Stephen Shore: July 22, 1969

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Stephen Shore: July 22, 1969

A unique opportunity to own a limited edition tritone lithograph by Stephen Shore.

Stephen Shore

Editions:

Price: USD$2,850.00

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PRINT

Lithograph (tritone)

Sheet size: 978 x 673 mm (38 1/2 x 26 1/2 inches)

Print folder: 987 x 687 mm (38 3/4 x 27 inches)

Printed in 2008 in an edition of 100 plus 5 artist's proofs

All copies are signed and numbered by Stephen Shore

ISBN-13: 9780714846637

ABOUT THE PRINT

In 2007 PS1 gallery in New York put on a show called ‘Not for Sale’. It included paintings, photographs and sculptures by more than thirty artists who had been asked to lend a work that they could not part with. Stephen Shore (b.1947) chose July 22, 1969. This limited edition version of the work was made especially for Phaidon Press and represents a pivotal moment in his career.

Having spent three years documenting Warhol's 'Factory', Shore had been exposed to the conceptual and serial practices that were transforming art in New York and beyond. With July 22, 1969 he made his first foray into the deadpan seriality that would become his trademark. Shot at thirty-minute intervals over the course of twenty-four hours, July 22, 1969 follows Shore’s friend Doug Marsh through an unremarkable day in Amarillo, Texas. 'I looked at the second hand on my watch,' Shore explains. 'I didn’t want to wait for a good moment to take the photograph around that time. I wanted to do it at exactly that time.'

This dramatic shift in intentionality and interest paved the way for his colour series American Surfaces, which he began in 1972, again on a trip to Amarillo. Though seldom exhibited, July 22, 1969 demonstrates the fascination with everyday subjects, vernacular techniques and chance operations that would not only distinguish Shore as an artist but would also break down the barrier between photography and art in the following decade.

SPECIAL EDITION BOOK IN SLIPCASE

Hardback

290 x 250 mm (11 3/8 x 9 7/8 inches)

160 pp

80 colour, 40 black and white illustrations

ABOUT THE BOOK

In 1972, Stephen Shore left New York City and set out with a friend to Amarillo, Texas. He didn't drive, so his first view of America was framed by the passenger's window frame. He was taken aback by the fact that his experience of life as a New Yorker had very little in common with the character and aspirations of Middle America. Later that year he set out again, this time on his own, with just a driver's licence and a Rollei 35 - a point-and-shoot camera - to explore the country through the eyes of an everyday tourist.

The project was entitled American Surfaces, in reference to the superficial nature of his brief encounters with places and people, and the underlying character of the images that he hoped to capture. Shore photographed relentlessly and returned to New York triumphant, with hundreds of rolls of film spilling from his bags. In order to remain faithful to the conceptual foundations of the project, he followed the lead of most tourists of the time and sent his film to be developed and printed in Kodak's labs in New Jersey.

The result was hundreds and hundreds of exquisitely composed colour pictures, that became the benchmark for documenting our fast-living, consumer-orientated world. The corpus of his work - following on from Walker Evans' and Robert Frank's epic experiences of crossing America - influenced photographers such as Martin Parr and Bernd & Hilla Becher, who in turn introduced a new generation of students to Shore's work.

About the author(s)

At the age of 17, Stephen Shore (b.1947) was a regular at Andy Warhol's Factory. By the age of 23, he became the first living photographer to have a one-man show at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. An unrivalled pioneer in his field, his work has been exhibited in numerous museums worldwide and influenced generations of photographers. In 1982 he was appointed Director of the Photography Program at Bard College, New York where he is now the Susan Weber Soros Professor in the Arts.

Phaidon Club

Stephen Shore: July 22, 1969