Bruce Davidson: Subway

Product Information

Existing beneath a city defined by its diversity and promise of opportunity, the subway appears as a microcosm of this sprawling urban metropolis: a democratizing realm where individuals from all walks of life sit side by side in a setting as frantic and unruly as the streets above. Still, within it, the photographer communicates an increasingly widespread sense of solidarity between the inhabitants of the subterranean – there is harmony within the underground malaise.

His glowing skin tone seemed to match the chains around his neck, which James Agee would often refer to as ‘badges of being.You can change your choices at any time by visiting Cookie preferences, as described in the Cookie notice. Davidson's accompanying text tells the story behind the images, clarifying his method and dramatizing his obsession with the subway, its rhythms and its particular madness. Carrying with him a small, white, golf-trimmed wedding album filled with examples of his Subway work, on requesting to take someone’s picture, he would often bring this out to convince the subject of his intentions.

After a solo exhibition at The Museum of Modern Art in 1963, Davidson spent two years photographing in Harlem, resulting in the book East 100th Street. As our being is exposed, we confront our mortality, contemplate our destiny, and experience both the beauty and the beast. Each photograph in the Subway series captures a rare, short-lived moment in time within the history of socialization in the United States. It’s a great social equalizer … From the moving train above ground, we see glimpses of the city, and as the train moves into the tunnels, sterile fluorescent light reaches into the stony gloom and we, trapped inside, all hang on together,” observes Davidson in the introduction to his book.

Bruce Davidson s Subway has become iconic for its juxtaposition of humanity against urban machinery.

Both a captivating study of light and color and a historical document of an elemental part of New York, Subway captures the many faces of the underbelly of this city. Support for this exhibition is provided by an anonymous donor, the members of The San Diego Museum of Art, and the County of San Diego Community Enhancement Program. He is best known for his work at the Metropolitan Museum of Art and as New York City Commissioner of Cultural Affairs. Sometimes, I’d take the picture, then apologize, explaining that the mood was so stunning I couldn’t break it, and hoped they didn’t mind.Other times, the moment would be too perfect and Davidson would photograph without permission, explaining himself after the image was safely imprinted on his film. I found myself photographing the lonely widows, vagrant winos, and solemn old men who line the benches on these concrete islands of Manhattan’s Upper West Side. Davidson also brought several rolls of film, a notebook, a subway map, and a wedding album containing photos of the people he had already photographed in the subway. The 103 third parties who use cookies on this service do so for their purposes of displaying and measuring personalized ads, generating audience insights, and developing and improving products. Seeking to uncover beauty that habitually goes unnoticed, Subway was Davidson’s first documentary series shot in color.

He received a Guggenheim Fellowship in 1962 to photograph what became a profound documentation of the Civil Rights Movement in America. Bruce Davidson’s most successful work to date is Subway, which includes photos from his exploration of New York City. But apart from that it has greatly improved to the point that there is a certain banality that bores me.The photographer’s descent into the city’s famed transit system followed a period of broader exploration in New York.