EAST 100th STREET. Signed by Bruce Davidson
Los Angeles: St. Ann's Press, (2003). Reprint. Hardcover. 4to. Reprint of this famous monograph originally published in 1970 by the Harvard University Press. This is the first St. Ann's Press edition published in 2003 consisting of 3000 copies. Near new with clear acetate dust jacket. After receiving a grant from the US National Endowment for the Arts, Davidson photographed one Harlem street, East 100th, between 1966 and 1968. His primary intention was to improve the housing situation for its residents, many of whom were living in crumbling tenement buildings. Though initially met with distrust—many photojournalists had come before him to get easy snaps of ‘poverty porn’—Davidson knew he had to stay around a while and earn his dues. He got an ‘in’ through the Metro North Citizen’s Committee, who granted him permission to photograph if he agreed to present his images for review. Davidson got closer and stayed longer, refusing a telephoto lens in favour of a formal, collaborative process. “The presence of a large format camera on a tripod, with its bellows and black focusing cloth, gave a sense of dignity to the act of taking pictures,” he said. “I didn’t want to be the unobserved observer. I wanted to be with my subjects face to face.”. A fine copy. Item #14832
ISBN: 0971368139
Price: $400.00