Lee Friedlander's restless eye is nowhere in stronger evidence than in his photographs of cars in the American scene. Highlighted here are unique prints from a recently rediscovered project of late 1963. Asked by Harper's Bazaar to produce a pictorial feature on the next year's models from Detroit, Friedlander set his shiny subjects in vigorously unglamorous places: gas stations, parking lots, and even used car lots. The magazine opted not to publish these puzzle-portraits of a Pop Art landscape; they are exhibited for the first time here, on loan from the collection of Randi and Bob Fisher.
Lee Friedlander: Cars and The New Cars
November 5, 2011–February 5, 2012
Lee Friedlander, American, born 1934. Detroit, 1963, printed 2011. Gelatin silver print. Museum purchase, gift of Elizabeth S. and Robert J. Fisher, Class of 1976. 2011-110. © Lee Friedlander, courtesy of Fraenkel Gallery, San Francisco.