Only the Lonely, 1955–1984

by William Gedney (Photographer), Gilles Mora (Contributor), Margaret Sartor

Mysterious, introspective, fiercely private, and self-taught, street photographer William Gedney (1932-1989) produced impressive series of images focused on people whose lives were overlooked, hidden, or reduced to stereotypes. He was convinced that photography was a means of expression as efficient as literature, and his images were accompanied by writings, essays, excerpts from books, and aphorisms. Gedney avoided self-promotion, and his underrepresented work was largely unknown during his short lifetime. He died at the age of fifty-six from AIDS.

William Gedney: Only the Lonely, 1955-1984 is the first comprehensive retrospective of his photography. It presents images from all of his major series, including eastern Kentucky, where Gedney lived with and photographed the family of laid-off coal miner Willie Cornett; San Francisco and Haight-Ashbury, where he attached himself to a group of disaffected youth, photographing them as they drifted from one vacant apartment to the next during the "Summer of Love"; early photo-reportage of gay pride parades in the eighties; Benares, India, Gedney's first trip abroad, during which he obsessively chronicled the concurrent difficulty and beauty of daily life; and night scenes that, in the absence of people and movement, evoke a profound universal loneliness. The most complete overview of Gedney's work to date, this volume reveals the undeniable beauty of a major American photographer.

Genres: Photography

160 pages, Hardcover

Published September 5, 2017

Reviews

[Daniel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Gedney's work is beautiful and authentic, a word everyone today seems to be using to describe their work even if it's not true. His portraits in Kentucky are some of my favorites.

[Chris]

This book of Gedney's photography with three essays on his artistry is a good introduction. I want to go to Duke University and spend hours looking at his collection.
I urge anyone reading this "review" to google William Gedney images to see his expertise. His 1964 image of the three Cornett girls, in their kitchen, is breathtaking.
The images in this collection include those of Kentucky, Brooklyn, San Fransisco, and elsewhere in the US, Benares, India, Europe, and some of his ideas for handmade books.
His handmade books are most interesting. I am disappointed that his concept for a book of photos of contemporary American composers was never published. He had the publishing contract, but the essayist never completed the text meant to accompany the photos.
Gedney's art and ideas of photography and his life underscores the sorrow I feel for the loss of so many in the AIDS epidemic. That we, as a nation, could not respond compassionately to those so afflicted is a indelible stain on our humanity.