“A photographer could be considered a kind of magician. As a trained observer he can foretell the potential movements of his subjects and perhaps even by some mental intimidation… actually cause them to happen.”
– Arthur Tress
Cemetery, Queens, New York, 1969
Arthur Tress (Nov. 24, 1940- ) was born in Brooklyn, New York, in 1940. He began taking photographs as a teenager, capturing the dilapidated building and people of Coney Island’s amusement parks. He travelled internationally as a social documentary photographer in the mid-1960s, upon returning to the US he embarked on a series devoted to the people of Appalachia and New York City before pursuing more personal exhibitions and book projects, and work around ‘magic realism’.
His first professional assignment was from the US government – he was tasked with recording the endangered folk cultures of Appalachia and used his camera to raise awareness about the costs of pollution – from both an economic and health perspective
Bruce at Dawn, Paper Flower Maker, East Village, New York, 1970
“You really should concentrate on something for a period of time if you want to accomplish anything. I can’t really keep switching between painting, photography, and filmmaking. I really have to organise myself in one and push ahead in that even if it gets boring or difficult.”
– Arthur Tress
Dream Therapist, Harold Ellis, New York, New York, 1975
Friends Playing Cards, Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn, New York, 1970
“Perhaps why so much photography today doesn’t grab us or mean anything to our personal lives is that it fails to touch upon the hidden life of the imagination and fantasy which is hungry for stimulation. The documentary photographer supplies us with facts or drowns in humanity, while the pictorialist, avant-garde or conservative, pleases us with mere aesthetically correct compositions… Where are the photographs we can pray to, that will make us well again, that will scare the hell out of us?”
– Arthur Tress
Gay Activists at First Gay Pride Parade, Christopher Street, New York, 1970
Hands on the Staircase, Isla Mujeres, Mexico, 1972
Hands on the Staircase, Isla Mujeres, Mexico, 1972
Minette as Gloria Swanson in Ruins of Fox Theater, Brooklyn, New York, 1971
“The American city is a cage and the smoke and ashes of civil disorder are the explosive efforts of the young trying to escape from its claustrophobic walls.”
– Arthur Tress
Pearl Norwood, Maker of Raggedy Ann Dolls, Banner Elk, North Carolina, 1968
Self-Portrait in Photomat Mirror, Coney Island, New York, 1970
Shadow, Cannes, France, 1974
Wild Man of the Forest, Central Park, New York, 1969
From Rambles, Dreams, and Shadows by Arthur Tress is published by Getty Publications
Would you like to support Flashbak?
Please consider making a donation to our site. We don't want to rely on ads to bring you the best of visual culture. You can also support us by signing up to our Mailing List. And you can also follow us on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. For great art and culture delivered to your door, visit our shop.
