Street Photography
Lee Friedlander, Joseph Rodríguez, Garry Winogrand
Museum Ludwig, Cologne
Through October 12, 2025
New York City, 1963
Gelatin silver paper, print after 1963, 22 x 32,9 cm
Museum Ludwig, Cologne
© Lee Friedlander, courtesy Fraenkel Gallery, San Francisco
and Luhring Augustine, New York
Repro: Historisches Archiv mit Rheinischem Bildarchiv
New York City, 1969
Gelatin silver paper, print after 1978, 22,9 x 34,2 cm
© The Estate of Garry Winogrand / Courtesy
Fraenkel Gallery, San Francisco
Repro: Historisches Archiv mit Rheinischem Bildarchiv
220 West Houston Street, NY 1984,
Gelatin silver paper, print after 1988, 25,2 x 37,2 cm
© Joseph Rodriguez, Courtesy Galerie Bene Taschen
Repro: Historisches Archiv mit Rheinischem Bildarchiv
The street life of cities has always been a fascinating subject for photographers, who have approached it in a variety of ways, from candid images documenting urban unrest to portraits that shine a spotlight on individuals. Since the nineteenth century, cities and photography have been directly linked through the idea of modernity. With the introduction of compact cameras such as the Leica, street photography developed into its own genre in the mid-twentieth century. Small-format cameras gave photographers greater flexibility and enabled them to respond quickly while remaining discrete. They explored public space without obtruding and, in contrast to staged photography, captured candid and spontaneous moments that had previously been considered unworthy photographic subjects. Influenced by Henri Cartier-Bresson’s concept of the “decisive moment,” these photographers sought to capture the fleeting instant when light, composition, and subject aligned to convey the significance of an event.
New York City, 1965
Gelatin silver paper, print after 1965, 22 x 32,9 cm
Museum Ludwig, Cologne
© Lee Friedlander, courtesy Fraenkel Gallery, San Francisco
and Luhring Augustine, New York
Repro: Historisches Archiv mit Rheinischem Bildarchiv
Untitled, from: Women are Beautiful, around 1970
Gelatin silver paper, print after 1981, 21,7 x 32,4 cm
© The Estate of Garry Winogrand / Courtesy
Fraenkel Gallery, San Francisco
Repro: Historisches Archiv mit Rheinischem Bildarchiv
I picked him up at a club and I took him to
Brooklyn. He was a happy camper, NY 1984,
Gelatin silver paper, print after 1988, 24,8 x 36,8 cm
© Joseph Rodriguez, Courtesy Galerie Bene Taschen
Repro: Historisches Archiv mit Rheinischem Bildarchiv
This exhibition in the Photography Room at the Museum Ludwig is dedicated to three protagonists from two generations of street photography: Garry Winogrand (b. 1928 in New York, d. 1984), Lee Friedlander (b. 1934 in Aberdeen, Washington, based in New York), and Joseph Rodríguez (b. 1951 in Brooklyn, based in New York). Despite all three photographers sharing the same subject matter, each one pursues a singular approach that produces distinct results. Iconic photographs from the 1960s to the 1980s are displayed alongside lesser-known examples from each photographer’s oeuvre. All of the works on display were included in donations made by the Bartenbach Family in 2015 and Volker Heinen in 2018, or have been acquired by the Museum Ludwig since 2001.
New York City, 1966
Gelatin silver paper, print after 1966, 22 x 32,9 cm
© Lee Friedlander, courtesy Fraenkel Gallery, San Francisco
and Luhring Augustine, New York
Repro: Historisches Archiv mit Rheinischem Bildarchiv
Mount Rushmore, 1969
Gelatin silver paper, print after 1969, 22 x 32,9 cm
Museum Ludwig, Cologne
© Lee Friedlander, courtesy Fraenkel Gallery, San Francisco
and Luhring Augustine, New York
Repro: Historisches Archiv mit Rheinischem Bildarchiv
The landmark exhibition "New Documents" at the Museum of Modern Art in New York in 1967 helped launch the careers of Garry Winogrand and Lee Friedlander. Their striking photographs broke with visual conventions, such as a level horizon line or a centered main subject. Garry Winogrand frequently tilted his viewfinder, producing skewed horizon lines that offer a new view of reality and make his images appear spontaneous, as does his purposeful use of blurriness, overexposure, underexposure, and backlighting. Lee Friedlander, in turn, created compositions in which the viewer’s gaze is hindered by obstructions, such as shadows, signs, architectural elements, and streetlights, or is disoriented by reflections.
Circle Line Statue of Liberty Ferry, New York, 1971
Gelatin silver paper, print after 1973, 21,7 x 32,4 cm
© The Estate of Garry Winogrand / Courtesy
Fraenkel Gallery, San Francisco
Repro: Historisches Archiv mit Rheinischem Bildarchiv
Untitled, from: Women are Beautiful, around 1973
Gelatin silver paper, print after 1973, 21,7 x 32,4 cm
© The Estate of Garry Winogrand / Courtesy
Fraenkel Gallery, San Francisco
Repro: Historisches Archiv mit Rheinischem Bildarchiv
Garry Winogrand and Lee Friedlander, who are represented in the exhibition with twenty images each, both use photography in a self-reflective way that brings the formal aspects of photography to the fore. This encourages an analytical gaze, producing an emotional distance between the viewer and the subject, which often results in ambivalent images where the intention of the photographer remains unclear. Garry Winogrand and Lee Friedlander each developed their own distinct style, embracing originality and authorship by merging documentary photography and personal expression. While they attempted to distance themselves from photojournalism and social documentary photography, eschewing eventbased, narrative-focused, and emotionally charged imagery, Joseph Rodriguez’s work deliberately engages with these genres. He aspires to give visibility to marginalized people by communicating with his subjects and attempting to tell their stories. Many of his photographs are accompanied by short commentaries that provide information about the context in which each image was created. Joseph Rodríguez’s pictures employ unusual perspectives and surprising compositions, and his use of reflections emphasizes the subjectivity of the photographer’s empathic gaze beyond the momentariness of the shot. The exhibition features around twenty photographs from his Taxi series.
East Village, NY, 1984
Gelatin silver paper, print after 1988, 25,3 x 37,4 cm
© Joseph Rodriguez, Courtesy Galerie Bene Taschen
Repro: Historisches Archiv mit Rheinischem Bildarchiv
Pulaski Skyway, New Jersey, 1984
Gelatin silver paper, print after 1988, 25,2 x 37,2 cm
© Joseph Rodriguez, Courtesy Galerie Bene Taschen
Repro: Historisches Archiv mit Rheinischem Bildarchiv
This is the first exhibition in the new Photography Rooms at the Museum Ludwig, centrally located on the second floor.
Curator: Barbara Engelbach
MUSEUM LUDWIG
Heinrich-Böll-Platz , 50667 Köln
Street Photography - Lee Friedlander, Joseph Rodríguez, Garry Winogrand
Museum Ludwig, Cologne, May 3 – October 12, 2025