Joel Meyerowitz

Caleb McQuillin

Table of Contents
Background.. 3 - 6 Street Photography.. 7 - 8 A Change In Direction.. 9 - 10 9/11 and Aftermath.. 11 12 Awards.. 13 Keeping Tabs 14 Resources... 15

Background

Meyerowitz was born in 1932. As an adult, he worked as an art director in New York City. However, he always wanted something more. One day, he received an assignment to shadow photographer Robert Frank.

Background (cont.)

Meyerowitz watched Frank weaving around the room and was entranced. He knew that this is what he wanted to do. He didnt return to the office that day. He had found that photagrophy was his calling.

Background (cont.)

The early 60s mostly frowned upon color photographs, but Meyerowitz was an advocate from the moment he picked up a camera. His favored genre was street photography. He loved watching the flow of the street life.

Background (cont.)

Meyerowitz began with a philosophy. His goal was to avoid any commercialized work for fear of narrowing his focus too much. Meyerowitz wanted to put the entire world in his camera. Starting with the streets.

Street Photography

What is street photography? Its the art of capturing any special event or moment in the street, as it happens. No photo is staged. This is achieved by a special kind of premonition of when to take each picture.

Street Photography (cont.)

This is one of Meyerowitzs most popular photos, and the perfect example of street photography. Every person in this picture is moving. There is no stop to the action of the street, even to help the fallen man.

A Change in Direction

In 1976, Meyerowitz bought a new camera (an 8 x 10) and a tripod to improve his pictures. He spent the summer with his family at Cape Cod. This setting is as radically different from the streets of New York as possible.

A Change in Direction

(cont.)

Meyerowitz was proud enough of his work to release a book compilation, Cape Cod. This was his first book, and is still considered a classic work of color photography. It has sold more than 100,000 copies universally.

9/11 and Aftermath

Just days after 9/11, Meyerowitz was invited to Ground Zero to archive the destruction of the World Trade Center and the recovery work on site. He was the only photographer allowed unrestricted access to Ground Zero.

9/11 and Aftermath (cont.)

After his time at Ground Zero, Meyerowitz had compiled over 8,000 images in his World Trade Center Archive. The U.S. Department of State put on 35 exhibitions of this archive around the globe, with over 4 million viewers.

Awards

Guggenheim Fellow (2 time recipient) National Endowment for the Arts award National Endowment for the Humanities award Deutscher Fotobuchpreis (German photobook prize)

Keeping Tabs

Joel is still active today. You can keep up with him on Facebook, Twitter, or his website (joelmeyerowitz.com)

Resources
"Joel Meyerowitz." Edelman Gallery. Edelman Gallery, n.d. Web. 6 Jul 2012. <http://www.edelmangallery.com/archive11.htm>. "Joel Meyerowitz Biography." iN-PUBLiC. iN-PUBLiC, n.d. Web. 6 Jul 2012. <http://www.in-public.com/JoelMeyerowitz> JoelMeyerowitz.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 6 Jul 2012. <http://www.joelmeyerowitz.com/photography/index.html>. Gluek, Grace. "ART IN REVIEW; Joel Meyerowitz." nytimes.com. The New York Times, 2000. Web. 6 Jul 2012. <http://www.nytimes.com/2000/10/13/arts/art-in-review-joel-meyerowitz.html>.