AMERICAN PROSPECTS

JOEL STERNFELD

Anthony Le
ARTS 157
Winter 2014

JOEL STERNFELD

Born July 30, 1944

New York City

1965: Graduated from Dartmouth with BA in Fine Arts

Awards: Prix de Rome, Guggenheim Fellowship

JOEL STERNFELD

Camera: Large Format 8x10

Style: Color photography

Pioneer of the color photography

movement
Previously used mostly for
advertisements and amateur
photography

Color technique influenced by German artists Johannes Itten and Josef

Albers

Uses America and its people for main subject matter

AMERICAN PROSPECTS
Seminal work published in 1987
No sequence
Photographs between 1979-1984

American landscapes and social scenes from roadtrip

Candid and staged compositions capturing society in that era
Theme of pioneering, adventuring, wandering
Defining America

Simple and understated yet captures depth in scenes

Polychromatic color palette is similar to paintings

LAKE OSWEGO, OREGON, JUNE 1979

PHOENIX, ARIZONA, AUGUST 1979

BEVERLY HILLS, CALIFORNIA, MAY 1979

MCLEAN, VIRGINIA, DECEMBER 1978

CERILLOS, NEW MEXICO, AUGUST 1982

TENT CITY, HOUSTON, TEXAS, JANUARY 1983

A BLIND MAN IN HIS GARDEN, HOMER, ALASKA, JULY 1984

MY VIEWS
Sternfeld's use of color is his most impressive skill
Composition of daily American life is interesting
Makes modern viewer wonder about life in a previous era
Glimpses of the future within the past

BIBLIOGRAPHY
Sternfeld, Joel. American Prospects. San Francisco: Friends of Photography, 1987. Print.
"Joel Sternfeld - Color Photographs since 1970." foam. Foam Press Release, Amsterdam, 29 SEPTEM 2011. Web. 18 Feb
2014. <http://foam.org/press/2011/sternfeld-joel>.