Lee Friedlander's New Monograph 'Life Still' Prompts Reflections from Six Photographers

At age ninety-one, Lee Friedlander has released his first monograph with Aperture, titled 'Life Still,' which assembles previously unseen and new photographs spanning six decades. The publication has prompted six contemporary photographers to reflect on Friedlander's enduring influence. Daniel Arnold notes the book reveals a more vulnerable side of Friedlander, particularly in a simple shot of an Obama sticker. Awol Erizku recalls meeting Friedlander in 2013 during a Yale University Press visit, describing his meticulous attention to tonal range. Erizku also highlights Friedlander's 2003 series 'Stems' as a favorite conceptual detour. Sara Cwynar analyzes a 1963 Cincinnati image of a bedroom set behind a store window, noting its foreshadowing of contemporary surveillance culture. Gillian Laub praises Friedlander's ability to layer multiple worlds within a single frame, citing two images made twenty years apart in Spain and Paris. Anastasia Samoylova examines the 1969 photograph 'Waddy, Kentucky,' describing its internal dialogue among archetypes. Stephen Shore shares a 1980s encounter with Friedlander at Monet's House and Garden in Giverny, France, where Friedlander expressed admiration for tabletop arrangements. The monograph includes work from the past sixty years, staging a visual dialogue between past and present.