Philip-Lorca diCorcia: Heads

Essay by Luc Sante

Publisher: Steidl

Publication Date: 2001

Binding: Hardbound

Condition: New in publisher’s shrink wrap

Edition: First Edition.

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The photographer Philip-Lorca diCorcia is best known for his elaborately staged scenes made to look like real life, in which he meticulously plans every element of a shot-lighting, pose, etc, before taking the photograph, creating the "ur" moment. This is conceptual photography with the veneer of the documentary. As such, his photographs have been integral to contemporary dialogues on street photography, portraiture and constructed versus spontaneous tableaus. His most recent body of work, titled Heads, is a departure from this method. Setting up shop in New York City, diCorcia took unstaged pictures of passers by that follow in the street photography tradition of Paul Strand, Walker Evans, Harry Callahan and Robert Frank. DiCorcia's work helps to redefine the genre, bringing street photography into our postmodern world.

About the Author:

Philip-Lorca diCorcia, born 1953, attended university at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, and Yale University, New Haven. Since 1977, his work has been the subject of numerous one-person exhibitions. His photographs are in the collections of major institutions such as the Museum of Modern Art, New York; the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles and the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art.