Yale University Art Gallery Series (YUP) Series

American photographer Lee Friedlander (b. 1934) has had an expansive career, photographing his subjects-from family and friends to political figures and celebrities-in their everyday environments, while simultaneously changing the very landscape of his chosen media. The Human Clay is a new series of six publications to be released over three years, each of which focuses on images of people and features hundreds of photographs, many never before published, chosen and sequenced by the artist himself from his vast archive.

Portraits presents over 300 photographs of the musicians, authors, artists, and more that Friedlander has met over the last four decades. Many of the images show prominent figures, including artists Maya Lin and Walker Evans, in private spaces-unguarded in living rooms and kitchens, captured in conversation or an embrace. In others, celebrities such as Fats Domino and Derek Jeter are surrounded by the trappings of fame.

JFK

by Lee Friedlander

Published 20 August 2013

From jubilation to grief, the public response to the election and assassination of President Kennedy, from master photographer Lee Friedlander

The public outpouring of support for newly elected President John F. Kennedy in 1960 was exceeded in scope and magnitude only by the manifestations of grief and mourning after his assassination in 1963. These responses had an unusually strong visual component: likenesses of the president were framed in shop windows, pinned to living room walls, and plastered in public spaces across the nation.

Decades after Kennedy’s death, this book observes the public’s reaction to the president’s election and assassination, featuring many photographs published here for the first time. In his travels throughout America during this period, Lee Friedlander (b. 1934) encountered these responses and photographed what he witnessed. From Washington, D.C., to Buffalo to Minneapolis to Los Angeles, Friedlander has captured a moment in American history that galvanized the nation and continues to resonate.

Distributed for the Yale University Art Gallery

Parties

by Lee Friedlander

Published 19 September 2017

Photographer Lee Friedlander’s lively and intimate depictions of the art of celebration

Lee Friedlander (b. 1934) is known for his candid portraits of people in their everyday environments. This volume in his Human Clay series of books highlights a lively collection of Friedlander’s photographs of celebrations—both public and private. From intimate gatherings to boisterous street parades, costume parties to black-tie affairs, Friedlander captures the spirit of these events and the ways in which they are commemorated. He documents surprisingly intimate moments—couples stealing a kiss, friends engaged in spirited conversation or laughing over drinks, guests lost in music on the dance floor. The images also feature a number of celebrities, including actors Ingrid Bergman and Sidney Poitier, enjoying the revelry at galas and parties, such as one at the famous Sardi’s restaurant in New York.

Distributed for the Yale University Art Gallery

Playing for the Benefit of the Band

by Lee Friedlander

Published 1 April 2014

Lee Friedlander (b. 1934) first visited the birthplace of jazz in 1957, and immediately set about photographing the aging pioneers of the art form. His love of the music and the people of New Orleans drew him back to the city, and the relationships he formed over time gave him intimate access to a scene that forged one of America's most original artistic traditions. A revised and expanded edition of his 1992 monograph The Jazz People of New Orleans, Playing for the Benefit of the Band features over 200 photographs taken by Friedlander between 1957 and 1982, many of which are published here for the first time. Storied figures such as Duke Ellington and Mahalia Jackson have been captured by Friedlander's disarming lens, and Sweet Emma Barrett, Sister Gertrude Morgan, Johnny St. Cyr, and other luminaries are seen in their homes and the back rooms in which they gathered to play. Also included are photographs of the city's second-line parades, whose jubilant dancing has long been a defining aspect of New Orleans jazz culture.

Dressing Up

by Lee Friedlander

Published 14 May 2015

Candid portraits by acclaimed photographer Lee Friedlander showcase the many hands at work behind New York Fashion Week

Lee Friedlander (b. 1934) is one of the most renowned photographers of his generation. Through Friedlander’s lens, people in their everyday environments are transformed into arresting portraits, and the banal features of roadsides, storefronts, and city streets become vivid scenery. In Dressing Up, Friedlander ventures into new territory, turning his eye to the rarefied world of fashion and revealing precisely what is commonplace about it: behind the glamorous spectacle of the runway are many people hard at work.

The photographs, commissioned by the New York Times Magazine, were taken in 2006 during New York Fashion Week, when the artist spent time backstage at the Marc Jacobs, Donna Karan, Calvin Klein, Zac Posen, Oscar de la Renta, and Proenza Schouler shows. The resulting images, many of which are published here for the first time, depict a flurry of toiling stylists, dressers, makeup artists, photographers, and models—all of them preparing, but not quite prepared, for an image to be taken. Lovers of photography and high-end fashion will be surprised and intrigued by this inside glimpse into the world of runway design.

Distributed for the Yale University Art Gallery

Family in the Picture, 1958–2013

by Lee Friedlander

Published 15 May 2014

Designed and conceived to complement In the Picture, his 2011 volume of self-portraits, Lee Friedlander’s Family in the Picture is the family album of one of the most restless and inventive figures in the history of photography. The sequence of over 350 pictures begins with images of Friedlander’s wife, Maria, at the beginning of their marriage, and interweaves major life events such as births, weddings, and funerals with moments that are less outwardly momentous yet equally moving. Although some of the pictures are well known, the majority of images have only recently been unearthed from Friedlander’s personal archive. This compendium of pictures, spanning over a half-century, chronicles the photographer’s family with arresting frankness, poignancy, and a moral: that life goes on.

Distributed for the Yale University Art Gallery and Fondation A Stichting

Children

by Lee Friedlander

Published 11 September 2015

In Children, more than 300 photographs are presented in two sections. The first features images of children that the artist has known: being bathed or fed, laughing or crying with family members, posing with pets or mugging for the camera. The second section presents works from Friedlander’s years of photographing people on the street: children in parades, sitting in cars, reflected in storefront windows. Taken together, these images offer a picture of America’s youth through the eyes of one of the most renowned photographers of his generation.

Distributed for the Yale University Art Gallery

In the Picture

by Lee Friedlander

Published 29 November 2011

A magnificent review of Lee Friedlander's life and career, shown through his self-portraiture

Lee Friedlander (b. 1934) has been tackling the challenge of self-portraiture throughout his prolific career. What began as an unorthodox investigation of the genre has become a masterful engagement spanning five decades. In this extraordinary compilation, which includes hundreds of previously unpublished pictures, we follow the famous photographer through the years as his personal and creative lives unfold and intertwine.

Produced to the highest production standards and featuring over 400 duotone images—from his first self-portraits, taken with cable release in hand, to recent images of the photographer with his family and extended network of friends—In the Picture explores Friedlander’s various guises throughout a rich and colorful life.

Published in association with the Yale University Art Gallery