John McBride (photographer)
Encyclopedia
John McBride is an American photographer probably best known for his photographs taken in New York City of the riots surrounding Tompkins Square Park
in 1988 and the eviction of Lower East Side squatters in 1989, although much of his work is not in the style of photojournalism.
John McBride attended Houston's High School for the Performing and Visual Arts
(HSPVA), after which he studied under the direction of photographer George Krause
at the University of Houston
. McBride moved to the East Village
neighborhood of New York City
in 1986 at the age of nineteen and began his photographic career by assisting numerous commercial photographers on shoots in the United States and Europe. He also took courses at the School of Visual Arts
and, later, attended Hunter College
where he majored in Geography and Energy and Environmental Policy Studies.
John McBride's work includes fine art photography
, fashion, portraits and photojournalism
. The subjects of McBride's photographs include friends and lovers, the famous and the unknown, protesters, passersby as well as landscapes, cemeteries and religious and secular iconography. In 1985 McBride took many photographs of the people who frequented the clubs and street scene along Westheimer Road
in Houston's Neartown
area. Some of McBride's better-known work includes photographs of the 1988 riots surrounding New York City's Tompkins Square Park
that were published in The Village Voice
and the 1989 arrests of Lower East Side
squatters and the demolition of their homes, many of which were published in the East Villager
, as were photos of civil rights attorney William Kunstler
and artist Keith Haring
. Other work includes photographs taken in 1989 in Tututepec
and Puerto Escondido, Mexico. More recent work includes pictures taken in Texas, Europe and in Tokyo, Japan (2008).
In 2007 a selection of McBride's photographs were chosen for inclusion in the permanent collection of the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston.
John McBride currently lives and works in New York City.
, The Village Voice
, The New York Daily News, The East Villager, The Houston Chronicle, The Houston Post, Public News
and Entrepreneur Japan. His portrait of the band Masters of Reality
, signed by producer Rick Rubin
, was used inside their self-titled album released by Def American Recordings in 1988. In 1989 McBride's photograph of an angel statue in a Mexican graveyard was chosen by Profile Records
for the cover of the 12-inch single "Hee-Haw" by the Sicilian Vespers.
, who was also assaulted by the police. Garrin's videotaping of the police assault on them both and the subsequent worldwide broadcast of the footage is said to have been the possible inspiration behind the decision to make the character of Mark a documentary filmmaker in the Broadway musical Rent
by the late Jonathon Larson, and the riots as a whole inspired the scenes of protest and violent conflict in the first act of the musical.
Tompkins Square Park
Tompkins Square Park is a 10.5 acre public park in the Alphabet City section of the East Village neighborhood in the borough of Manhattan in New York City. It is square in shape, and is bounded on the north by East 10th Street, on the east by Avenue B, on the south by East 7th Street, and on the...
in 1988 and the eviction of Lower East Side squatters in 1989, although much of his work is not in the style of photojournalism.
John McBride attended Houston's High School for the Performing and Visual Arts
High School for the Performing and Visual Arts
The High School for the Performing and Visual Arts is a secondary school located at 4001 Stanford Street in the Montrose district of Houston, Texas. The school is a part of the Houston Independent School District....
(HSPVA), after which he studied under the direction of photographer George Krause
George Krause
George Krause is an American artist photographer, now retired from the University of Houston where he established the photography department....
at the University of Houston
University of Houston
The University of Houston is a state research university, and is the flagship institution of the University of Houston System. Founded in 1927, it is Texas's third-largest university with nearly 40,000 students. Its campus spans 667 acres in southeast Houston, and was known as University of...
. McBride moved to the East Village
East Village, Manhattan
The East Village is a neighborhood in the borough of Manhattan in New York City, lying east of Greenwich Village, south of Gramercy and Stuyvesant Town, and north of the Lower East Side...
neighborhood of New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
in 1986 at the age of nineteen and began his photographic career by assisting numerous commercial photographers on shoots in the United States and Europe. He also took courses at the School of Visual Arts
School of Visual Arts
The School of Visual Arts , is a proprietary art school located in Manhattan, New York City, and is widely considered to be one of the leading art schools in the United States. It was established in 1947 by co-founders Silas H. Rhodes and Burne Hogarth as the Cartoonists and Illustrators School and...
and, later, attended Hunter College
Hunter College
Hunter College, established in 1870, is a public university and one of the constituent colleges of the City University of New York, located on Manhattan's Upper East Side. Hunter grants undergraduate, graduate, and post-graduate degrees in more than one hundred fields of study, and is recognized...
where he majored in Geography and Energy and Environmental Policy Studies.
John McBride's work includes fine art photography
Fine art photography
Fine art photography refers to photographs that are created in accordance with the creative vision of the photographer as artist. Fine art photography stands in contrast to photojournalism, which provides a visual account for news events, and commercial photography, the primary focus of which is to...
, fashion, portraits and photojournalism
Photojournalism
Photojournalism is a particular form of journalism that creates images in order to tell a news story. It is now usually understood to refer only to still images, but in some cases the term also refers to video used in broadcast journalism...
. The subjects of McBride's photographs include friends and lovers, the famous and the unknown, protesters, passersby as well as landscapes, cemeteries and religious and secular iconography. In 1985 McBride took many photographs of the people who frequented the clubs and street scene along Westheimer Road
Westheimer Road
Westheimer Road is an arterial road in the western half of Houston, Texas, United States. It runs from Bagby Street west to the Westpark Tollway. Westheimer Road runs roughly parallel to and south of Buffalo Bayou throughout its course. The street was named after Michael Louis Westheimer, a...
in Houston's Neartown
Neartown Houston
Neartown is an area located in west-central Houston, Texas, United States and is one of the city's major cultural areas. Neartown is roughly bounded by U.S. Highway 59 to the south, Allen Parkway to the north, Bagby Street on the east, and Shepherd Drive to the west...
area. Some of McBride's better-known work includes photographs of the 1988 riots surrounding New York City's Tompkins Square Park
Tompkins Square Park
Tompkins Square Park is a 10.5 acre public park in the Alphabet City section of the East Village neighborhood in the borough of Manhattan in New York City. It is square in shape, and is bounded on the north by East 10th Street, on the east by Avenue B, on the south by East 7th Street, and on the...
that were published in The Village Voice
The Village Voice
The Village Voice is a free weekly newspaper and news and features website in New York City that features investigative articles, analysis of current affairs and culture, arts and music coverage, and events listings for New York City...
and the 1989 arrests of Lower East Side
Lower East Side
The Lower East Side, LES, is a neighborhood in the southeastern part of the New York City borough of Manhattan. It is roughly bounded by Allen Street, East Houston Street, Essex Street, Canal Street, Eldridge Street, East Broadway, and Grand Street....
squatters and the demolition of their homes, many of which were published in the East Villager
East Villager
The East Villager was a newspaper published monthly in New York City by Everything for Everybody, a group founded by Jack Scully. Targeting the neighborhood for which it was named, the paper's masthead stated that it had been published monthly since June 1966 and said of itself, "No One Slighted,...
, as were photos of civil rights attorney William Kunstler
William Kunstler
William Moses Kunstler was an American self-described "radical lawyer" and civil rights activist, known for his controversial clients...
and artist Keith Haring
Keith Haring
Keith Haring was an artist and social activist whose work responded to the New York City street culture of the 1980s.-Early life:...
. Other work includes photographs taken in 1989 in Tututepec
Tututepec
Tututepec is a Mesoamerican archaeological site located in the lower Río Verde valley on the coast of Oaxaca that formed the nucleus of an extensive Mixtec state during the Late Postclassic period...
and Puerto Escondido, Mexico. More recent work includes pictures taken in Texas, Europe and in Tokyo, Japan (2008).
In 2007 a selection of McBride's photographs were chosen for inclusion in the permanent collection of the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston.
John McBride currently lives and works in New York City.
Publication Credits
Publication credits include The New York TimesThe New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
, The Village Voice
The Village Voice
The Village Voice is a free weekly newspaper and news and features website in New York City that features investigative articles, analysis of current affairs and culture, arts and music coverage, and events listings for New York City...
, The New York Daily News, The East Villager, The Houston Chronicle, The Houston Post, Public News
Public News
The Public News is a newsweekly launched in 2006 as a North Metro Houston newspaper that focuses on the news, arts, entertainment, film, music, and events that affect and interest the 1.5 million plus residents of Spring, The Woodlands, Klein, Atascocita, Tomball, Conroe and Humble Texas and the...
and Entrepreneur Japan. His portrait of the band Masters of Reality
Masters of Reality
Masters of Reality is a hard rock group formed in 1981 by guitarist and singer Chris Goss and Tim Harrington in Syracuse, New York. The band is sometimes associated with the "Palm Desert Scene", which includes bands like Kyuss, Queens of the Stone Age and many other stoner rock or "desert rock"...
, signed by producer Rick Rubin
Rick Rubin
Frederick Jay "Rick" Rubin is an American record producer and the co-president of Columbia Records. Along with Russell Simmons, Rubin was the co-founder of Def Jam Records and also established American Recordings...
, was used inside their self-titled album released by Def American Recordings in 1988. In 1989 McBride's photograph of an angel statue in a Mexican graveyard was chosen by Profile Records
Profile Records
Profile Records was a record label that specialized in many types of urban-oriented music, such as hip hop, active until 1996..- History :In 1980, at 23 years old, after working briefly for MCA, Cory Robbins was looking to start a record label. He invited his songwriter friend Steve Plotnicki to be...
for the cover of the 12-inch single "Hee-Haw" by the Sicilian Vespers.
Popular culture
McBride was injured in the 1998 Tompkins Square Park riots when he was struck by a nightstick swung by a New York City police officer as he was taking still photographs atop a parked van on Avenue A alongside video artist Paul GarrinPaul Garrin
Paul Garrin, , is best known as a politically active video artist from the 1990s. His most famous work is Man with a Video Camera , 1989, in which he videotapes a riot in Tompkins Square Park in New York City's Lower East Side...
, who was also assaulted by the police. Garrin's videotaping of the police assault on them both and the subsequent worldwide broadcast of the footage is said to have been the possible inspiration behind the decision to make the character of Mark a documentary filmmaker in the Broadway musical Rent
Rent (musical)
Rent is a rock musical with music and lyrics by Jonathan Larson based on Giacomo Puccini's opera La bohème...
by the late Jonathon Larson, and the riots as a whole inspired the scenes of protest and violent conflict in the first act of the musical.