Leonard Freed

Overview

Leonard Freed (b. October 23 1929, Brooklyn, New York - d. November 29 2006, Garrison, New York) was a documentary photojournalist and longtime Magnum member.

Freed attended the New School and studied with the legendary art director of Harper's Bazaar, Alexey Brodovitch. In 1967, Cornell Capa selected Freed as one of five photographers to participate in his "Concerned Photography" exhibition. His career blossomed during the American civil rights movement, when he traveled the country with Martin Luther King, Jr. in his celebrated march across the US from Alabama to Washington.

This journey gave him the opportunity to produce his 1968 book, "Black In White America", which garnered him considerable attention. Another landmark in Freed's career was his 1980 book, "Police Work", which reported on New York City law enforcement.

In recent years, Freed continued shooting photographs in Italy, Turkey, Germany, Lebanon and the U.S. He also shot four films for Japanese, Dutch and Belgian television.

He died in upstate New York after a battle with cancer on November 29 2006.

Freed's images continue to be used to evoke the gritty reality of life for the 'everyman'. His image being used for the Young Vic theatre's production of A Prayer for My Daughter (play) in 2008.

Biography

LEONARD FREED

American, 1929 - 2006

Born in Brooklyn, New York, to working-class Jewish parents of Eastern European descent, Freed first wanted to become a painter. However, he began taking photographs while in the Netherlands in 1953, and discovered this was where his passion lay. In 1954, after trips through Europe and North Africa, he returned to the United States and studied in Alexei Brodovitch's “design laboratory.” He moved to Amsterdam in 1958 and photographed the Jewish community there. Working as a freelance photographer from 1961 onwards, Freed began to travel widely, photographing blacks in America (1964-1965), events in Israel (1967-1968), the Yom Kippur war in 1973 and, between 1972 and 1979, the New York City police department.

Early in Freed’s career, Edward Steichen, then Director of Photography at the Museum of Modern Art, bought three of his photographs for the museum. In the course of a two-hour conversation, Steichen told Freed that he was one of the three best young photographers he had seen and advised Freed to remain an amateur, as the other two were now doing commercial photography and had become uninteresting. “Preferably," he advised, "be a truck driver."

Freed joined Magnum in 1972, and since then has worked on assignment for the major international press, including "Life", "Look", "Paris Match", "Die Zeit", "Der Spiegel", "Stern", "Sunday Times Magazine", "New York Times Magazine", "GEO", "L'Express"; "Libération" and "Fortune". His coverage of the American civil rights movement first made him famous, but he has also produced major essays on Poland, Asian immigration in England, North Sea oil development, Spain since Franco and other subjects. Photography became Freed’s means to explore societal violence and racial discrimination. His 1980 book, Police Work, used words and pictures to document policing efforts in New York City while questioning our need for authority. He also completed a study of the Ku Klux Klan. In numerous books and films, Freed has examined German society and his own Jewish roots. Recent essays include ”Vendetta in Crete”, “Turkish Village”, “Cyprus”, “East Germany”, “Gambling in Atlantic City”, “Lebanon at War”, “Death of Black Children In Atlanta, Georgia” and “The U.S. Army in Germany”. He has also shot four films for Japanese, Dutch and Belgian television.

Of his work, Freed says, “Photography is a visual language still in its infancy. Just as the poet adds meaning to words, so the photographer adds to visual symbols. But, whereas the other arts developed in time over centuries, photography has yet to mature and define itself. The fact that millions of people can see the same visual images on television, in films or photography is communication. It is a language. To be a poet-photographer is both saddening and challenging. Saddening to think that literary traditions are being lost to a language that is only in its infancy. Challenging in that one is free to be original.”

Over the years, Freed published a number of books and has displayed his work in several national and international group exhibitions as well as more than twenty solo exhibitions.

Leonard Freed died in Garrison, New York, 30th November 2006.

The Estate of Leonard Freed is currently represented by Bruce Silverstein Gallery, New York, New York.

Exhibitions

* 2007 Leonard Freed - Leica Gallery, New York City, USA
* 2006 Dance of the Faithful - The Minneapolis Institute of Arts, Minneapolis, USA
* 2004 Made In Germany - Galerie Argus Fotokunst, Berlin, Germany
* 2003 Nude and Naked - Galerie Esther Woerdehoff, Paris, France
* 2003 Women Wearing Only Light - Radiant Light Gallery, Portland, USA
* 2000 Black in White America - Lee Gallery, Winchester, Maine, USA
* 2001 GAC Gallery, Garrison Art Center, Garrison, New York, USA
* 1999 Galerie Mistral, Montreal, Canada
* 1999 Esther Woerdehoff Gallery, Paris, France
* 1998 Leica Gallery, New York, USA
* 1998 Vision Gallery, Jerusalem, Israel
* 1998 Desmond-Fish Library, Garrison, New York, USA
* 1996 Parts Gallery, Minneapolis, USA
* 1996 Benny Smith Gallery, Cold Spring, New York, USA
* 1996 Minneapolis Photographers' Gallery, Minneapolis, USA
* 1996 Retrospective: The Photographs of Leonard Freed - Leica Gallery, New York, USA
* 1994 292 Gallery, New York, New York, USA
* 1994 Drew University, Madison, New Jersey, USA
* 1993 Palazzo delle Esposizioni, Rome, Italy
* 1992 Gallery FNAC, Berlin, Germany
* 1991 Alinari, Florence, Italy
* 1989 San Daniele del Friuli, Friuli, Italy
* 1987 Galerie Municipale du Château d'Eau, Toulouse, France
* 1984 Galerie FNAC, Paris, France
* 1975 Trapani, Sicily, Italy; The Photographers' Gallery, London, UK
* 1974 Polizzi Generosa, Sicily, Italy
* 1971 Jewish Museum, New York, USA
* 1970 Il Diaframma, Milan, Italy
* 1967 Liverpool Cathedral, Liverpool, UK
* 1966 Steendrukkerij de Jong, Hilversum, Netherlands

Awards

* 1980 National Endowment for the Arts
* 1978 New York State Grant for the Arts

Publications

* 2007 Leonard Freed: Worldview, Steidl, Germany
* 2004 Another Life, ABP Public Affairs, Netherlands
* 1997 Amsterdam: The Sixties, Focus Publishing, USA
* 1991 Leonard Freed: Photographs 1954-1990, Cornerhouse, UK/Editions Nathan, Paris/W.W. Norton & Company, USA
* 1990 New York Police (Photo Notes), Centre National de la Photographie, France
* 1984 La Danse des Fidèles, Editions du Chêne, France
* 1980 Police Work, Simon & Schuster, USA
* 1977 Berlin, Time-Life Books, New York, USA
* 1971 Leonard Freed’s Germany, Thames & Hudson, UK
* 1970 Seltsame Spiele, Verlag Bärmeier & Nikel, Germany
* 1970 Made in Germany, Grossman Publishers, USA
* 1967 Black in White America, Grossman Publishers, USA
* 1965 Deutsche Juden Heute, Rütten & Loening Verlag, Germany
* 1958 Joden van Amsterdam, de Bezige Bij, Netherlands

Films

1993 Joey Goes to Wigstock (color,10')

External Links

* [http://www.magnumphotos.com/Archive/C.aspx?VP=XSpecific_MAG.PhotographerDetail_VPage&l1=0&pid=2K7O3R14GRLX&nm=Leonard%20Freed] Magnum Photos
* [http://www.brucesilverstein.com] Bruce Silverstein Gallery, New York, New York