Harold Feinstein
Retrospective
August 4–28, 2016
“He is one of the very few photographers I have known, or have been influenced by, with the ability to reveal the familiar to me in a beautifully new, strong and honest way.”
—W. Eugene Smith on Harold Feinstein
Blue Sky dedicated both of its galleries in August 2016 to a retrospective of black-and-white photographs by Harold Feinstein, an artist best known for his Coney Island images spanning over six decades. Many of these iconic gelatin silver prints were shown alongside Feinstein’s street photographs, intimate portraits, nudes, and still lifes taken throughout his extensive career, in addition to images captured while serving in the infantry during the Korean War. The exhibition provided a survey of Feinstein’s artistic vision while also showcasing an important record of 20th century American life as seen through his distinctive lens.
Harold Feinstein was born in 1931 in Coney Island and began photographing when he was 15 years old. By the time he was 19, Edward Steichen had purchased his work for the permanent collection of the Museum of Modern Art. His work has subsequently been acquired by The International Center for Photography, The George Eastman House, The Center for Creative Photography, The Museum of the City of New York, and The Jewish Museum, among many other institutions. Throughout his career, Feinstein was an influential teacher at the Annenberg School of Communications, The Maryland Art Institute, Philadelphia Museum School, The New York School of Visual Arts, Windham College, College of the Holy Cross, and in private workshops. His monograph, Harold Feinstein: A Retrospective, published by Nazraeli Press in 2012, received a PDN Annual Best Photography Book Award in 2013, and currently two documentaries following his life and work were released in 2017. Feinstein passed away in his home in Merrimac, Massachusetts on June 20, 2015.