Bruce Davidson Subway

From Library Journal
The intrepid documentary photographer Bruce Davidson, veteran of the civil rights movement and the ghetto ( East 100th Street ), has taken his camera into the New York subways, and has emerged, as might be expected, bereft of a camera. That was a small price to pay for these sensitive and intensely colorful pictures. He hopes that we will see the beauty he found there, but the gritty, seamy images reproduced here will not increase ridership. The bizarre inhabitants of the underground are the majority, with the sober nine-to-five'ers seeming distinctly out of place. In addition to the excellent reproduction quality, this NEA-supported project is enhanced by Davidson's down-to-earth text, a brief afterword, and technical notes. Recommended. Kathleen Collins, Library of CongressCopyright 1987 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Book Description
Since the ground was broken, New York City’s subway system has been the stuff of legend as well as a source of inspiration and fear. Originally published in 1986, this dark, democratic environment provided the setting for photographer Bruce Davidson’s first extensive series in color. Subway riders are set against a gritty, graffiti-strewn background, displayed in tones Davidson described as "an iridescence like that I had seen in photographs of deep-sea fish." Never before has the subway been portrayed in such detail, revealing the interplay of its inner landscape and out vistas. The images include lovers, commuters, tourists, families, and the homeless. From weary straphangers to languorous ladies in summer dresses to stalking predators, Davidson’s compassionate vision illuminates the stubborn survival of humanity. From the spring of 1980 to 1985, Davidson explored and shot six hundred miles of subway tracks. In his own words, "I wanted to transform this subway from its dark, degrading, and impersonal reality into images that open up our experience again to the color, sensuality, and vitality of the individual souls that ride it each day." Now nearly 25 years later, and on the eve of the subway’s 100th anniversary, St. Ann’s Press is publishing a new edition of Davidson’s classic book. This edition adds forty unseen images to the original book, and includes a new introduction by Arthur Ollman of the Museum of Photographic Art in San Diego, and a foreword by Fred Braithwaite (aka Fab Five Freddy), the original graffiti artist. It also includes Bruce Davidson and Henry Geldzahler’s original essays. Foreword by Freddy Braithwaite (Fab 5 Freddy) Texts by Arthor Ollman, Henry Geldzahler and Bruce Davidson. Hardcover, 9.75 x 12 in. /132 pgs / 102 color 0 BW 0 duotone 0 other


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Bruce Davidson is a major figure in modern photography who has created compelling documentary work for over 40 years. Born in 1933, he began taking photographs at the age of 10. After military service in 1957, he worked as a freelance photographer for Life magazine, and in 1958 became a member of Magnum Photos. Davidson continued to photograph extensively from 1958 to 1965, creating such bodies of work as The Dwarf, Brooklyn Gang, Subway, East 100th Street, and The Civil Rights Movement. He received a Guggenheim fellowship in 1962 to document youth in the South during the civil rights movement, and in 1966 was awarded the first grant for photography from the National Endowment for the Arts. Davidson's work has been shown at many of the world's leading museums, including The Museum of Modern Art, New York; the International Center of Photography; the Walker Art Center; the Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C.; and the Parco Gallery, Tokyo. He continues to work as an editorial and documentary photographer, and his work appears regularly in publications all over the globe.


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