Even people who aren't into fashion but have seen the documentary Bill Cunningham New York (2010) by Richard Press, will find it hard not to fall in love with the hardworking New York Times reporter travelling by bicycle and living in a tiny apartment in the Carnegie Hall building surrounded by filing cabinets and boxes of photographs.
Clad in a blue worker's jacket, Bill Cunningham - who will be turning 85 in a few days' time - is definitely the most unassuming, humble, anonymous yet inspiring photojournalist in New York.
For decades he has been around on his bicycle, documenting men and women's attires in the streets and at society parties with an energy, passion, optimism and enthusiasm that the new generation of street photographers – too wrapped in commercial "collaborations" with brands and fashion houses – is desperately lacking. Standing in the streets, patiently waiting to see what the passers by are wearing and how their attires engage into a visual dialogue with the urban surroundings is what gets Cunnigham as thrilled as a child in a candy shop.
A new exhibition at the New York Historical Society will soon be celebrating a rather unusual aspect of Bill Cunningham. Entitled "Façades" the event will focus on a specific period of time, 1968-1976, and on one project Cunningham worked on - capturing women in period costumes posing against historical or modern buildings in New York.
Cunningham worked on this project for eight years looking for vintage clothes in auction houses and thrift stores while also scouting sites on his bicycle. He then matched his models, including the late fellow photographer Editta Sherman (also seen in Press' documentary) with historic settings.
The result is a photographic essay that proves more intriguing and refreshing than many modern street style photographs in which the subjects are mainly portrayed for the designer clothes they are wearing. The exhibition could also be read as a tribute or a love card to the architectural riches and fashion history of New York City.
Born in March 1929, William J. Cunningham moved to New York in the late '40s where he first worked in advertising. He then started focusing on millinery, making whimsical hats under the name "William J". He closed his business when he was drafted and, after serving in the U.S. Army, he returned to New York and started writing for the Chicago Tribune.
While working at the Tribune and at Women's Wear Daily he began taking photographs of fashion on the streets of New York. A chance photograph of Greta Garbo published in a group of pictures in the Times in December 1978 spawned a regular column.
Richard Press's documentary about Cunningham reveals parts of his private life, but the event at the New York Historical Society adds another piece of the puzzle, since it shows his passion for historic preservation and issues concerning the urban landscape.
The black and white images tell a tale of many contrasts with women in historical costumes (the oldest dress Cunnigham managed to get was from 1770) portrayed against skyscrapers, sitting on a graffiti-ridden subway car (a particularly striking image featuring Sherman; the picture truly makes you wonder if you're staring at a woman who has just stepped out of a time machine, Sherman photographed Warhol and was also portrayed by the artist in one of his famous Polaroids and in this image modern art clashes and combines with her attire in a marvellous way), strolling through Central Park, posing against St Paul's Chapel, the Rockefeller Center and Grand Central Terminal, or on the steps outside 21 Club.
Hats also make an appearance almost as a reference to Cunningham's former career as a milliner: in one image Cunnigham's muse stands in front of the Bowery Savings Bank in a wide-brimmed white hat with long feathers and huge flowers sticking out of the top.
Though the images were already showed 30 years ago (the photographer donated 88 silver gelatin prints from the series to the New York Historical Society in 1976, and the images were also compiled into a book published by Penguin in 1978), they will prove once again inspiring for another generation of photographers.
At almost 85, Cunningham remains indeed a great reporter with a creative and original view and a contagiously amazing joie de vivre. In a fashion world constantly focused on money and not much else, his genuine focus on how people use clothes to express their personal style and his teachings ("...if you don’t take money, they can’t tell you what to do, kid!") keep on being magnificently inspiring. You can bet "Façades" will be simply "Mahvelus", as Cunningham would say.
"Bill Cunningham: Façades", New York Historical Society, 170 Central Park West at Richard Gilder Way (77th Street), New York, NY 10024, 14th March to 15th June 2014.
Image credits for this post
Images 2 to 5: Bill Cunningham, ca. 1968-1976; New York Historical Society, Gift of Bill Cunningham
1. Unknown artist. Bill Cunningham Photographing Models, New York County Court House, ca.1975. Gift of Bill Cunningham, New York Historical Society Library
2. Central Park Bridge, New York City
3. Editta Sherman on the Subway
4. Grand Central Terminal, New York City
5. St. Paul’s Chapel, New York City
6. GM Building, New York City
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