George Forss
George Forss (1941 – July 17, 2021) was an American photographer known for his black and white New York City images.
Background
Forss, the son of poor alcoholic parents, spent five years of his life living in an orphanage. He became a self-taught photographer after being introduced to photography at the 1964 New York World's Fair.[1] Forss had been taking photographs on the streets of New York City and selling $5 prints since 1973 on the sidewalks outside of the New York Metropolitan Museum of Art before being discovered by Life magazine photographer David Duncan in 1980.[2] Forss has photographed city-scapes and time-capsule moments captured in detail using rudimentary equipment extensively. Forss has since been praised by Ansel Adams and Henri Cartier-Bresson for his outstanding imagery.[3]
Publication and Exhibition
Forss' work (compiled by Duncan) was published in 1984 in New York New York: Masterworks of a Street Peddler.[4] In 1982, Forss was also the subject of a BBC documentary, A Fairytale of New York: The George Forss Story that chronicled the rise of this photographic genius from obscurity to international fame.
Life magazine featured Forss' work as a premier example of New York photography before 9/11 due primarily to his stunning capture of the World Trade Center buildings and the financial district.[5]
Forss' work can be seen on exhibition at the Brooklyn Museum.[6]
Death
Forss died on July 17, 2021, of heart failure at his home in Cambridge, New York.[7]
References
- ^ "Manhattan Madrigals". Popular Photography. November 1984. pp. 62–64. Retrieved 2014-06-10.
- ^ Rimer, Sara (March 26, 1984). "From a street peddler, vision of the city". The New York Times.
- ^ Loke, Margarett (August 16, 1996). "Inside Photography". The New York Times. Retrieved June 10, 2014.
- ^ Duncan, David Douglas. "New York/New York; Masterworks of a Street Peddler, George Forss". Argosy Book Store. Retrieved June 10, 2014.
- ^ "Unseen New York: Photos of Gotham Before 9/11 Changed Everything". Life. Archived from the original on March 11, 2014. Retrieved June 10, 2014.
- ^ "George Forss". Brooklyn Museum. Retrieved June 10, 2014.
- ^ Vadukul, Alex (2 August 2021). "George Forss, 80, Photographer Discovered on the Street, Dies". The New York Times. Retrieved 2 August 2021.
Further reading
- "George Forrs". The Reader's Digest. Vol. 125, no. 747–752. 1984. Retrieved 2014-06-10.
- Hadden, Briton; Luce, Henry Robinson, eds. (1981). "One Man Museum Without Walls". Time. Vol. 117, no. 18–26. Retrieved June 10, 2014.
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