Bruce Davidson: Subway @Aperture

JTF (just the facts): A total of 47 color photographs, framed in brown wood and matted, and hung in a single line around the large gallery space. The show is extremely light on detailed information, with no wall labels or other identifiers apart from a mention that the prints came from the collection of Susan Steinhauser and David Greenberg. A bit of detective work upon coming back from the gallery led me to the conclusion that these prints are not vintage, but from a portfolio published in 2006 by Howard Greenberg Gallery (here) and Rose Gallery (here). This portfolio contains 47 dye transfer prints, each 15x23 or reverse, in an edition of 6. The exhibit also includes a single glass case, with copies of Subway from 1986, 2003 and 2011; the show coincides with the reissue of the monograph from Aperture (here). (Installation shots at right.)

Comments/Context: Even though Bruce Davidson's Subway has already cemented its revered place in the march of photographic history, I tried to force myself to see this "victory lap" show with fresh eyes, and to consider carefully how this body of work has aged over the thirty years since its making. Is it merely a masterful visual document of a certain place and time, namely New York City in the more violent and dodgy early 1980s? Or does it transcend its period and continue to deliver messages that are more broad and universal?

Circling the gallery, I saw these photographs in a much more technical light than I ever had before, particularly in Davidson's observation of color and in his framing and composition. While the overall palette is often dark and shadowy (with moments of intense flash-lit brightness), bold, saturated color jumps out from these pictures: an orange door echoed by orange pants, the red outfit of a gun-to-the-head robber, a stripe of yellow light across a platform, drips of black graffiti near a red hat, a pink headscarf. Davidson then pairs these interior blocks of color and texture with a spectrum of light (and season) coming through the subway car windows: soft snowy whiteness, springtime flowers, crackled broken glass, honeyed evening light on a platform, the Twin Towers at sunset, the Wonder Wheel lit up in blue twilight. While there are of course plenty of personal stories here, I was most struck by the juxtapositions and angles that Davidson used to create the compositional interactions between the passengers, the subway car, and their larger surroundings: some make an up-close declaration, while others play layers of space against each other, creating unexpected combinations and ironies.

While it is impossible to avoid a sense of datedness in pictures from so many years ago, this doesn't come across as a nostalgic patina; in fact, the images remain brilliantly vibrant and energetic, colors bursting from the darkness. I certainly came away from this show with a better sense of how this work fits into the narrative of late 1970s color photography, in addition to its well deserved place in the history of New York photography. So while we have all seen this work before, it was surprisingly refreshing and thought provoking to see it unearthed once again.

Collector's POV: Since this is a not-for-sale show, there are, of course, no prices. As a proxy for the secondary market for these images, a complete copy of this Subway portfolio sold at the Berman sale at Christie's a year or two ago, fetching $146500.

Rating: ** (two stars) VERY GOOD (rating system described here)

Transit Hub:

• Magnum Photos page (here)
• Reviews: New Yorker (here), Art in America (here)

Bruce Davidson: Subway
Through October 29th

Aperture Gallery
547 West 27th Street
New York, NY 10001

Auction Results: Photographies Modernes et Contemporaines, November 9, 2010 @Yann Le Mouel

Yann Le Mouel's various owner photography sale took place during Paris Photo last week, but the results were relatively flat for this selection of lower end material. The Buy-In rate was over 40% and the Total Sale Proceeds missed the Total Low Estimate by a decent margin.

The summary statistics are below (all results include the buyer’s premium):

Total Lots: 250
Pre Sale Low Total Estimate: 349800€
Pre Sale High Total Estimate: 464130€
Total Lots Sold: 144
Total Lots Bought In: 106
Buy In %: 42.40%
Total Sale Proceeds: 297060€

Here is the breakdown (using the Low, Mid, and High definitions from the preview post, here):

Low Total Lots: 245
Low Sold: 140
Low Bought In: 105
Buy In %: 42.86%
Total Low Estimate: 401130€
Total Low Sold: 239220€

Mid Total Lots: 5
Mid Sold: 4
Mid Bought In: 1
Buy In %: 20.00%
Total Mid Estimate: 63000€
Total Mid Sold: 57840€

High Total Lots: 0
High Sold: NA
High Bought In: NA
Buy In %: NA
Total High Estimate: 0€
Total High Sold: NA

The top lot by High estimate was tied between three lots, all at 10000-15000€: lot 91, Andreas Feininger, The Photojournalist, 1955, lot 214, Kimiko Yoshida, La Mariée abelam au masque d'initiation baba, East Sepik, Papouasie-Nouvelle-Guinée, Autoportrait, 2005, and lot 226, Peter Lindbergh, Naomi Campbell, Vogue US, Los Angeles, USA, 1990. The Feininger was the top outcome of the sale at 18000€; the Yoshida and the Lindbergh both sold for 15000€.
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89.58% of the lots that sold had proceeds in or above the estimate range. There were a total of 9 surprises in this sale (defined as having proceeds of at least double the high estimate):
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Lot 3, La Goulue, La Goulue et Grille d'Egat and La Goulue, le Port d'arme, 1890, at 480€
Lot 4, Pierre Louis Pierson, Portraits de la Comtesse Castiglione, 1861-1867, at 660€
Lot 23, Andre Kertesz, Melancholic Tulip, 1939/1984, at 3360€
Lot 53, Humphrey Spender, Unemployed: Tyneside, 1986/Later, at 2040€
Lot 119, Robert Doisneau, Theatre du Puces, 1953, at 3840€
Lot 121, Robert Doisneau, Photos Instantanees, 1953, at 2640€ (image at right, bottom, via Yann Le Mouel)
Lot 137, Henri Cartier-Bresson, Sifnos, Greece, 1961, at 10800€
Lot 179, Bruce Davidson, East 100th Street, New York, 1966/2000, at 9000€ (image at right, top, via Yann Le Mouel)
Lot 212 Jean-Baptiste Huynh, Petit Garcon, 2002-2005, at 1800€
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Complete lot by lot results can be found here.
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Yann Le Mouel
22, Rue Chauchat
75009 Paris

Bruce Davidson, Five Decades @Wolkowitz

JTF (just the facts): A total of 44 photographs, framed in white and matted, and hung in the front room, the hallway, and the larger back gallery. (Marginal installation shots at right.) The show is divided into six separate bodies of work. Except for the images from Subway, all of the prints are modern prints, many significantly enlarged from the original size:

Circus: gelatin silver prints, 1958/modern
2 images, each 16x20
3 images, each 30x40, in editions of 15

Brooklyn Gang: gelatin silver prints, 1959/modern
3 images, each 16x20
1 image, 20x24
3 images, each 30x40, in editions of 15

Time of Change: gelatin silver prints, 1961/modern
5 images, each 11x14
2 images, each 16x20
1 image, 20x24
1 image, 30x40, in an edition of 15

LA: gelatin silver prints, 1964/modern
2 images, each 16x20
6 images, each 30x40, in editions of 15

East 100th Street: gelatin silver prints, 1966-68/modern
3 images, each 11x14
2 images, each 16x20
1 image, 20x24
1 image, 30x40, in an edition of 15

Subway: 1980s dye transfers
8 images, hung in a grid, each 20x24, in editions of 10

Comments/Context: In addition to the East 100th Street MoMA show recreation at Greenberg and the massive, three-volume catalog from Steidl (both linked below), Bruce Davidson also has a mini-retrospective show on view at Bryce Wolkowitz. For those, like ourselves, who aren't as deeply familiar with all of Davidson's projects over the years, this exhibit is an effective way to see the whole span of his artistic career. It gathers a group of images from each of his major series, selecting both iconic images and lesser known works, providing a sampler of his overall output across the decades.

Prior to this show, I have to admit that my shorthand summary for Davidson has always been "East 100th Street and other documentary work". What I think this exhibit did for me was to connect the dots a bit better on his other projects. While I certainly recognized the circus dwarfs, Freedom Riders (especially the boy with VOTE painted on his forehead), Brooklyn gang members (particularly the stick ball game in the street), and the fragmented color shots from the subway, this show helped to put them into a larger and broader context, seeing connections between the disparate threads. In contrast, Davidson's images from 1960's Los Angeles were completely new to me, and in many ways, I found them the most striking and exciting; I liked their dry, ironic humor - posing at muscle beach, the view out an airplane window, a man at a drive-through, parked cars densely packed at the beach, the back of the Hollywood sign. Coming out of the show, I'd like to think that my understanding of Davidson's work is much more comprehensive, and East 100th Street stands out a bit less in my personal rating of his various projects.

As an aside, in my opinion, the large 30x40 prints of the older negatives aren't hugely successful and are a bit distracting as result. In many cases, the prints are extremely grainy (several of the Circus images in particular); they just can't support the enlargement being asked of them. In other cases, I think the intimacy and subtlety of the works are somewhat compromised when the pictures are so big. Only the Los Angeles images seemed to be effective at the larger size, as they depict more outsized craziness.

That said, this is an impressive show of Davidson's long career, with many standout images that deserve to be remembered.

Collector's POV: All of the modern gelatin silver prints are priced on the same scale: 11x14 at $4000, 16x20 at $5000, 20x24 at $8000, and 30x40 at $15000, regardless of which project the negative came from. The dye transfers range between $6500 and 9500. As I mentioned in our Greenberg review, Davidson's work has been thinly traded in the secondary markets in the past few years, with very few of his best vintage images coming up for sale; with that caveat, the recent price range of $2000 to $8000 at auction may or may not be particularly relevant when considering the appropriate prices for his work.

Rating: * (one star) GOOD (rating system described here)

Transit Hub:

• DLK COLLECTION review of Greenberg show (here)
• Journey of Consciousness, three volume set (here)
• Interview: Kojo Nnamdi Show, 2006 (here)

Bruce Davidson, Five Decades
Through December 19th

Bryce Wolkowitz Gallery
505 West 24th Street
New York, NY 10011

Bruce Davidson: East 100th Street: The MoMA Show as Curated by John Szarkowsi in 1970 @Greenberg

JTF (just the facts): A total of 43 black and white images, framed and matted in extremely thin white frames with very little depth, and hung in groups against light brown walls in the main gallery space. All of the images were taken in 1967 and 1968 and are vintage 8x10 (or reverse) gelatin silver prints. The works have been installed as a historically accurate recreation of the 1970 show at the MoMA; installation photographs from the original exhibit (found in the price list booklet) show that the prints have been hung in the same manner (subject to the constraints of this particular space). (Installation shots at right.)

In addition to the prints in the main gallery, there are a variety of other ancillary mini-exhibits also on view. In the book alcove, there are 16 images from the expanded version of East 100th Street; these are works that did not appear in the MoMA exhibit. They are 11x14 modern prints, framed and matted in thicker white frames, and hung against cream colored walls. A glass case also holds a sample of vintage books.

The first viewing room holds a total of 11 platinum prints of Central Park, made by Davidson in the 1990s and printed in 2008. The works are either 5x12 or 6x10 and are framed and matted in black.

The second viewing room has a total of 6 vintage images from Davidson's series on Brooklyn gangs from the 1950s. Most of the images are approximately 13x9 (or reverse) and are framed and matted in black.

And finally, in the back room near Greenberg's office, there is a small selection of 6 vintage images by Man Ray: 2 rayographs, 2 nudes and 2 portraits (Picasso and Cocteau). The works are from the 1920s and 1930s and are variously framed and matted.

Comments/Context: Since its publication in 1970, Bruce Davidson's East 100th Street has been a controversial body of work. Many have hailed it as a classic of social documentary photography, while others have criticized it as particularly exploitative. This exhibit is a kind of time machine, taking us back to the show of these images at the MoMA, as curated by John Szarkowski; the sequencing and grouping, even the frames are for the most part exactly the same. Of course, it is impossible to also transport our minds back nearly 40 years and react to the images in the same polarized way visitors did back then. All we can do is see them through the lens of the present, a kind of revisionist history of the resonance of the pictures and how well they have aged.
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Almost all of the images in this show are "environmental" portraits; images of individuals, pairs or groups of people/extended families in their bedrooms and kitchens, on their front stoops and fire escapes, sitting on couches or standing on the street. What is striking about these pictures is the consistency of the knowing looks on the sitters' faces: every single subject knows exactly what is going on, and is posing in one way or another. When allowed to create their own personas in collaboration with the photographer, a mix of hiding and showing goes on; some are vulnerable and exhausted by their poverty and daily struggles, others are more defiant and proud amid the challenging circumstances, still others are simply in love. And while there is plenty of quiet tenderness in these images, I found it hard not to see the awkward tension in each room. While Davidson was clearly successful in developing bonds of trust with his sitters, an undercurrent of subtle reluctance seems to percolate up in many of these "private moments".
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In many ways, I think the electricity of these images has been muted a bit over the years; as viewers, we have unfortunately become accustomed (some might say numbed) to images of urban poverty and persistent decay, and their effects on the lives of otherwise good people. Looking back, even with the anxiety of the unlikely artistic collaboration as a foundation, the images seem less taut now then they likely did in 1970. Perhaps this is good, as the mellowing with age has allowed the sympathy and authentic humanity in the pictures to come through more fully. Even if they are a bit posed, these images still offer plenty of touching moments found among the hard realities of urban life.

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Seeing how Szarkowski edited and displayed Davidson's work is an interesting sidelight to this exhibit. The images in the book alcove didn't make Szarkowski's show, so there is a contrast set up, an "in" and "out" dynamic that is intriguing. Szarkowski clearly gravitated toward Davidson's interior relatively up-close portraits; his show is nearly all examples of this genre, while many of the additional images are pictures Davidson took in the street, of buildings, and of people from a distance, setting the scene. Szarkowski also avoided a simple "all in a line" hanging for the prints; there are groups, grids, pairs, and uneven out of line images that break the monotony, all carefully selected to work together or in juxtaposition. Seeing his unconventional hanging of this work was a good reminder of just how much difference attention to these details can make in telling the story of a body of work.
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Collector's POV: All 43 vintage images in the main exhibit are being sold as a single unit/installation; the price was "on request" and I didn't ask. The modern prints in the book alcove are priced at $4000 each, the platinum prints of Central Park are $5500 each, and the vintage Brooklyn gang works are either $20000 or $25000 each. All of the Man Ray images are "price on request".

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Given Davidson's long career, his work is surprisingly absent from the secondary markets. While there are a handful of prints available in any given year, they have not been particularly representative of his best work; often they are later prints or secondary images (or even first edition books). Prices have ranged between $2000 and $8000 in the past few years, but I'm not sure this range is a great guide to what his most notable images would/should sell for.

Rating: * (one star) GOOD (rating system described here)

Transit Hub:

• Features: NY Times (here), Daily Beast (here)

Bruce Davidson: East 100th Street: The MoMA Show as Curated by John Szarkowski in 1970

Through January 2nd

Howard Greenberg Gallery

41 East 57th Street

New York, NY 10022