“I photograph to find out what something will look like photographed”
– Gary Winogrand
New York City, 1967
In Garry Winogrand: Winogrand Color we look at some of the New York-born photographer’s 45,000 early colour street photographs in 1950s and 1960s America.
Untitled (New York), 1967.
In 1970 and Winogrand visited the Rochester Institute of Technology where he is interviewed by the teachers and students:
GW: My only interest in photographing is photography. That’s really the answer.
RIT: In other words it isn’t social comment, it isn’t ah —
GW: When you photograph — there’s [sic] things in a photograph. Right?
RIT: Yeah.
GW: So this can’t help but be a document or whatever you want to call it. It’s automatic. I mean if you photograph a cake of soap, in the package or out of it, it goes without saying.
Untitled (New York), circa 1965.
Untitled (New York), 1960
GW: Listen, it’s interesting; but it’s interesting for photographic reasons, really.
RIT: What are photographic reasons?
GW: Basically, I mean, ah — well, let’s say that for me anyway when a photograph is interesting, it’s interesting because of the kind of photographic problem it states — which has to do with the . . . contest between content and form. And, you know, in terms of content, you can make a problem for yourself, I mean, make the contest difficult, let’s say, with certain subject matter that is inherently dramatic. An injury could be, a dwarf can be, a monkey — if you run into a monkey in some idiot context, automatically you’ve got a very real problem taking place in the photograph. I mean, how do you beat it?
Garry Winogrand (self-portrait), New York City, 1955–58
New York City, 1967
“The way I put it is that I get totally outside of myself. It’s the closest I come to not existing.”
– Garry Winogrand
Central Park Zoo, New York City, 1967
New York City, 1960s
Coney Island, New York City, 1952–58
Coney Island, New York City, 1952-58
New York City, 1966
New York City, 1965
Easter Parade, New York City, 1952–55. Photograph- the estate of Garry Winogrand
Wiongrand travelled all over the US:
White Sands National Monument, New Mexico, 1964
Chet Baker, Newport Jazz festival, Rhode Island, 1955
Coney Island, New York City, 1952–58
Los Angeles International Airport, 1964
Garry Winogrand (self-portrait), New York City, 1955–58
Garry Winogrand: Winogrand Color is published 9 January 2024 through Twin Palms Publishers. All photographs: The estate of Garry Winogrand/courtesy of Fraenkel Gallery, San Francisco and Twin Palms Publishers
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