FINK, Larry

About US-American photographer, Larry Fink (1941-2023)

"Larry FINK, best known for his black-and-white images of people at parties and in other social situations, studied at the New School for Social Research in New York City, where photographer Lisette MODEL was one of his teachers and encouraged his work. He has been on the faculty of Bard College since 1986. Earlier he taught at other institutions including the Yale University School of Art (1977–1978), Cooper Union School of Art and Architecture (1978–1983), Parsons School of Design, and New York University. His best-known work is 'Social Graces', a series of photographs he produced in the 1970s that depicted and contrasted wealthy Manhattanites at fashionable clubs and social events alongside working-class people from rural Pennsylvania participating in events such as high school graduations. In 2001, for an assignment from The New York Times Magazine, he created a series of satirical color images of President George W. Bush and his cabinet (portrayed by stand-ins) in scenes of decadent revelry modeled on paintings by Weimar-era painters Max Beckmann, Otto Dix and George Grosz. The planned publication of the series was canceled after the September 11 attacks, but was displayed in the summer of 2004 at the PowerHouse Gallery in New York, in a show titled 'The Forbidden Pictures: A Political Tableau.'" (slightly adapted text, © Wikipedia, Nov., 26th, 2023)

Photo books by as well as with works by Larry FINK

• 'Photographs' (1981, together with works by Joel STERNFELD); 'Social Graces' (1979, 1984, 1999); 'Focus Santa Barbara' (1985, together with works by Walter COTTON, Lee FRIEDLANDER, Mary Ellen MARK, Richard MISRACH, as well as by Richard ROSS); 'Pleasures and Terrors of Domestic Comfort' (1991); 'Still Working: Underknown Artists of Age in America' (1994); 'Boxing' (1997); 'Fish and Wine: Larry Fink's Photographs of Portugal' (1997); 'Ellis Island: Echoes from a Nation's Past' (1997, together with works by Lewis HINE, Alfred EISENSTAEDT, Sylvia PLACHY, Emmet GOWIN, Ed GRAZDA and others); 'Runway' (1999); 'The Forbidden Pictures: Photograph' (2004); 'Phaidon 55' (2005); 'Primal Elegance' (2005); 'Somewhere There's Music' (2006); 'Cleveland Clinic: Two Views' (2006, together with Andrew MOORE); 'Effetto Luce' (2007); 'Night at the Met' (2009); 'The Vanities. Hollywood Parties 2000–2009' (2011); 'Attraction and Desire' (2011); 'Larry Fink on Composition and Improvisation' (2014); 'The Beats' (2014); 'Kindred Spirits. Minor Matters' (2014); 'Opening the Sky' (2015)
  

Awards and honors

• 1976: Guggenheim Fellowship
  1978 & 1986: Individual Photography Fellowships
  2002: Honorary doctorate from the College for Creative Studies in Detroit.