Joel Meyerowitz

American. Born 1938

Central Park

1969

11” x 14”

Black and White Photograph

Gift

Information and Technology Building, 6th floor

Joel Meyerowitz is an artist known for his emotive street photography. While Central Park is a black and white photograph, Meyerowitz was very experimental with his work and played with color during a time when color photography was not popular, especially in the sub-genre of street photography. Meyerowitz has described himself as a shy person, and says this is what enticed him about the streets of New York City, where everything was constantly changing and growing, allowing him to become invisible and observe his surroundings. This led to works that create a moment of stillness in a fast-paced city. In many of his photographs, Meyerowitz stepped back to include the glances and emotions of bystanders who were reacting to each other. In Central Park, there is no singular person as the central focus, instead the work shows several groupings of people. The boy jumping off the bridge with onlookers, the group setting up a photoshoot, and the people walking by, are all telling their own stories, creating intimate moments and exchanges that the audience can experience, caught in a single photo by the artist. Meyerowitz credits his talent for street photography to being able to use intuition to capture chance moments.

Label and audio guide by Stephanie O’Brien, graduate student in the Arts Administration program at Baruch College.