Permanent Collection

 Photography

Southern Alleghenies

Museum of Art

Larry Fink

(American, b. 1941)

First Communion - Bronx, N.Y., 1961

Gelatin silver print,  14 1/2" x 14 1/2"

Gifts of Sylvia Fink Kleinman

(85.004.014)

 
After moving to rural Martin's Creek, Pennsylvania, Larry Fink used photography to capture life in lower middle class America through the rituals of baptisms, birthdays, graduations, and anniversaries.  He pictures as heroic the lifestyles and personalities of people like his neighbors, the Sabatine family, not satirically nor with political commentary, but in a spirit of empathy.

Fink, born in Brooklyn, New York, studied at the New School for Social Research in New York and privately with Alexey Brodovitch and Lisette Model.  His style shows the influence of Robert Frank, Garry Winogrand, and Diane Arbus.  Fink works in black and white, using flashed highlights and high contrasts to augment detail.  His stated ambition is to use photography to effect social change and, like Grosz, Goya and Daumier, to combine social commentary with a heartfelt interest in humanity.

Southern Alleghenies Museum of Art
Saint Francis University Mall

P.O. Box 9,

Loretto, Pennsylvania  15940
Phone: (814) 472-3920  

sama-art.org