Philip-Lorca diCorcia

Philip-Lorca diCorcia


I picked up a small hardback book called 20th Century Photography Museum Ludwig Cologne printed by Taschen. I was interested in the Taschen story itself. Its founder Benedict Taschen had been interested in art, but found the books available were expensive and hard to obtain. He felt art books should be democratised and soon began reprinting books under his own name for budget prices in1984. This book was published to celebrate the 25 anniversary of Taschen.

From the book-“The photographic collection of the Museum Ludwig Cologne is one of the most important collections of contemporary photography in the world. This book provides a fascinating insight into its rich diversity: conceptual art, abstraction, reportage- 200 works by around 100 of the 20th century’s most famous international photographers, from Ansel Adams to Joel Peter Witkin.”

The book gives a snapshot of each of the photographers in one or, at the most, two pages. It’s been a useful read for those ‘3am. Wide awake and where am I?’ moments.

Philip-Lorca di Corcia. 1953 Hartford Connecticut.
Lives in New York

I was interested in this photographer initially because he started off by taking pictures of his friends and family, this fits in with what I’ve been trying to do ie. learning the bones of photography by experimenting on people close to him. He photographed people in mundane situations and used hidden additional artificial lighting to give a surreal look to what would otherwise be banal.

From ARTOBSERVED web site.

In one oft-repeated anecdote about DiCorcia’s meticulous shooting style, he arranged strategically placed flashes inside a refrigerator, darkened the room, and directed his brother to open the appliance door over and over again until he obtained the perfect image. The result, of course, is “Mario,” one of DiCorcia’s most iconic images, and one that encapsulates the seemingly improvised quality of his work. By evoking a sense of the ephemeral, viewers project their own narratives onto DiCorcia’s pictures, creating a bond rarely felt with other contemporary photography. His photographs are “ordinary,” yet they manage to abduct the viewer’s imagination with their stage craft.

He has had many exhibitions and is widely published. He went on to produce series of connected images photographing street pictures and traveled to Los Angeles to photograph prostitutes and the gay scene on Santa Monica Boulevard . He took active control without his “actors” having any awareness of the scenario they had entered.

The image below is from his exhibition "Thousand" which was a show of around 900 of his Polaroid images taken in the process of setting the stage for his carefully constructed 'incidental' pictures.

This below from the street scene. Horribly wraps you up in what looks like an accident that has just happened, rather than a carefully staged scene.

The lighting here, which is probably from an artificial source placed out of sight, high lights the cheek and angle of the jaw, giving attitude to the insolent expression of the subject. The long exposure blurs the motion of the background decreasing information and drawing attention to the clothing, collar detail and jacket.





Whilst researching I found this about him. “In 2006, a New York trial court issued a ruling in a case involving one of his photographs. One of diCorcia's New York random subjects was Ermo Nussenzweig, an Orthodox Jew who objected on religious grounds to diCorcia's publishing in an artistic exhibition a photograph taken of him without his permission. The photo's subject argued that his privacy and religious rights had been violated by both the taking and publishing of the photograph of him. The judge dismissed the lawsuit, finding that the photograph taken of Nussenzweig on a street is art - not commerce - and therefore is protected by the First Amendment.

The judge ruled that the photo of Nussenzweig—a head shot showing him sporting a scraggly white beard, a black hat and a black coat was art, even though the photographer sold 10 prints of it at $20,000 to $30,000 each. The judge ruled that New York courts have "recognized that art can be sold, at least in limited editions, and still retain its artistic character. First amendment protection of art is not limited to only starving artists. A profit motive in itself does not necessarily compel a conclusion that art has been used for trade purposes."
Strange, really. I think I'd have just accepted the subject's objection as justifiable. I would also be interested to hear what our Burton Photo Soc. judges' opinions would be. Lens flare? Distracting background? Difficult to say from a low size internet picture, but has definitely captured character and intrigue.

Here is the transcript from an interview with di Corcia about his exhibition Hustlers

In 1996 diCorcia was appointed to a position at the Yale School of Photography, where he has worked off and on as a visiting artist and critic. He continues to work commercially and on his own personal work. DiCorcia is not known to be a prolific artist-taking only approximately 12 to 15 photographs on average per year. DiCorcia lives and works primarily in New York City.