Harold Feinstein and me.

As most of us fanatical fine arts photography collectors will confess, I am addicted to reading photography magazines. American Photo, Blind Spot, Black and White. In an issue of Black and White, I read a profile of a photographer that I was not familiar with. Many contemporary photographers escape my grasp, but not many photographers that have had a career that spans four decades and includes the number and quality of photos that this unknown photographer had. Harold Feinstein is the photographer. What especially surprised me is the fact that the photographer lived under an hours drive away.

Part of the responsibility I have as Executive Director of the Photographic Resource Center at Boston University is to solicit photographs for the PRC Benefit Auction. I took the opportunity to write to Harold to introduce myself and to ask for a donation of a print for the Auction. This approach of cold contacting photographers does work on occasion. In this case it not only worked in securing a print for the auction, but it succeeded in bringing Harold and his work much deeper into my personal life. In response to the letter, Harold telephoned me – I’m sure – to verify that the request was legitimate. During the call we learned that we have a mutual friend that serves on the board of directors of the PRC. Our mutual friend arranged a lunch for Harold, his wife Judith, his studio manager Cherie, and myself. During the lunch, I had the opportunity to view a substantial number of Harold’s images. I was extremely impressed by the work, especially a series of images that Harold took when he was in the Army stationed in Korea. At the conclusion of the lunch, a trip to Harold’s home to view even more of his work was arranged.

I took a friend and fellow photography collector along to validate my impression that Harold’s work is very special. My friend was extremely impressed with Harold’s work and was as surprised as I was that he was not aware of Harold.

We both feel that Harold is an under appreciated American master photographer and discussed ways that we could help introduce Harold’s work to a much larger audience. We also quickly fell under the charm of Harold’s personality. Harold has broad smile (and belly) and shares amazing stories of his early years as a photographer in New York City and his years photographing Coney Island.

I invited another close friend to review Harold’s work. Tony Decaneas is founder of the Panopticon Gallery in Boston and represents American master photographers Bradford Washburn and Ernest Withers. Tony concurred with our assessment of Harold and became part of the team.

The team is just beginning its effort to get Harold and his work the recognition it deserves. The team is pictured above and I have included a very small sample of Harold’s work in this article. If you are interested in seeing more of Harold’s work or purchasing a print, please feel free to contact Tony.  I will be posting news about Harold and his work on a regular basis. 

Image: Jim Fitts, The Harold Feinstein Dream Team, 2009.
Image: Harold Feinstein, Rack In Barrack, 1952, Sarge, 1951.
Image: Harold Feinstein, Man And Woman Drinking Beer, 1952, Tattooed Man, 1990.

~ by shooter1 on 04/08/2009.