collection of essays dealing with the situation of Afri-
can-Americans in the United States.
Davidson’s interest in the position of African
Americans continued with his projectEast 100th
Street, a photographic work that explored one city
block of Spanish Harlem. He began the two-year
project in 1966 using a large format 45inchview
camera mounted on a tripod instead of a hand-held
camera in order to avoid being perceived as an ‘‘intru-
der’’ who seized images without interacting with his
subjects. For the project he made over 1,000 negatives
and in March 1968,Dupublished a portfolio with a
text by Davidson. On August 15, 1969,Lifepublished
a four-page spread on the project. Davidson chose
the block largely for its reputation of being one of the
worst blocks in the city, and, since its inception, the
project has elicited a great deal of controversy. Critics
such as A. D. Coleman accused Davidson of exploit-
ing a repressed subculture while supporters like Hil-
ton Kramer praised him for elevating his subject
matter to the status of high art. In 1970, the Museum
of Modern Art held an exhibition featuring 43 pho-
tographs from the project.
Having photographed ‘‘inner space’’ in hisEast
100th Streetproject,in1980,Davidsonbeganto
document ‘‘underground space’’ through his color
photographs of the New York subway, and from
1991–1995 he worked on a project of ‘‘open space’’
with his photographs of New York’s Central Park
shot with a panoramic camera. Although most of
Davidson’s work centers on human isolation,Por-
traits, published in 1999, focuses on a diverse range of
celebrities, many of whom Davidson photographed
while on assignment for magazines and newspapers.
Photography, however, was not the only med-
ium to attract Davidson. From the late 1960s until
the mid-1970s Davidson turned to filmmaking,
shooting documentaries Living off the Land
(1969) andZoo Doctor(1971) as well as a fiction
film,Nightmare and Mrs. Pupko’s Beard(1972),
based on short stories of Nobel Laureate Isaac
Bashevis Singer. Davidson continues to practice
photography today, and, although he prefers to
work on personal projects, occasionally he still
accepts commercial assignments.
ErinaDuganneSeealso: Cartier-Bresson, Henri; Documentary
Photography; Life Magazine; Magnum Photos;
Street Photography
Biography
Born Oak Lawn, Illinois 5 September 1933. Studied photo-
graphy with Ralph Hattersley at Rochester Institute of
Technology, New York, 1951–1954; studied painting,
philosophy, and photography under Herbert Matter,
Alexey Brodovitch, and Josef Albers at Yale University,
New Haven, 1955. Served in United States Army, 1955–
1957; freelance photographer forLife,Re ́alities,Du,
Esquire,Queen,Look,Vogue, and member of Magnum
Photos since 1958; photography instructor, School of
Visual Arts, New York, 1964. Received John Simon
Guggenheim Memorial Fellowship, 1962; National
Endowment for the Arts grant, 1967, 1970; American
Film Institute grant, 1970, 1972; A.F.I. prize, 1971. Liv-
ing in New York.Individual Exhibitions
1965 Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois
International Museum of Photography, George East-
man House, Rochester, New York
San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Fran-
cisco, California
1966 Museum of Modern Art, New York, New York
Moderna Museet, Stockholm, Sweden
1970 East 100th Street: Photographs by Bruce Davidson;
Museum of Modern Art, New York, New York
1971 San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Fran-
cisco, California
1976 Addison Gallery, Andover, Massachusetts
1979 FNAC Gallery, Paris, France
Galerie Delpire, Paris, France
Galerie Fiolet, Amsterdam, Netherlands
1982 Douglas Kenyon Gallery, Chicago, Illinois
1983 New York Subway Color; International Center of
Photography, New York, New York
1997 Bruce Davidson: American Photographs; Edwynn Houk
Gallery, New York, New York
1998 Bruce Davidson: The Brooklyn Gang, 1959; Interna-
tional Center of Photography, New York, New YorkGroup Exhibitions
1959 Photography at Mid Century; George Eastman House,
Rochester, New York
1960 The World as Seen by Magnum; Takashimaya Depart-
ment Store, Tokyo, Japan and traveling
1962 Ideas in Images; American Federation of Arts, New
York, New York, and traveling
1966 Contemporary Photography Since 1950; George Eastman
House, Rochester, New York
Toward a Social Landscape: Contemporary Photogra-
phers; George Eastman House, Rochester, New York
1967 12 Photographers of the American Social Landscape;
Rose Art Museum, Brandeis University, Boston, Mas-
sachusetts
1973 The Concerned Photographer 2; Israel Museum, Jeru-
salem and traveling
1974 Photography in America; Whitney Museum of Amer-
ican Art, New York, New York
1977 Concerning Photography; The Photographers’ Gallery,
London (traveled to Spectro Workshop, Newcastle-
upon-Tyne, England)
1980 The Imaginary Photo Museum; Kunsthalle, Cologne,
Germany
1982 Color as Form; International Museum of Photogra-
phy, George Eastman House, Rochester, New YorkDAVIDSON, BRUCE