Lee Friedlander

signed, titled, dated, and numbered '1-10' by the photographer in pencil and with his '44 So. Mountain Road, New City, NY' dated studio, copyright, and reproduction rights stamp on the reverse, matted, framed, 1962

The photographer to Edwynn Houk Gallery, Chicago, 1989

Acquired by the Quillan Company from the above, 1990

Jill Quasha, The Quillan Collection of Nineteenth and Twentieth Century Photographs (New York, 1991), pl. 67 (this print)

Other prints of this image:

Lee Friedlander and Walker Evans, 'The Little Screens,' Harper's Bazaar, February 1963, p. 127

Rod Slemmons, Like a One-Eyed Cat: Photographs by Lee Friedlander 1956-1987 (Seattle Art Museum, 1989, in conjunction with the exhibition), pl. 29

John Szarkowski, Mirrors and Windows: American Photography Since 1960 (The Museum of Modern Art, 1978, in conjunction with the exhibition), p. 98

Peter Galassi, Friedlander (The Museum of Modern Art, 2005, in conjunction with the exhibition), pl. 75

Lee Friedlander (Paris: Centre National de la Photographie, 1987), pl. 1

Lee Friedlander: The Little Screens (San Francisco, 2001, in conjunction with the exhibition at Fraenkel Gallery), pl. 32

John Szarkowski, The Photographer's Eye (The Museum of Modern Art, 1966), p. 14

Therese Mulligan and David Wooters, eds., Photography from 1839 to Today, George Eastman House, Rochester, NY (Köln, 2000), p. 658

Paris - New York - Tokyo (Tsukuba Museum of Photography, 1985, in conjunction with the exhibition), pl. 206

This print is on double-weight paper with semi-glossy surface. It is in excellent condition. A small spot of the photographer's retouching is visible in the dark doorway area on left.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
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The photograph offered here, Galax, Virginia, is one of Lee Friedlander's signature images from the early 1960s.  It was first published in a February 1963 Harper's Bazaar feature entitled 'The Little Screens: A Photographic Essay by Lee Friedlander with a Comment by Walker Evans,' and was introduced by Evans as follows: 'It just so happens that the wan reflected light from home television boxes casts an unearthly pall over the quotidian objects and accoutrements we all live with.'  In the 1960s rise of television culture, Friedlander's photographs of 'Little Screens' were timely and full of wit and irony.  

A photographer of the American social landscape, Friedlander is known for his detached images of the urban and the everyday.  After studying at the Art Center School of Design in Los Angeles, Friedlander worked for such magazines as Harper's Bazaar, Sports Illustrated, and Holiday.  He produced record album covers for RCA in the 1950s, and went on to do a series of photographs of jazz musicians.  Friedlander was influenced by the work of Evans (Lot 3) and Robert Frank (Lot 27), both of whom similarly photographed America in all of its complexity.  Like Frank, Friedlander's camera of choice was the handheld 35mm Leica.  One of the generation of photographers who would bring together the personal and the documentary, Friedlander, along with Diane Arbus (Lot 36) and Garry Winogrand (Lot 29), was included in the important 1967 exhibition, New Documents¸ curated by John Szarkowski at The Museum of Modern Art.