Postcards from America
1.35am in a Chinatown Restaurant, New York, New York 1965-7
The year is 1961. The scene is Midtown Manhattan, New York. Stephen Shore, a 14-year-old, wet-behind-the-ears photographer and son of Jewish handbag makers, wipes the rain from his brow, takes a deep breath, and knocks on the office of the curator of photography at New York’s Museum of Modern Art. Moments later, Shore finds himself in the presence of master photographer Edward Steichen, the very curator of photography he is due to meet, having made an appointment over the phone. With unshakable aplomb, Shore asks Steichen to spare five minutes to look through his small portfolio. Steichen is so impressed with this self-taught photographer that he buys three of his prints there and then. And so it begins…
Today, Shore is considered one of the world’s most influential living photographers and the traces of his work extend as far as theory, art and cinema. This influence is apparent in
