With a subtle feeling for irony and an exceptional feeling for color, Sternfeld offers us an image of daily life in America over the last three decades.

Along with William Eggleston and Stephen Shore, Sternfeld saw to it that color photography became a respected artistic medium in the 1970s. Until that time, color was used widely in advertising and amateur photography, but was rarely seen in museums and galleries.

Sternfeld was influenced by the color theory of the Bauhaus and by the work of William Eggleston, whose exhibition in MoMA in 1976 marked the official acceptance of color photography in the art world.

Color Photographs since 1970 shows more than one hundred photos from ten different series in an exhibition spanning two floors. A highlight is Sternfeld’s early work from the 1970s, which has never been previously exhibited. A large selection from famed series such as American Prospects, the result of his legendary journey through the United States, and Stranger Passing  will also be on show. A constant factor in his work is his native land America, its inhabitants and the traces left by people on the landscape. 

This exhibition was initiated by the Museum Folkwang, Fotografische Sammlung, Essen.

Foam is supported by the BankGiro Loterij, De Brauw Blackstone Westbroek, City of Amsterdam, Delta Lloyd, Olympus and the VandenEnde Foundation.

ABOUT JOEL STERNFELD
Joel Sternfeld lives and works in New York. He has received a number of major awards during his career, such as the Citygroup Photography Prize (2004) and the Guggenheim Memorial Foundation Fellowship (1978 and 1982). The work of Joel Sternfeld has been shown in numerous solo and group exhibitions, including the Museum of Modern Art and Luhring Augustine  in New York. His work is included in major international collections such as the Folkwang Museum (Essen),  Fotomuseum Winterthur, The Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York), The Victoria and Albert Museum (London) and The Whitney Museum of American Art (New York). Since the start of his career, Sternfeld has considered photography books more important than exhibitions of his work. He has published eleven books in the past twenty years, which are now greatly sought after by collectors.