Vintage silver print 32,8 x 48,2 cm (12.9 x 19 in)
Signed, titled and dated by the photographer in pencil on the reverse, his New York studio address written by him in pencil on the reverse
PROVENANCE directly from the photographer
LITERATURE Bruce Gilden, Facing New York, Manchester 1992, pl. 14; Magnum Contact Sheets, Munich 2011, p. 292-295; Bruce Gilden, A Beautiful Catastrophe, New York 2005, p. 132-133.

Bruce Gilden, who grew up in New York – the city that has remained his preferred territory to this day – is considered one of the outsiders at Magnum, due to his radical and expressive “street photography”. Classical photo journalism and commissioned press photography never interested him. His challenge is the individual motif. Distance and discretion, Henri Cartier-Bresson’s watchwords, are qualities not associated with Gilden’s photographs.
Gilden participates in life, his metropolitan soul loving the hustle and bustle, and he throws himself into the fray. Through his Leica’s viewfinder he fishes people out of overcrowded street scenes, making them main protagonists on his miniature-camera stage. Gilden combines natural light and handheld flash; he loves short focal distances and his 28-mm lens. Slightly blurred movements meet sharp contrasts, dynamic perspectives meet radical bleeds.
The exuberant feast of San Gennaro has been celebrated in Little Italy since 1926, and its many street parades and attractions suit Gilden’s taste perfectly. Here, he uses a view from slightly below to shoot the crowd with his Leica M4 (28 mm F 2.8) and handheld flash. The image is part of his extensive series Facing New York, begun in 1981, which has been the basis of two book publications so far – Facing New York and A Beautiful Catastrophe.