Frank Oscar Larson: 1950s New York Street Stories

[Damaso]

This looks like a really great show in Queens!

"Frank Oscar Larson (1896-1964) was born in Greenpoint, Brooklyn, of Swedish immigrant parents and lived in Flushing, Queens most of his life. As an adult, Larson spent his days at a branch of the Empire Trust Company (now Bank of New York Mellon), working his way up through the ranks from auditor to vice-president, and spare time on weekends taking photographs of street life throughout New York City. He was an accomplished photographer who eloquently documented 1950s Chinatown, the Bowery, Hell’s Kitchen, City Island, Times Square, Central Park, and much more. This exhibition is compiled from thousands of negatives recently discovered stored away in his daughter-in-law’s house in Maine in 2009. Soren Larson, his grandson and a television news camera man and producer, has been scanning and printing the 55 year old images found stored in over 100 envelopes filled with mostly medium format, 2-1/4 x 2-1/4″ negatives, and neatly noted by location and date in Larson’s own hand."

http://www.queensmuseum.org/9160/frank-oscar-larson-1950s-new-york-street-stories

 

[charjohncarter]

Hey thanks for posting this. As usual I've never heard of him. But I love these old photos. And the write up was right an accomplished photographer.

Note: if you want more of his photos search his name on Google images and his site.

 

[kdemas]

Thanks for posting. Fascinating.

 

[BobYIL]

Thank you for the link.. This reminded me of another NY photographer who actually was a tailor by profession: John Albok. Couple of days ago I was looking at the pictures of Vivien Maier too. They made me wonder:

- All three with one single focal length only, how different subjects and situations they were able to cover, how different perspectives they were able to create!

- With picture sizes of only a couple of inches, how their shots look so impressive, unique and of high quality in spite of everything they used were old fashion!

I believe the old masters have discovered the merits of working with simple means. As if they figured out a fine balance between art and technicalities; something not unlike "the more we exert our potential on the technicalities, the less reserve we find in our capabilities for concentrating on aesthetics... The more we concentrate on cameras, opticals and processes, the less we turn our eyes onto ourselves to question our talents to see and express."

 

[Damaso]

I believe the old masters have discovered the merits of working with simple means. As if they figured out a fine balance between art and technicalities; something not unlike "the more we exert our potential on the technicalities, the less reserve we find in our capabilities for concentrating on aesthetics... The more we concentrate on cameras, opticals and processes, the less we turn our eyes onto ourselves to question our talents to see and express."

agreed!!!!