Nat Finkelstein

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Nat Finkelstein
Born
Nathan Louis Finkelstein

(1933-01-16)January 16, 1933
Brooklyn, New York, U.S.
DiedOctober 2, 2009(2009-10-02) (aged 76)
Shandaken, New York, U.S.
NationalityAmerican
Known forPhotography

Nathan Louis "Nat" Finkelstein (January 16, 1933 – October 2, 2009) was an American

photojournalist for the Black Star and PIX photo agencies, reporting primarily on the political developments of various subcultures in New York City in the 1960s. In 1964, Finkelstein entered Andy Warhol's Factory
as a photojournalist and remained for three years; Finkelstein's photographs from this period are now regarded as some of the most iconic of the time.

Early life

Nat Finkelstein was born in Brooklyn and grew up in Coney Island, where his father worked as a cab driver. Finkelstein graduated from Stuyvesant High School in 1950 and in 1952 he enrolled in Brooklyn College, where he first became interested in photography through the inspiration that he found in great photographers such as Edward Steichen. It was also here that developed his militant political tendencies, to the extent that he was expelled during his final semester after he threw a filing cabinet through a window to protest censorship of a campus publication.

Career

After his expulsion, he managed to acquire an internship with the art director of Harper's Bazaar, Alexey Brodovitch (who famously brought

Sport's Illustrated, covering events like bridge tournaments, dog shows, chess, and fencing
matches. Finkelstein was signed by the PIX and Black Star agencies (the latter supplied
subcultures of the United States at the time, an interest that led him to Harlem's burgeoning jazz and soul scenes, Warhol's factory, and later to cover the antiwar rallies and emerging counterculture.[1]

Andy Warhol and The Factory

In September 1962 Finkelstein was commissioned by

Pop Art movement. The article was titled "What happens at a Happening?" it covered a Claes Oldenburg "happening" in Greenwich Village
and was a break that would define his future. Two years later, while attending a party at
Velvet Underground performing live, Marcel Duchamp, Bob Dylan, Edie Sedgwick, Salvador Dalí, and Allen Ginsberg.[1]

Political activist and fugitive

During his time at the Factory, Finkelstein was also involved with other affairs. A political radical, he helped organize

Black Panthers. As a result, in 1969 a warrant was issued for the arrest of Finkelstein in connection with an old drug case. He fled the United States, claiming he was worried that the government might try to assassinate him. He spent the next decade as a fugitive, following the Silk Road through the Middle East and selling hashish to support himself.[2]

Return to the U.S. and drug addiction

Finkelstein returned to the United States in 1982 when he became aware that charges against him had been dropped. He became involved in the New York punk music scene, managing bands such as Khmer Rouge (featuring Phil Shoenfelt), whose members he used as photographic subjects. He made frequent visits to Bolivia to nourish an addiction to cocaine.[3]

The death of Warhol in 1987 came as a wake-up call to Finkelstein and by 1989 he had weaned himself off the drugs and reignited his career in photography. His affinity for subcultures remained and in the 1990s he spent time as part of the rave scene, first in London, then Amsterdam, and back to New York. He shot a generation of New York club kids, a group that he recorded in his 1993 book Merry Monsters. Finkelstein now found himself in constant demand, he had over seventy-five solo and group shows at museums and galleries worldwide. His images appeared in magazines such as Life, Time, Sport's Illustrated, Harper's & Queen, Vogue and The New York Times Magazine.[1]

Death

Finkelstein died of complications from pneumonia and emphysema at his home in Shandaken, New York on October 2, 2009. He was 76. His first four marriages ended in divorce. In addition to his wife, Elizabeth, he is survived by a brother, Howard. At the time of his death, he was near completing a memoir entitled The Fourteen-Ounce Pound.[1]

Quotes

"I watched pop die and punk being born."[1]

Exhibitions

Finkelstein exhibited his work worldwide in over seventy-five solo and group shows at museums and galleries including the Cedar Bar, the

Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris
, among many other public and private collections. There is a retrospective exhibition of his work at the Idea Generation Gallery, London, starting in December 2009, and his work will also feature in the exhibition "Who Shot Rock" at the Brooklyn Museum, New York, from the end of October 2009.

Bibliography

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Nat Finkelstein: photographer." Times Online. Times Newspapers Ltd, 17 Oct. 2009. Web.
  2. ^ "Spinner. AOL, 14 Oct. 2009. Web". Archived from the original on 2012-02-22. Retrieved 2009-10-29.
  3. ^ Grimes, William. "Nat Finkelstein, ‘Court Photographer’ of Andy Warhol’s Factory, Dies at 76." The New York Times. 13 Oct. 2009. Web. 28 Oct. 2009

External links

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