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Jill Freedman

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Jill Freedman is an American documentary photographer, based in New York.

Life and career

Freedman was born in Pittsburgh, to a travelling salesman and a nurse,[1] on 19 October 1939.[2] She studied sociology and anthropology at Pittsburgh.[2] After graduation she went to Israel, where she ran out of money and sang to make a living; she continued singing in Paris and on a television variety show in London.[2][3]

Freedman arrived in New York City in 1964, and worked in advertising and as a copywriter.[3] As a photographer, she was self-taught,[3] influenced by André Kertész[1] but primarily helped by her poodle Fang:

When I was out walking in the street with Fang I saw everything, felt everything. He had a great instinct. He taught me how to look, because he never missed a thing.[2]

On hearing of the assassination of Martin Luther King, Freedman quit her job and went to Washington, DC.[4] Resurrection City showed life in a shantytown of that name put up by the Poor People's Campaign on Washington Mall in 1968. Freedman lived there, and had photographs from the series published in Life.[1] The photographs were collected in the book Old News: Resurrection City, in 1970.

She then lived in a Volkswagen kombi, following the Clyde Beatty-Cole Brothers Circus.[1] For two months, she photographed "two shows a day and one show each Sunday. Seven weeks of one night stands", and moving across New York, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Rhode Island, New Hampshire, Vermont, Pennsylvania and Ohio.[5] The work was published as a book, Circus Days, in 1975.

Freedman photographed the then sleazy area of 42nd Street[6] and the arts scene in Studio 54 and SoHo.[1]

In 1975, Freedman started to photograph firefighters around Harlem and the Bronx. This took her two years; she lived with the firefighters, sleeping in the chief's car and on the floor.[3] This resulted in a book, Firehouse, published in 1977, according to one review a book "flawed . . . by poor reproduction and inept layout".[7]

Some of the firefighters had previously been policemen, and they suggested that Freedman might cover police work.[7] Freedman had disliked the police but felt that there must be good policemen among them.[8] For her series Street Cops (1978–1981), Freedman accompanied the police to an area of New York City including Alphabet City and Times Square,[9] spending time with those who seemed good cops.[3] The work resulted in the book Street Cops. A contemporary reviewer for Popular Photography started by observing that "the passionate photojournalistic essay of yesterday" was "an endangered species", before saying that it lived on in photobooks. The reviewer described Street Cops as "[celebrating] the heroism, compassion, and humor of New York police professionals", and saying that the book "is traditional and satisfying in that it accomplishes a blend rarely successful – or even attempted – these days: an organic fusion of words and photographs.[7]

On photographing in New York at the time:

Hiding behind a camera, [Freedman] found her subjects where others were not looking — "beggars, panhandlers, people sleeping on the street," the police and the firefighters, the people washed ashore by forces bigger than themselves. "It's the theater of the streets," she said. “The weirder, the better."[10]

During the seventies Freedman was briefly associated with Magnum Photos, but did not become a member.[11] She wanted to tell stories via photography, but wanted to avoid the schmoozing required to get commissions, and therefore set her own tasks.[8] She had difficulty making a living, but sold prints from a stand set up outside the Whitney Museum building).[2]

In 1988, Freedman found she was ill. The expenses meant that she had to leave her apartment above the Sullivan Street Playhouse;[2][n 1] in 1991, she moved to Miami Beach; she was dissatisfied there[1] but was able to read a lot.[2] She sometimes worked for the Miami Herald.[3][12] She also managed to publish a photobook of dogs that was praised for "[defying] the cliched images".[13]

Around 2003,[n 2] Freedman moved back to New York. She was shocked and saddened by its sanitization during her absence:[14] "When I saw that they had turned 42nd Street into Disneyland, . . . I just stood there and wept."[1] She moved to a place near Morningside Park in 2007, and was still living there in 2015.[3]

During the earlier part of her career, Freedman was captivated by the photographic printing process. She shot Kodak Tri-X and liked to use a 35 mm lens and available light, and to print on Agfa Portriga Rapid paper. As of late 2016, she neither had a darkroom nor missed it. She emphasized that the camera, whether film or digital, is merely a tool.[15] When pressed, she expresses impatience with technical concerns:

Elliott Erwitt said it and it's absolutely right: have the decency to not be boring and to show good stuff and to want to do really great stuff. And if the thing doesn't work. . . . All the fooling around and all these rules ("I don’t crop”), I mean thats moronic. I mean, anything that works is the way I think. And if you use film or you don't use film, look, you're going to die one day, does it matter where the pictures are after you?[14]

Freedman is one of 13 photographers shown photographing New York in Everybody Street, a 2013 film by Cheryl Dunn.[16][17][18] Together with Richard Kalvar, Alex Webb, Rebecca Norris-Webb, Maggie Steber and Matt Stuart, Freedman was a featured guest in the Miami Street Photography Festival 2016 at HistoryMiami Museum during Art Basel week.[19]

Maggie Steber has said of Freeman:

I think she’s been thoroughly under-recognized. . . . To me, Jill is one of the great American photographers. Always has been and always will be.[3]

Awards

Exhibitions

Selected solo exhibitions

  • The Circus and Other Scenes, Photographers' Gallery, London, June 1974.[22]
  • Jill Freedman, The Photographers' Gallery, London, 1976.[22]
  • Street Cops: Jill Freedman, The Photographers' Gallery, London, 1982.[22]
  • Jill Freedman Photographs, Museum of Contemporary Photography, Columbia College, Chicago, December – January 1985.[23]
  • Street Cops, Nikon Salon, Ginza, Tokyo, 1985.[24]
  • Here and There, A.M. Richard Fine Art, Brooklyn, New York, April–May 2007. Paired with an exhibition, Photographs of 42nd Street, by Andrew Garn.[6][25][26]
  • Resurrection City 1968, Higher Pictures, New York City, April–May 2008.[1][27][28]
  • Street Cops 1978–1981, Higher Pictures, New York City, September–October 2011.[29][30]
  • Street Cops, The President's Gallery, John Jay College, CUNY, September–October 2012[31]
  • Circus Days 1971, Higher Pictures, New York City, January–March 2013.[5]
  • Long Stories Short, Steven Kasher Gallery, New York City, September–October 2015. For the most part, previously unpublished examples of Freedman's earlier work.[11][10][32][33]

Selected group exhibitions

  • 2 Photographers – 5 Decades, PhotoGraphic Gallery, New York City, June–August 2006. With Arthur Lavine.[34]
  • Ireland, PhotoGraphic Gallery, New York City, January–February 2007. With Christy McNamara.[35]
  • Circus days, within Bêtes et Hommes = Beasts and Men, Grande halle de la Villette, Paris, September 2007 – January 2008.[36]
  • Seriously, Andrew Edlin Gallery, New York City, November 2016 – January 2017.[37]

Permanent collections

Photobooks by Freedman

  • Old News: Resurrection City. New York: Grossman, 1970. OCLC 231853020
  • Circus Days. New York: Harmony, 1975. ISBN 0517520087; ISBN 0517520095.
  • Firehouse. New York: Doubleday, 1977. ISBN 0385115857; ISBN 0385125771.
  • Street Cops. New York: Harper & Row, 1982. ISBN 0060909013.
  • A Time That Was: Irish Moments. New York: Friendly Press, 1987. ISBN 0914919091. London: Merehurst, 1987. ISBN 0948075791.
  • Jill's Dogs. San Francisco: Pomegranate, 1993. ISBN 1566405262.
  • Ireland Ever. New York: Harry N. Abrams, New York, 2004. ISBN 9780810943407. Texts by Frank McCourt and Malachy McCourt.

Notes

  1. ^ The Sullivan Street Playhouse occupied 181 Sullivan Street from 1958 to 2002. "Sullivan Street Playhouse: Gone but not forgotten", Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation, 13 January 2012.
  2. ^ "Five years ago", says a newspaper article published on 27 April 2008; therefore presumably in 2002 or 2003. Accessed 4 March 2017.
  3. ^ For the award-winning work, see Jill Freedman, "Survivors", Alicia Patterson Foundation.

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h Niko Koppel, "Through Weegee's lens", New York Times, 27 April 2008. Accessed 4 March 2017.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g Jonas Cuénin, "Portrait of Jill Freedman: Street jazz", L'Œil de la photographie, 29 September 2015. Accessed 4 March 2017.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h James Estrin, "Cops, clowns, and cameras", New York Times, 13 January 2014. Accessed 5 March 2017.
  4. ^ Bilal Qureshi, "Capturing the Poor People's Campaign", NPR, 21 June 2008. Accessed 5 March 2017.
  5. ^ a b "Jill Freedman: Exhibition: Circus Days 1971", Higher Pictures, 2013. Accessed 4 March 2017.
  6. ^ a b "Jill Freedman and Andrew Garn"; within R. C. Baker, "Where the mechanical things are", Village Voice, 24 April 2007. Accessed 4 March 2017.
  7. ^ a b c Arthur Goldsmith, "Jill Freedman: Street Cops"; in Popular Photography, March 1982, pp. 98, 121. Here at Google Books.
  8. ^ a b Melissa Goh, "Stories of a fearless street photographer", CNN, 1 September 2015. Accessed 5 March 2017.
  9. ^ "Jill Freedman: Exhibition: Street Cops 1978–1981", Higher Pictures, 2011. Accessed 4 March 2017.
  10. ^ a b John Leland, "For a street photographer, 'The weirder, the better'", New York Times, 17 September 2015. Accessed 5 March 2017.
  11. ^ a b Jonas Cuénin, "New York: Long Stories Short by Jill Freedman at Steven Kasher Gallery", L'Œil de la photographie, 29 September 2015. Accessed 4 March 2017.
  12. ^ "MSPF 2016 featured artist: Jill Freedman", Miami Street Photography Festival, 2016. Accessed 4 March 2017.
  13. ^ Adrienne M. Johnson, "Hair of the dog", Los Angeles Times, 3 July 1994. Accessed 5 March 2017.
  14. ^ a b Daniel Maurer, "Read Jill Freedman's epic rant about photography and the 'mechanized mindlessness' of today's NYC", Bedford + Bowery, 16 December 2013. Accessed 4 March 2017.
  15. ^ Jack Neubart, "What's black and white and read all over? The documentary photography of Jill Freedman", Shutterbug, 18 October 2016. Accessed 5 March 2017.
  16. ^ "Cast", Everybody Street. Accessed 5 March 2017.
  17. ^ Karin Nelson, "Everybody Street", W, 12 November 2013. Accessed 5 March 2017.
  18. ^ John Leland, "Around any corner, moments that endure", New York Times, 1 November 2013. Accessed 5 March 2017.
  19. ^ "Miami Street Photography Festival 2016", HistoryMiami Museum, 2016. Accessed 4 March 2017.
  20. ^ "Jill Freedman", Alicia Patterson Foundation. Accessed 5 March 2017.
  21. ^ "Honorary Fellowships (HonFRPS)", Royal Photographic Society. Accessed 5 March 2017.
  22. ^ a b c "[130213_TPG_Full_Exhibition_List_UPDATE_5124bf9e5dba9.doc Exhibitions at The Photographers' Gallery 1971–Present]" (DOC), The Photographers' Gallery, 13 February 2013. Accessed 4 March 2017.
  23. ^ "Jill Freedman photographs", Museum of Contemporary Photography. Accessed 4 March 2017. The source doesn't make clear whether this was from December 1984 to January 1985, or from December 1985 to January 1986.
  24. ^ Ina Nobuo Shō 20-nen: Nikon Saron ni miru gendai shashin no keifu (伊奈信男賞20年：ニコンサロンにみる現代写真の系譜) = Ina Nobuo Award '76–'95 (Nikon Salon Books 23; Tokyo: Nikkor Club, 1996), p. 153. (The source doesn't specify the period within 1985, but suggests that it was late in the year.)
  25. ^ "Jill Freedman: Here and there", A.M. Richard Fine Art, 4 March 2007. Accessed 4 March 2017.
  26. ^ "Andrew Garn: Photographs of 42nd Street", A.M. Richard Fine Art, 4 March 2007. Accessed 4 March 2017.
  27. ^ "Jill Freedman: Resurrection City, 1968, Higher Pictures, 2008. Accessed 4 March 2017.
  28. ^ Niko Koppel, "A photographer and her subject, reunited decades later", New York Times, 8 May 2008. Accessed 5 March 2017.
  29. ^ "Jill Freedman: Street Cops 1978–1981", Higher Pictures, 2011. Accessed 4 March 2017.
  30. ^ "Jill Freedman", New Yorker. Accessed 5 March 2017.
  31. ^ "'Jill Freedman: Street Cops' exhibition", John Jay College, 2012. Accessed 4 March 2017.
  32. ^ "Jill Freedman: Long stories short", Steven Kasher Gallery, 2015. Accessed 4 March 2017.
  33. ^ Norman Borden, "Freedman's photos revel in vintage New York", The Villager, 7 October 2015. Accessed 4 March 2017.
  34. ^ Steven Snyder, "One New York, through two very different lenses", Downtown Express, June 30 – July 6, 2006. Accessed 4 March 2017.
  35. ^ Notice for Ireland, Photography Now. Accessed 4 March 2017.
  36. ^ "Bêtes et Hommes" (PDF), Bêtes et Hommes, 2007. Accessed 4 March 2017. Accessed 4 March 2017.
  37. ^ "Seriously", Andrew Edlin Gallery, 2016. Accessed 4 March 2017. Accessed 4 March 2017.
  38. ^ The ICP's holdings are as found here on 3 March 2017. Accessed 4 March 2017.
  39. ^ The BnF's holdings are as found here on 3 March 2017. Accessed 4 March 2017.
  40. ^ The Moderna Museet's holdings are as found here on 3 March 2017. Accessed 4 March 2017.
  41. ^ Photograph Collection: Center for Creative Photography: F (PDF, "last modified March 26, 2005"), p. 30. (This says "See also: GROUP PORTFOLIOS: Ten Photographers, 1978".) Accessed 4 March 2017.


Category:Artists from Pittsburgh Category:Photographers from New York City Category:American women photographers Category:Street photographers Category:1939 births Category:Living people Category:Photography in Ireland

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