Bruce Gilden (born 1946) is an American street photographer. He is best known for his candid close-up photographs of people on the streets of New York City, using a flashgun.
Life and work
Gilden was born in
Brooklyn, New York. While studying
sociology at
Penn State, he saw Michelangelo Antonioni's film
Blowup in 1968. Influenced by the film, he purchased his first camera and began taking night classes in
photography at the School of Visual Arts of New York. Fascinated with people on the street and the idea of visual spontaneity, Gilden turned to a career in photography.
His work is characterized by his use of flash photography. He has worked in black and white most of his life, but he began shooting in color and digital when he was introduced to the Leica S camera as part of Magnum's Postcards From America project.
Gilden has been a member of
Magnum Photos since 1998.
His first major project was of people at Coney Island.[" Coney Island ", Magnum Photos.] He has photographed people on the streets of New York,
Gilden is the subject of the documentary film Misery Loves Company: The Life and Death of Bruce Gilden (2007).
Reception
Gilden has described the way he photographs as “flash in one hand and jumping at people”.
Sean O'Hagan, reviewing Gilden's
Face (2015) in
The Guardian wrote that "his style seems to work against any intention to humanise his subjects."
Contemporary American photographer
Joel Meyerowitz has this to say about Gilden: “He’s a fucking bully. I despise the work, I despise the attitude, he’s an aggressive bully and all the pictures look alike because he only has one idea—‘I’m gonna embarrass you, I’m going to humiliate you.’ I’m sorry, but no.”
Publications
Publications by Gilden
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The Small Haiti Portfolio (Limited Edition), Helsinki, Finland, 1990.
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Facing New York, Manchester, UK: Cornerhouse Publications, 1992. . Published in conjunction with an exhibition at the Chrysler Museum of Art, Norfolk, VA.
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Bleus, Mission Photographique Transmanche (Cross Channel Photographic Mission) no. 13. Douchy-les-Mines, France: Centre Régional de la Photographie (CRP) (Regional Centre for Photography), Nord Pas-de-Calais, 1994.
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Haïti, Dreams and Nightmares. Stockport, UK: Dewi Lewis and Paris: Marval, 1997.
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After the Off. Stockport, UK: Dewi Lewis, 1999. . Photographs by Gilden, short story by Dermot Healy.
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Ciganos. Lisbon, Portugal: Centro Portuguès de Fotografia, 1999.
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Haiti. Stockport, UK: Dewi Lewis and Paris: Marval, 1999. .
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Go. London: Trebruk and New York: Magnum Photos, 2000. .
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Coney Island. London: Trebruk, 2002. .
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A Beautiful Catastrophe. Brooklyn, NY: powerHouse Books, 2005. .
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Fashion Magazine. Paris: Magnum Photos, 2006. . With text contributions by Hedi Slimane, Viktor & Rolf, Azzedine Alaïa, Ingrid Sischy, Bob Colacello and Francesco Vezzoli. In English and French.
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Bruce Gilden. Stern Portfolio No.64. Krefeld, Germany: teNeues, 2011. .
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Foreclosures. London: Browns, 2013. . Available in standard edition (edition of 400) and slipcase edition (edition of 100).
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A Complete Examination of Middlesex. 2013. London: Archive of Modern Conflict. .
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Bruce Gilden. Photofile series. London: Thames & Hudson, 2014. .
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Bruce Gilden. Photo Poche series. Arles, France: Actes Sud, 2014. . Preface by Hans-Michael Koetzle. French-language version.
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Moscow Terminus. New York: Dashwood Books, 2014. Edition of 1000 copies.
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Face. Stockport, UK: Dewi Lewis, 2015. . With a text by Chris Klatell.
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Hey Mister, Throw me Some Beads!. Heidelberg, Germany: Kehrer Verlag, 2015. .
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Un Nouveau Regard Sur La Mobilité Urbaine. Paris: La Martinière and RATP Group, 2015. .
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Syracuse, 1981. Tokyo: Super Labo, 2018. Edition of 1000 copies.
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Only God Can Judge Me. London: Browns, 2018. . Edition of 700 copies.
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Palermo Gilden. Palermo, Sicily: 89books, 2020. Edition of 89 copies. .
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Black Country. Setanta, 2022.
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The Circuit. Dewi Lewis, 2022. .
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One Night Only. Setanta, 2023. .
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Made in the USA. Super Labo, 2024.
Publications with contributions by Gilden
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Magnum Stories. London: Phaidon Press, 2004. . Edited by Chris Boot.
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Mirror Mirror: Portugal as seen by Magnum Photographers. Göttingen: Steidl, 2005. . Photographs by Bruno Barbey, Henri Cartier-Bresson, Thomas Hoepker, Jean Gaumy, Gilden, Josef Koudelka, Guy Le Querrec, Susan Meiselas, Inge Morath, Martin Parr, Gilles Peress, Gueorgui Pinkhassov and Miguel Rio Branco.
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Coney Island. Paris: Trans Photographic, 2009. . Photographs by Johnny Miller and Baptiste Lignel. Text by Sophie Gilden and Bruce Gilden.
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Street Photography Now. London: Thames & Hudson, 2010. . Edited by Sophie Howarth and Stephen McLaren.
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Magnum Contact Sheets. London: Thames & Hudson, 2011. .
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Magnum Contact Sheets. Edited by Kristen Lubben.
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Magnum Contact Sheets. London: Thames & Hudson, 2011. .
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Magnum Contact Sheets. London: Thames & Hudson, 2014. . Compact edition.
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Magnum Contact Sheets: The Collector's Edition: Bruce Gilden, Yakuza, 1998. London: Thames & Hudson, 2011. .
Awards
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1979: Artist's Fellowship, New York Foundation for the Arts, New York.
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1980: Photographer's Fellowship, National Endowment for the Arts.
[" Bruce Gilden Press Packet ", Bruce Silversteine. Accessed 1 September 2014.]
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1984: Photographer's Fellowship, National Endowment for the Arts.
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1984: Artist's Fellowship, New York Foundation for the Arts, New York.
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1992: Photographer's Fellowship, National Endowment for the Arts.
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1992: Artist's Fellowship, New York Foundation for the Arts, New York.
[" NYFA New York Foundation for the Arts: Directory of Artists’ Fellows 1985-2013", New York Foundation for the Arts. Accessed 1 September 2014.]
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1995: Villa Medicis Hors les Murs (an artist's fellowship), from Institut Français.
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1996: European Publishers Award for Photography for Haiti.
[Sibylle Fischer, "Haiti: Fantasies of bare life", Small Axe no 23 (vol. 11 no 2), June 2007, pp. 1–15 (see particularly pp. 1–9–12). PDF available here , Center for Humanities, City University of New York. Accessed 10 May 2014.]
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1999: Artist's Fellowship, from the Japan Foundation, for Tokyo Extremes.
[" The Japan Foundation: News No. 224 1999.7.1 ISSN 0918-7189 ", Japan Foundation. Accessed 1 September 2014.][" 1999 ", Japan Foundation. Accessed 1 September 2014.]
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2000: Artist's Fellowship, New York Foundation for the Arts, New York.
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2013: Guggenheim Fellowship from the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation.
[" John Simon Guggenheim Foundation", John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation. Accessed 31 August 2014.]
Collections
Gilden's work is held in the following collections:
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Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Photography, Tokyo, Japan.
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Victoria and Albert Museum, London.
External links
