibited at the
George Eastman House in Rochester, NY with Lee Friedlander, Duane Michals, Bruce Davidson, and Danny Lyon in an exhibition entitled "Toward a Social Landscape". In 1967 he participated in the "New Documents" show at MOMA with
Diane Arbus and
Lee Friedlander.During his career, he received three Guggenheim Fellowship Awards (
1964,
1969, and
1979) and a National Endowment of the Arts Award in
1979. Winogrand also taught courses in photography at the
University of Texas at Austin and at the
Art Institute of Chicago.
Winogrand was influenced by
Walker Evans and
Robert Frankand their respective publications 'American Photographs' and '
The Americans'.
Henri Cartier-Bresson was obviously another primal influence although stylistically different. Winogrand was never looking for a "pretty shot". Anticipation and the timing of the taking of a photographcome into play in the work of all street photographers and Bresson was one of the first and best at this aspect of the art.
Winogrand was known for his portrayal of America in the early 1960s andhis interest in social issues of the day and in the role of media in shapingattitudes. He roamed the streets of New York with his
Leica rapidly takingphotographs using a prefocused wide angle lens. Often his lens would betilted, leaving his photographs with a slanted result. The aesthetic is similar to other documentary photographers such as Diane Arbus, Robert Frank, Lisette Model.
His photographs in New York of the
Bronx Zoo and the Coney Island Aquariumwere used in his book
The Animals (
1969). In
1980, he published hisphotographs of the Fort Worth Fat Stock Show and Rodeo.
Winogrand died of gall bladder cancer, in
1984 at age 56, leaving behind nearly 300,000 unedited images, as well as more than 2,500 undeveloped rolls of film. Some of these images have been exhibited posthumously and published in an exhibit catalog entitled
Winogrand, Figments from the Real World, published by MOMA.
"A photograph is the illusion of a literal description of how the camera 'saw' a piece of time and space."
"Photography is not about the thing photographed. It is about how that thing looks photographed."
"I photograph to see what the world looks like in photographs."
"I like to think of photographing as a two-way act of respect. Respect forthe medium, by letting it do what it does best, describe. And respect for thesubject, by describing as it is. A photograph must be responsible to both."
"I don't know if all the women in the photographs are beautiful, but I do know that the women are beautiful in the photographs." (In reference to his book, "Women are Beautiful.")
"There is nothing as mysterious as a fact clearly described."
"All things are photographable."
"I don't have anything to say in any picture. My only interest in photography is to see what something looks like as a photograph. I have no preconceptions." [
1]
|
Cover of Garry Winogrand's book, Figments from the Real World. |
*
The Animals (1969)
*
Women are Beautiful (1975)
*
Public Relations (1977)
*
Stock Photographs: The Fort Worth Fat Stock Show and Rodeo (1980)
*
The Man in the Crowd: The Uneasy Streets of Garry Winogrand (1998)
*
The Game of Photography (2001)
* (This book has color photographs).
*
|
Cover of Garry Winogrand's rare book, Winogrand 1964. |
* Resnick, Mason (1988).
Coffee and Workprints: A Workshop With Garry Winogrand. Originally published in
Modern Photography, June 1988. Republished online by
Black and White World. An account of taking a photo workshop taught by Garry Winogrand, very interesting first-hand view of his style. Retrieved
December 2,
2005.
