Sometimes compared to Diane Arbus, the New York photographer Arlene Gottfried had a knack for taking photographs that, if not quite as willfully transgressive as Arbus’s, nonetheless come off as uncanny and surprising. One memorable snap was taken on Riis Beach (AKA “the People’s Beach”) in Queens, showing a Hasidic Jew in full dress standing beside a naked, flexing bodybuilder carefully posed to hide his genitals. Gottfried just couldn’t resist the juxtaposition of two very different men – both Jewish – who happened to be among the cross-section of humanity at the beach that afternoon.
That’s the energy that Gottfried exudes – her work draws you in, but at the same time makes you feel a little sheepish for looking. The New York Historical is currently exhibiting about 30 of Gottfried’s photographs, offering a chance to explore the work of an inimitable artist who shows a very different side of New York. The show, titled Picture Stories, draws on around 300 prints of Gottfried’s that are held in the institution’s archives, offering a rare and valuable look at one of New York’s best photographers.
