Lee Friedlander Lecture, Maryland Institute College of Art (date unknown)

logan2z · May 2, 2021

I stumbled upon a recording of this lecture and thought I'd share it. The date of the lecture isn't given, but based on a few things Friedlander said I'm going to guess it was sometime in the '70s.

The lecture is in two parts (total runtime is about 1 hour).:

Part 1 is a walkthrough of a set of portraits that Friedlander was planning on using for a book. This part isn't very interesting since it's audio only and Friedlander says very little about each photograph. If you're a Friedlander nut like I am then it might be worth a listen - you may even know which photos he's talking about just from his brief descriptions.

https://archive.org/details/mma344-01/mma344-01.wav

Part 2 is the Q&A following the lecture. This was far more interesting as Friedlander answered questions about his photographic process, darkroom work, etc.

https://archive.org/details/mma344-01/mma345-01.wav

Enjoy.

ic-racer · May 3, 2021

Thank you!

logan2z · May 4, 2021

ic-racer said:
Thank you!

You're welcome.

Pieter12 · May 4, 2021

It took a while to get into, but very enjoyable. His personality really comes through. And he did finally get around to making a book about the cherry blossoms in Japan!

logan2z · May 4, 2021

Pieter12 said:
And he did finally get around to making a book about the cherry blossoms in Japan!

He did. One of my favorite Friedlander books.

gone · May 4, 2021

One of my favorite photographers. The man had an eye, that's for sure! Would love to see a nice exhibit of Friedlander prints.

SrMi · May 7, 2021

momus said:
One of my favorite photographers. The man had an eye, that's for sure! Would love to see a nice exhibit of Friedlander prints.

His books are of excellent quality, though certainly not as good as an exhibition.

logan2z · May 7, 2021

momus said:
One of my favorite photographers. The man had an eye, that's for sure! Would love to see a nice exhibit of Friedlander prints.

I saw an exhibition a few years ago that included prints of every photo in The Little Screens. Awesome installation.

Click the image for a larger view

Pieter12 · May 7, 2021

He has said that he likes to make books, maybe because more people can see his work that way. I have not seen many of his prints but I do think he makes them himself.

Michael Teresko · May 7, 2021

The MOMA retrospective, about 400 images worth, made it to San Francisco some years back. It was a stunning show, both in the sheer number and variety of quality photos. One of my all time favorites.

logan2z · May 7, 2021

Pieter12 said:
I have not seen many of his prints but I do think he makes them himself.

He does. I've read that he spends considerable time in the darkroom, even now that he's in his late '80s.

logan2z · May 7, 2021

Michael Teresko said:
The MOMA retrospective, about 400 images worth, made it to San Francisco some years back. It was a stunning show, both in the sheer number and variety of quality photos. One of my all time favorites.

Unfortunately I wasn't into photography at that time, it was in my own backyard ;( I do, however, have the huge hardcover book (ok, I have two copies) and look at it often.

Mike Lopez · May 13, 2021

logan2z said:
Unfortunately I wasn't into photography at that time, it was in my own backyard ;( I do, however, have the huge hardcover book (ok, I have two copies) and look at it often.

I flew to San Francisco in 2008 for the sole purpose of attending that retrospective at SFMOMA. It was a tremendous show. And I did it again two summers ago when the Fraenkel Gallery held a book signing at the release of "Signs." Unfortunately Friedlander's arthritis kicked in and he wasn't able to sign books for very long, but I was near the front of the line, so I came away happy.

(And I flew to Albuquerque and got in a rental car and drove to Santa Fe when Friedlander was there to sign "New Mexico"...!)

Mike Lopez · May 13, 2021

Michael Teresko said:
The MOMA retrospective, about 400 images worth, made it to San Francisco some years back. It was a stunning show, both in the sheer number and variety of quality photos. One of my all time favorites.

I completely agree with this. I had to take a few breaks along the way to go look at something else and return to look at more Friedlander photographs. The show was that good, and that overwhelming.

logan2z · May 13, 2021

Mike Lopez said:
I flew to San Francisco in 2008 for the sole purpose of attending that retrospective at SFMOMA. It was a tremendous show. And I did it again two summers ago when the Fraenkel Gallery held a book signing at the release of "Signs." Unfortunately Friedlander's arthritis kicked in and he wasn't able to sign books for very long, but I was near the front of the line, so I came away happy.

(And I flew to Albuquerque and got in a rental car and drove to Santa Fe when Friedlander was there to sign "New Mexico"...!)

I was at Fraenkel Gallery for the 'Signs' book signing as well! I was fortunate enough to get a signature before he had to put the pen down.

I have some other signed Friedlander books as well but none of which were signed in my presence.

I admire the effort you put in to see Friedlander in person. It was only a 50 minute drive for me to see him in SF.

Lee Friedlander Lecture, Maryland Institute College of Art (date unknown)

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