Joel Sternfeld

Joel Sternfeld
Born	(1944-06-30) June 30, 1944 Brooklyn, New York, U.S.
Alma mater	Dartmouth College
Known for	Photography
Notable work	American Prospects (1987) Walking the High Line (2001)
Website	www.joelsternfeld.net

Joel Sternfeld (born June 30, 1944) is an American fine-art photographer and educator known for his large-format color pictures of contemporary American life and identity. His work contributed to the establishment of color photography as a respected artistic medium. Sternfeld’s photography follows in the tradition of American photographers such as Walker Evans and Robert Frank, documenting people and places with sensitivity. His work often conveys a sense of beauty and melancholy, capturing moments of hope, despair, and tenderness. Since the publication of his landmark book American Prospects in 1987, Sternfeld’s photography has intertwined conceptual and political themes, reflecting his engagement with history, landscape theory, and the passage of time.

He teaches at Sarah Lawrence College in Yonkers, New York.

Life and work

Sternfeld earned a BA from Dartmouth College. He began taking color photographs in 1970 after learning the color theory of Johannes Itten and Josef Albers' book Interaction of Colour (1963), Sternfeld investigated the relationship between the qualities and densities of different colors within the frame. Borrowing a thought from the critic Lewis Mumford, Sternfeld felt strongly that each historic period had a characteristic color scheme. He turned to dedicated, non-primary colors to represent the pseudo-sophistication of late seventies and early eighties America.

His work often highlights the beauty and complexity of American life while also addressing themes of environmental intervention, industrialization, and suburbanization.

First Pictures (1969-1976)

Sternfeld initially started taking pictures in 1969 with a 35mm camera and Kodachrome slide film. These pictures mark the beginning of Sternfeld’s interest in documenting the American condition. The pictures are an insight into the development of his color arrangements which eventually resulted in a new language for color photography most notable in American Prospects. Sternfeld, in addition to other colorists like William Eggleston and Stephen Shore were crucial pioneers in the medium. This body of work was first published in 2012 by Steidl publishing house.

The book, First Pictures, is composed of four different bodies of work: "Happy Anniversary Sweetie Face!", "Nags Head", "Rush Hour", and "At the Mall, New Jersey."

American Prospects (1978-1984)

American Prospects, (first published in 1987, most recently published in 2012) is Sternfeld's most known book and explores the complexity of human-altered landscapes in the United States. He began it in 1978, when color photography was still in its infancy as an art medium. Using a large-format camera, his photographs harken back to the traditions of 19th century photography, yet are applied to everyday scenes, like a Wet n' Wild waterpark, or a suburban street in the South. He captured the faltering "prospects" (both views and opportunities) of the time. Because of his early street work, Sternfeld was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship, which funded his initial tour of the states. The American Prospects photos are of people, buildings, and mostly landscapes from the multiple trips Sternfeld took between 1978 and 1984.

American prospects received initial acclaim when it was first shown at Daniel Wolf Gallery in 1982. American prospects would be shown at tha MoMA during a group show entitled, Three Americans, in which Sternfeld presented his work alongside Robert Adams and Jim Goldberg.

Campagna Romana: The Countryside of Ancient Rome

Campagna Romana was initially published in 1992 by Knopf publishing house. After being awarded the Rome Prize fellowship, Sternfeld extensively photographed the countryside around Rome. The pictures document the interaction between the grand romantic ruins and the invasion of modernity. Several of the images are created to form panoramic images that sometime stretch over several images. This technique presents the sweeping vistas of the countryside while also setting up contrasts between the images within each piece. In one such work, a crumbling fragment of an ancient wall huddles forlornly in one frame of a four-panel piece, surrounded by the scaffolding-clad buildings of a new apartment complex.

On This Site: Landscape in Memoriam

On This Site: Landscape in Memoriam (first published with Steidl in 1996), is a collection of pictures from famous crime sites in America. The eerily normal locations are seemingly remains left behind after tragedies, their hidden stories disturbingly invisible. Next to each photograph is text about the events that happened at that location. On This Site highlights the importance of titles and accompanying text, using them extensively to establish context and invite the viewer's attention to the context of the image. The photographs themselves reveal little about their meanings. Since photographs can depict but not articulate, many images, especially documentary ones, often rely significantly on text to convey their full context.

Hart Island a Potter's Field in New York City

From 1991 to 1994 Sternfeld worked with Melinda Hunt to document New York City's public cemetery on Hart Island, resulting in the book "Hart Island" (1998). In this work, Sternfeld examines Hart Island as a reflection of inequality within the American system, illustrated by the mass graves located there. The book also includes mixed media pieces and documentation of installations created with Hunt in collaboration with the Museum Stadthaus in Ulm, Germany.

Stranger Passing

Initially published by Bulfinch in 2001, and then by Steidl in 2012, Stranger Passing consists of a series of portraits that have roots in his initial project American Prospects. Over a period of fifteen years Joel Sternfeld travelled across America and took portrait photographs that form in Douglas R. Nickel’s words an "intelligent, unscientific, interpretive sampling of what Americans looked like at the century’s end." Unlike historical portraits which represent significant people in staged surroundings, Sternfeld’s subjects are uncannily "normal": a banker having an evening meal, a teenager collecting shopping carts in a parking lot, a homeless man holding his bedding.

Using August Sander’s classic photograph of three peasants on their way to a dance as a starting point, Sternfeld employed a conceptual strategy that amounts to a new theory of the portrait, which might be termed "The Circumstantial Portrait".

Walking the High Line

In 2000, Sternfeld collaborated with Joshua David and Robert Hammond in their efforts to transform an abandoned elevated railroad track on Manhattan's west side into a public park. In an interview with the American Society of Landscape Architects, Hammond acknowledged Sternfeld's contribution, stating, "Josh and I think of him as the third co-founder because those photographs of the wild landscape are what really helped galvanize people." The photographs, published in 2001, were instrumental in garnering support for the project.

Sweet Earth: Experimental Utopias in America

Published by Steidl in 2006, Sweet Earth presents sixty examples of historic and contemporary American utopias, pairing photographs of their housing with concise texts summarizing the communities' histories. The work highlights possibilities for sustainable living, a concept that resonates strongly in an era of growing concern about climate change and environmental challenges.

When Thomas More coined the term "utopia" in 1516, he joined a long-standing tradition of imagining ideal societies, a tradition that includes works like The Epic of Gilgamesh, Plato's Republic, and the Old Testament. His vision sparked a debate that evolved over centuries, with figures like Francis Bacon advocating for utopia through science and Jean-Jacques Rousseau envisioning harmony with nature. The onset of the Industrial Revolution, with its profound disruptions to daily life, added urgency to these discussions, as reflected in the writings of thinkers like David Owen, Karl Marx, and Friedrich Engels.

While many early theorists were European, America became fertile ground for utopian experimentation. Between 1810 and 1850, hundreds of secular and religious communities attempted to create ideal societies. This experimentation resurged in the 20th century, especially during the Vietnam War era, when communes proliferated. Some of these communities endure today, and new forms of experimentation, like co-housing developments and Ecovillages, have gained momentum in recent decades.

Joel Sternfeld’s Sweet Earth brings these diverse experiments into focus, offering both a visual and historical record. Each photograph is paired with a summary that distills the essence of the community's purpose and evolution. The book, blending photography and social history, reveals the shared aspirations of these communities and highlights the ongoing relevance of utopian ideals. At a time when market-driven forces dominate and environmental challenges mount, the vision of living harmoniously with nature and one another becomes increasingly compelling.

When It Changed

When It Changed (published by Steidl in 2008) is a response to the rapidly damaging effects of climate change. Sternfeld attended the United Nations Conference on Climate Change in 2005. There he made a series of portraits documenting the politicians and attendants of the conference. Released as a book, the pictures are paired with examples of climate changes impacts, globally. The writing is interspersed with graphic teletype text that mimics the eroding language of the climate crisis.

Oxbow Archive

Oxbow Archive (published in 2008 with Steidl) as a response to his last body of work When It Changed. Still engrossed the devastating effects of climate change, Sternfeld decided to work with the landscape again. Inspired by Thomas Cole's painting, “View from Mount Holyoke, Northampton, Massachusetts, after a Thunderstorm” (‘The Oxbow’), Sternfeld would spend a year photographing the fields and landscape of the oxbow. Always interested in the changing of the seasons, the work acts like a diary and archive of the changing land.

Exhibitions

• 1976: Recent Color Photographs by Joel Sternfeld and Recent Work by Lois Johnson, Peale House Galleries, Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia, PA
• 1980: Daniel Wolf, Inc., New York, NY
• 1981: Larry Fink and Joel Sternfeld: Photographs, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco, CA
• 1981: The New Color, Everson Museum of Art, Syracuse, NY
• 1982: Joel Sternfeld, Blue Sky, Oregon Center for the Photographic Arts, Portland, OR
• 1984: American Prospects, Daniel Wolf, Inc., New York, NY
• 1984: Three Americans (Jim Goldberg, Robert Adams, Joel Sternfeld), Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY
• 1985: Joel Sternfeld, Higashikawa International Photo Festival, Higashikawa, Japan
• 1985: Joel Sternfeld, Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH
• 1985: New Color Photography, The Halsted Gallery, Birmingham, MI
• 1985: Joel Sternfeld, Afterimage Gallery, Dallas, TX
• 1987–1989: American Prospects: The Photographs of Joel Sternfeld, Museum of Fine Arts Houston, Houston, TX; Baltimore Museum of Art, Baltimore, MD; Detroit Institute of Arts, Detroit, MI; Museum of Contemporary Art, La Jolla, CA; The National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, Canada
• 1989: Contemporary Photographs, Pace/MacGill Gallery, New York, NY
• 1991: Campagna Romana: The Roman Countryside, Pace/MacGill Gallery, New York, NY
• 1997: On This Site, Pace Wildenstein MacGill, Los Angeles, CA
• 2001: Stranger Passing, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco, CA
• 2001: Walking the High Line, Pace Wildenstein Gallery, New York, NY
• 2002: Treading on Kings: Protesting the G8 in Genoa, WhiteBox Art Center, New York, NY
• 2002–2003: Joel Sternfeld, The Photographers’ Gallery, London, United Kingdom
• 2004: American Prospects and Before, Luhring Augustine, New York, NY
• 2005: Sweet Earth: Experimental Utopias in America, Luhring Augustine, New York, NY
• 2008: The Geography of No Place: American Utopias, Buchmann Galerie, Berlin, Germany
• 2008: Oxbow Archive, Luhring Augustine, New York, NY
• 2009: Joel Sternfeld: On This Site, Buchmann Galerie, Berlin, Germany
• 2011: Joel Sternfeld – Farbfotografien seit 1970, Museum Folkwang, Essen, Germany.
• 2011–2012: C/O Berlin, Berlin, Germany
• 2011–2012: Joel Sternfeld – Color Photographs since 1970, Foam Fotografiemuseum Amsterdam, Netherlands.
• 2012: Joel Sternfeld – Color Photographs since 1970, Albertina, Wien, Austria.
• 2012: Joel Sternfeld: First Pictures, Luhring Augustine, New York, NY
• 2012: Joel Sternfeld: Campagna Romana, Buchmann Galerie, Berlin, Germany
• 2013–2014: Carnegie International, Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh, PA
• 2017: Joel Sternfeld: Colour Photographs 1977-1988, Beetles + Huxley, London, England
• 2017–2018: Joel Sternfeld: Stranger Passing / To Joseph Palmer, Buchmann Galerie, Berlin, Germany

Awards

• 1978: Guggenheim Fellowship
• 1980: New York State Council for the Arts Creative Artist Public Service Fellowship
• 1980: National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship
• 1982: Guggenheim Fellowship.
• 1983: American Council for the Arts Emerging Artist Award
• 1985: Grand Prize, Higashikawa International Photo Festival, Japan
• 1987–1988: Shifting Foundation Fellowship
• 1990–91: Prix de Rome
• 2004: Citigroup Photography Prize, in association with The Photographers' Gallery, London
• 2013: Montgomery Fellowship, Dartmouth College
• 2017: Honorary Fellowship of the Royal Photographic Society, Bath, UK

Publications

• Campagna Romana: The Countryside of Ancient Rome. New York, NY: Alfred A. Knopf, 1992. ISBN 978-0-67941-578-7.
• Hart Island. Zurich, Berlin, New York: Scalo, 1998. ISBN 978-3-931141-90-5. Includes a text by Melinda Hunt.
• Treading on Kings. Göttingen: Steidl, 2003. ISBN 978-3-88243-837-6.
• When It Changed. Göttingen: Steidl, 2008. ISBN 978-3-8652-1-278-8.
• Sweet Earth-Experimental Utopias in America. Göttingen: Steidl, 2008. ISBN 978-3-86521-124-8.
• Oxbow Archive. Göttingen: Steidl, 2008. ISBN 978-3-86521-786-8.
• iDubai. Göttingen: Steidl, 2010. ISBN 978-3-86521-916-9.
• First Pictures. Göttingen: Steidl, 2011. ISBN 978-3-86930-309-3.
• Walking the High Line. Göttingen: Steidl, 2012. ISBN 978-3-86521-982-4.
• On This Site: Landscape in Memorian. Göttingen: Steidl, 2012. ISBN 978-3-86930-434-2.
• Stranger Passing. Göttingen: Steidl, 2012. ISBN 978-3-86930-499-1.
• American Prospects. New York, NY: Distributed Art Publishers / Göttingen: Steidl, 2012. ISBN 978-3-88243-915-1.
• Rome After Rome. Göttingen: Steidl, 2018. ISBN 3958292631
• Landscape as Longing: Queens, New York. Göttingen: Steidl, 2017. ISBN 3958290329.
• Our Loss. Göttingen: Steidl, 2019. ISBN 978-3-95829-658-9.

Collections

Sternfeld's work is held in the following public collections:

• Museum of Modern Art, New York: 71 works (as of August 2023)
• J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles, CA
• San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco, CA
• Victoria and Albert Museum, London
• Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY

External links

• Official website
• Sternfeld page at Steidl
• Forbes article on Sternfeld's best-known photographs
• "The High Line" photographs by Sternfeld published in Cabinet Magazine
• Story behind 'Canyon Country, California, June 1983'
• Yochelson, Bonnie "The United Nations of Queens." The New York Times.
• Lipton, Shana Ting "Joel Sternfeld on His Classic American Prospects - and His New Work", British Journal of Photography.