Artist of the day, November 9: Joel Sternfeld, American photographer

Joel Sternfeld (1944) is a fine-art color photographer noted for his large-format documentary pictures of the United States and helping establish color photography as a respected artistic medium. Sternfeld's projects have consistently explored the possibility of a collective American identity by documenting ordinary people and places throughout the country. Each project he embarks on is bound by a concept that imbues it with subtle irony, often through insightful visual juxtapositions or by pairing images with informational text. Another characteristic aspect of Sternfeld's work is that color is never arbitrary; it functions in highly sophisticated ways to connect elements and resonate emotion.

Sternfeld earned a BA in Art from Dartmouth College in 1965. He began making color photographs in the 1970s after learning the color theory of Johannes Itten and Josef Albers. He initially made street photographs with small- and medium-format cameras, but by the time he produced what would become a seminal project, American Prospects (1987), he was working with an eight-by-ten-inch camera. This enabled him to achieve the crisp details his work is known for. Sternfeld's style-his careful attention to visual qualities combined with an insightful and often ironic view of his subjects was first articulated in American Prospects. One of his best-known images, for example, depicts a fireman shopping for a pumpkin as a house burns in the background. The pumpkins' vibrant oranges match the autumnal colors of the countryside, and ironically, the fire's flames.

Sternfeld continues to apply his studied observation of color to the everyday events and people he comes across as he travels. On This Site: Landscapes in Memoriam (1996) depicts sites where tragic events in American history occurred, including the places where Martin Luther King was murdered and Rodney King beaten. Like American Prospects, Stranger Passing (2001) became a travelogue of sorts. Instead of landscapes, however, Sternfeld made full-length portraits of the people he met during his journeys across America. Each picture tells a story via the person's physical appearance and the rich details of their surroundings. Other projects have focused on New York's Hart Island, historically used as a cemetery for the unknown and forgotten; the G8 summit in Geneva in July 2001, where "anti-global" protests turned violent; and the juxtaposition of old and new cultures in Italy's Campagna Romagna. More recently, Sweet Earth: Experimental Utopias in America (2006) explores the sites of past and present idealized communities. Sternfeld has taught photography at Sarah Lawrence College in New York since 1985.

© 2018. All images are copyrighted © by Joel Sternfeld. The use of any image from this site is prohibited unless prior written permission is obtained.

1972, Egg Harbor, NJ

1973, Ocean City, NJ

1974, 9th Street, NYC

1974, Lynchburg, Va

1974, New Orleans, LA #3

1974, Washington D.C.

1975, Nags Head, North Carolina #1

1975, Nags Head, North Carolina #16

1975, Nags Head, North Carolina #30

1975, Nags Head, North Carolina #39

1975, New York City #3,

1976, Nags Head, North Carolina #2

1976, Nags Head, North Carolina #15

1976, Nags Head, North Carolina #18

1976, Nags Head, North Carolina #28

1976, New York City #6

1976, New York City #14

1976, New York City #15

1976, Philadelphia, Pa

1977, California #1

1977, California #4

1978, Green Valley, Arizona

1978, McLean, Virginia

1979, Lake Oswego, Oregon

1979, Rancho Mirage, Ca

1979, San Antonio, Tx

1979, Santa Monica, CA

1979, Woodland, WA

1979, Yellowstone National Park

1980, Grane Isle, Nebraska

1980, New Jersey #2

1980, New Jersey #17

1980, New Jersey #3

1980, New Jersey #21

1980, New Jersey #24

1983, Atlanta, GA

1983, Glen Canyon Dam, Page, Az

1983, West Virginia

1984, Homer, Alaska

1987, A Man at O'Hare Airport, Chicago, Illinois

1992, A Young Man Gathering Shopping Carts, Huntington, NY

1993, NYC

1994 near Mankato, Mn

1994, Dome Village, Los Angeles, California

1995, Runis of Drop City, Trinidad, Colorado

1998, South Harvey, Massachusetts

1999, Boulder Co

2002, Liberty Designs, 126-02 Liberty Avenue, Ozone Park, Queens

2003, Ben Faremo, The Lemon Ice Queen of Corona, 52-02 108 Street,
Corona, Queens

2003, Ice World Newsstand, 91-17 Astoria Boulevard, Queens

2004, Roosevelt Deli Grocery, 95th Street and Roosevelt Avenue,
Jackson Heights, Queens

2005, Stéphane Dion, Minister of the Environment, Canada

2005, Untitled

2005, Untitled

2005, William J. Clinton, Former President, United States

2008-09, Cinema, Mall of Dubai

2008-09, Ski Dubai, Mall of the Emirates

2008-09, The Burj Al Arab

2008-09, Valet Parking, Kempinski Hotel, Mall of the Emirates

2012, Amazon River, Iquiyos, Peru