Lee Friedlander was taking selfies 50 years before they were cool. Respect.
In collaboration with Terrence | Darren | Yi Wen
For my group presentation on American photographer Lee Friedlander and his Self-Portrait series, I was responsible for presenting on his personal biography and early life. Below I’ll be citing the sources I used and what aspects of each piece of research / website I used.
Friedlander’s notoriously media-shy nature made it more difficult to garner large amounts of information on his personal life and biography, so one had to make do with what little could be found.
1. Fraenkel Gallery (Self-Portrait 1960s), Fraenkel Gallery (Biography)
I used this website to view the Self Portrait series taken by Friedlander in the 1960s, and to see how the images we were asked to analyse were in common and contrasted with the rest of the collection. It also gave me better insight on how to elaborate on his very forward-thinking style of self-photography.
The Biography site also has links to a majority of his works, and hence allows one to see how his work explored the urban “social landscape” concept.
2. Museum of Contemporary Photography
I used this website to both read up on Friedlander’s personal life and what made him get into photography as a young boy after WWII. The article’s wide-reaching timeframe also allowed me to see how his work and nature of photography evolved and improved over the years.
3. Museum of Modern Art, New York
This website complemented Fraenkel Gallery, as it contained Friedlander’s later works from the 1990s that Fraenkel did not have. It allowed me to see how Friedlander’s transit from Leica 35mm film to Hasselblad Superwide cameras later in life affected and changed his art and photography style.