The Man in the Crowd: The Uneasy Streets of Garry Winogrand

by Garry Winogrand

The first publication to focus on the street photos at the core of Winogrand's work, this collection features numerous shots that have never before been printed. 107 duotones.

Genres: Photography, Art, Nonfiction

165 pages, Hardcover

First published February 1, 1999

About the author

Garry Winogrand (1928-1984) was a street photographer known for his portrayal of America in the mid-20th century. John Szarkowski called him "the central photographer of his generation".

Winogrand was influenced by Walker Evans and Robert Frank and their respective publications American Photographs and The Americans. Henri Cartier-Bresson was another influence although stylistically different. Winogrand was known for his portrayal of American life in the early 1960s. Many of his photographs depict the social issues of his time and in the role of media in shaping attitudes. He roamed the streets of New York with his 35mm Leica camera rapidly taking photographs using a prefocused wide angle lens. His pictures frequently appeared as if they were driven by the energy of the events he was witnessing.

Winogrand's photographs of the Bronx Zoo and the Coney Island Aquarium made up his first book The Animals (1969), a collection of pictures that observes the connections between humans and animals. His book Public Relations (1977) shows press conferences with deer-in-the-headlight writers and politicians, protesters beaten by cops, and museum parties frequented by the self-satisfied cultural glitterati. These photographs capture the evolution of a uniquely 20th and 21st century phenomenon, the event created to be documented. In Stock Photographs (1980), Winogrand published his views of the Fort Worth Fat Stock Show and Rodeo.

At the time of his death there was discovered about 2,500 rolls of undeveloped film, 6,500 rolls of developed but not proofed exposures, and contact sheets made from about 3,000 rolls. The Garry Winogrand Archive at the Center for Creative Photography (CCP) comprises over 20,000 fine and work prints, 20,000 contact sheets, 100,000 negatives and 30,500 35mm colour slides as well as a small group of Polaroid prints and several amateur motion picture films.

Reviews

[Wayne · Rating 4 out of 5]

There's a case to be made that this is the best "retrospective" book on Garry Winogrand (including the recent catalog for the SFMOMA show). It's a much tighter edit and the horizontal format suits the photographs well.

[Dan · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is a revelation to me. I want to do this.

[Kathy Piselli · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am not sure if the reproduction technology of this book is at fault, but some of the images were not clear. But that is like the street, right? These older streets of New York City, the older busses, the older storefronts, the older clothing, the older cars, the presence of telephone booths tugged at me. I certainly felt older. Did we really do these things? I'm afraid we did.

[Kate · Rating 3 out of 5]

“Every photograph is a contention between form and content.” –GW

“There is nothing as mysterious as a fact clearly described.” –GW

[Jereme · Rating 2 out of 5]

I like Winogrand's work enough that I never would've expected to rate a book of his photos at 2 stars. This collection was a disappointment, though. The book focuses on GW's street photography, which in my opinion was not his strongest field. Nevertheless, with the tens of thousands of photos to choose from, one would think the author would pick better. There are some gems in this book, but an awful lot of what's here are straightforward people shots with little that stands out in the way of composition. The people presented are often interesting, but the artist has added little, so these come off as no better than any mediocre present-day street photographer could capture.

Reproduction is also sub-par. The photos are dark and the tonal range is choppy.

Winogrand: Figments from the Real World is a far better overview of the photographer's work.

[Mike · Rating 4 out of 5]

Garry Winogrand is one of my favorite photographers. All he did was shoot, all he was interested in was people. Didn't even really find time to process and print his images he was so busy shooting. Aside from some of his classic images, the book shows many previously unseen shots. Very interesting questions and put forward by his work such as are we losing our curiosity and humanity as the world... particularly the urban... becomes more and more cold and detached? No answers are put forth, just questions.

[Alfonso de Castro · Rating 4 out of 5]

A pesar de que soy un gran admirador del trabajo de Winogrand no creo que este sea el libro que mejor exprese su trabajo. Es cierto que considero que es un texto que todo estudioso o interesado en la obra de Winogrand debe conocer, pero también creo ha sido ampliamente superado por el catálogo posterior (a cargo de Rubinfien) en cuanto a los textos que además han sido traducido al castellano por la Fundación Mapfre en la edición publicada por ellos y por supuesto en cuanto a la cantidad y calidad de las fotografías.

[Daniel · Rating 3 out of 5]

My review is here: http://thedailyflashkube.com/2010/05/...

[Erin Tuzuner · Rating 4 out of 5]

In an age where everyone fancies their self a writer, photographers remain the oracle.

[Mills College Library]

790.10222 W7768m 1999