Bruce Davidson: Black & White

Black & White is the definitive collection of Bruce Davidson’s black and white photography, spanning a period of 40 years. This collectable five-volume set comprises re-prints of classic books of Davidson’s poignant and purposeful imagery, some of them newly edited and expanded. The seminal bodies of work are Circus (1958), an intimate portrait of a dwarf clown; Brooklyn Gang (1959), depicting a group of troubled youths; Time of Change (1961–1965), a civil rights documentation in America; East 100th Street (1966–1968), showing life on one block in Spanish Harlem; and Central Park (1992–1995), exploring layers of life in New York’s famous urban oasis. Black & White is a tribute to Davidson’s unique photographic achievement, and a powerful document of social change.

About the Photographer: 

Bruce Davidson, born in 1933 in Oak Park in the US, began photographing as a youth and studied art at the Rochester Institute of Technology and at Yale University – in the class of Josef Albers among others. In 1957, during his military service near Paris he became acquainted with Henri Cartier-Bresson, one of the founders of the renowned agency MAGNUM Photos. Following this he worked as a photographer for LIFE magazine and his first series were published here. In 1958 Bruce Davidson became a member of MAGNUM Photos. In his numerous photographic projects he primarily documents people in an urban context – in 1959 members of a gang in Brooklyn, from 1961 to 1965 civil rights activists, from 1966 to 1968 the residents of one neglected block in East Harlem, in 1980 passengers on the New York subway and from 1992 to 1995 the Central Park and its users. Bruce Davidson’s works have been exhibited worldwide in numerous institutions and museums, including the Museum of Modern Art in New York, Smithsonian Museum of American Art in Washington, International Center of Photography in New York, Maison Européenne de la Photographie in Paris and the Tate Modern in London. He has twice received a scholarship from the foundation "National Endowment for the Arts", as well as a Guggenheim scholarship. In 2004 he was awarded with the Lucie Award for "Outstanding Achievement in Documentary Photography" and in 2007 with the "Gold Medal Lifetime Achievement Award" by the National Arts Club. Bruce Davidson lives and works in New York City.

Hardback / Clothbound in slipcase / 29.5 cm x 29 cm

Texts by Bruce Davidson, Emily Haas Davidson, Mildred Feliciano, Sam Holmes, John Lewis, Elizabeth Barlow Rogers and Deborah Willis

Book design by Gerhard Steidl, Duncan Whyte, Bruce Davidson

Limited Edition of 2,000 sets. A certificate, hand signed and numbered by the artist is included in volume 1.

Volume 1 / Circus: 104 pages, 82 tritone plates

Volume 2 / Brooklyn Gang: 120 pages, 95 tritone plates

Volume 3 / Time of Change: 168 pages, 144 tritone plates

Volume 4 / East 100th Street: 168 pages, 149 tritone plates

Volume 5 / Central Park: 144 pages, 91 tritone plates