Joel Meyerowitz: A Sense of Wonder. Photographs 1962–2022

Over 90 works explore the entire career of the American photographer, from the 1960s to the present day.

Devoted to Joel Meyerowitz (New York, 1938), one of the protagonists of contemporary photography, and produced in collaboration with the Joel Meyerowitz Photography Archive in New York, the book presents over ninety images organised in thematic sections and includes many of the photographs that have contributed to the redefinition of the concept of street photography, a genre in which Joel Meyerowitz introduces the use of colour to interpret and capture the complexity of the modern world.

In the 1960s Meyerowitz emerged as one of the most interesting young avant-garde photographers in New York. The most distinctive feature of Meyerowitz’s photography is its intimacy, understood as the capacity to be as close as possible to the scene in order to seize the intimate quality of the moment and meet and recognise the unexpected. Exemplary in this regard are the photos taken in the United States during the Vietnam War, which offer an original view of American society in those years. The book also features Meyerowitz’s 1980s work, when he gradually shifted his gaze from the street to nature, or his evocative Still lives, or the photos he took in 2001 in the days following the 9/11 terrorist attacks (being the only photographer authorised to document the World Trade Center district in New York), up to the self-shots taken during the 2020 lockdown, which are a thoughtful reflection on the difficult period of the pandemic.

About the Author

Denis Curti is the artistic director of the Stanze della fotografia. From 2005 to 2014, he directed Contrasto-Milano. For more than fifteen years, he was the photographic critic for Vivimilano and Corriere della Sera, and he currently runs Black Camera on the Rolling Stone Italia digital platform.