Nat Finkelstein
Encyclopedia
Nathan “Nat” Louis Finkelstein (January 16, 1933 – October 2, 2009) was an American photographer and photojournalist. Finkelstein studied photography under Alexey Brodovitch
, the art director of Harper’s Bazaar and worked as a photojournalist for the Black Star
and PIX photo agencies, reporting primarily on the political developments of various subcultures in New York City in the 1960s. In 1964, Finkelstein entered Andy Warhol
's Factory
as a photojournalist and remained for three years; Finkelstein's photographs from this period are now regarded as some of the most iconic of the time.
and grew up in Coney Island
, where his father worked as a cab driver. Finkelstein graduated from Stuyvesant High School
in 1950 and in 1952 he enrolled in Brooklyn College
, where he first became interested in photography through the inspiration that he found in great photographers such as Edward Steichen
. It was also here that developed his militant political tendencies, to the extent that he was expelled during his final semester after he threw a filing cabinet through a window to protest censorship
of a campus publication.
After his expulsion, he managed to acquire an internship with the art director of Harper’s Bazaar, Alexey Brodovitch (who famously brought Cocteau, Chagall, and Man Ray
to illustrate the magazine). Brodovitch took a liking to the feisty boy from Brooklyn and allowed him to assist on fashion shoots. Fashion journalism led to photojournalism for Sport's Illustrated, covering events like—bridge
tournaments, dog shows, chess
, and fencing
matches.
Finkelstein was signed by the PIX and Black Star agencies (the latter supplied Life
magazine with much imagery) through which he was able to meet and spend time with established photographers Robert Capa
, Eugene Smith
, and Andreas Feininger
. He specialized in chronicling the various subcultures of the United States at the time, an interest that led him to Harlem
’s burgeoning jazz
and soul
scenes, Warhol’s factory, and later to cover the antiwar rallies and emerging counterculture.
magazine to do an article on the emerging Pop Art
movement. The article was titled “What happens at a Happening?” it covered a Claes Oldenburg
“happening
” in Greenwich Village
and was a break that would define his future.
Two years later, while attending a party at the Factory
, Finkelstein met Warhol, who had seen his photographs of Oldenburg’s “happening” in Pageant. Finkelstein offered his services as a photographer to the artist, and for the next three years he was a constant presence at the Factory. His iconic images of the include subjects such as the Velvet Underground performing live, Marcel Duchamp
, Bob Dylan
, Edie Sedgwick
, Salvador Dali
, and Allen Ginsberg
.
rallies and anti-war demonstration and also became involved with the Black Panthers. As a result, in 1969 a warrant
was issued for the arrest of Finkelstein in connection with an old drug case. He fled with the United States, claiming he was worried that the government might try to assassinate him. He spent the next decade as a fugitive
, following the Silk Road
through the Middle East
and selling hashish
to support himself.
music scene, managing bands such as Khmer Rouge
, whose members he used as photographic subjects. He made frequent visits to Bolivia
to nourish an addiction to cocaine
.
The death of Warhol in 1987 came as a wake-up call to Finkelstein and by 1989 he had weaned himself off the drugs and reignited his career in photography. He affinity for subcultures remained and he spent his time in the 1990s on the rave
scene, first in London
, then Amsterdam
, and back to New York. He shot a generation of New York club kids, a group that he recorded in his 1993 book “Merry Monsters”. Finkelstein now found himself in constant demand, he had over seventy-five solo and group shows at museums and galleries worldwide. His images have appeared in magazines such as Life
, Time
, Sport’s Illustrated, Harper’s & Queen
, Vogue
, and The New York Times Magazine
.
and emphysema
at his home in Shandaken, New York
on October 2, 2009. He was 76. His first four marriages ended in divorce. In addition to his wife, Elizabeth, he is survived by a brother, Howard. At the time of his death, he was near completing a memoir
entitled The Fourteen-Ounce Pound.
, Whitney Museum of American Art
, New York; the Andy Warhol Museum, Pittsburgh; Tate Modern
, Victoria and Albert Museum
, The Photographer's Gallery, the Saatchi Gallery
, London; and the Ludwig Museum, Budapest
, among many others. Finkelstein's photographs are in the collection of The Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Brooklyn Museum of Art, and The Andy Warhol Foundation, New York; The Victoria and Albert Museum, London; The Stedlijk Museum, Amsterdam; Hedendaagste Kunst Museum, Ghent; Ludwig Museum, Cologne
; and the Centre Georges Pompidou
, Paris
, among many other public and private collections. There is a retrospective exhibition of his work at the Idea Generation Gallery, London, starting in December 2009, and his work will also feature in the exhibition “Who Shot Rock” at the Brooklyn Museum, New York, from the end of October 2009.
Alexey Brodovitch
Alexey Brodovitch was a Russian-born photographer, designer and instructor who is most famous for his art direction of fashion magazine Harper's Bazaar from 1938 to 1958.- Early life in Russia :...
, the art director of Harper’s Bazaar and worked as a photojournalist for the Black Star
Black Star
-In astronomy:*Dark star , a theoretical star that has a surface escape velocity that equals or exceeds the speed of light*Dark star , a theoretical star heated by dark matter annihilation in the early universe...
and PIX photo agencies, reporting primarily on the political developments of various subcultures in New York City in the 1960s. In 1964, Finkelstein entered Andy Warhol
Andy Warhol
Andrew Warhola , known as Andy Warhol, was an American painter, printmaker, and filmmaker who was a leading figure in the visual art movement known as pop art...
's Factory
The Factory
The Factory was Andy Warhol's original New York City studio from 1962 to 1968, although his later studios were known as The Factory as well. The Factory was located on the fifth floor at 231 East 47th Street, in Midtown Manhattan. The rent was "only about one hundred dollars a year"...
as a photojournalist and remained for three years; Finkelstein's photographs from this period are now regarded as some of the most iconic of the time.
Education & early career
Nat Finkelstein was born in BrooklynBrooklyn
Brooklyn is the most populous of New York City's five boroughs, with nearly 2.6 million residents, and the second-largest in area. Since 1896, Brooklyn has had the same boundaries as Kings County, which is now the most populous county in New York State and the second-most densely populated...
and grew up in Coney Island
Coney Island
Coney Island is a peninsula and beach on the Atlantic Ocean in southern Brooklyn, New York, United States. The site was formerly an outer barrier island, but became partially connected to the mainland by landfill....
, where his father worked as a cab driver. Finkelstein graduated from Stuyvesant High School
Stuyvesant High School
Stuyvesant High School , commonly referred to as Stuy , is a New York City public high school that specializes in mathematics and science. The school opened in 1904 on Manhattan's East Side and moved to a new building in Battery Park City in 1992. Stuyvesant is noted for its strong academic...
in 1950 and in 1952 he enrolled in Brooklyn College
Brooklyn College
Brooklyn College is a senior college of the City University of New York, located in Brooklyn, New York, United States.Established in 1930 by the New York City Board of Higher Education, the College had its beginnings as the Downtown Brooklyn branches of Hunter College and the City College of New...
, where he first became interested in photography through the inspiration that he found in great photographers such as Edward Steichen
Edward Steichen
Edward J. Steichen was an American photographer, painter, and art gallery and museum curator. He was the most frequently featured photographer in Alfred Stieglitz' groundbreaking magazine Camera Work during its run from 1903 to 1917. Steichen also contributed the logo design and a custom typeface...
. It was also here that developed his militant political tendencies, to the extent that he was expelled during his final semester after he threw a filing cabinet through a window to protest censorship
Censorship
thumb|[[Book burning]] following the [[1973 Chilean coup d'état|1973 coup]] that installed the [[Military government of Chile |Pinochet regime]] in Chile...
of a campus publication.
After his expulsion, he managed to acquire an internship with the art director of Harper’s Bazaar, Alexey Brodovitch (who famously brought Cocteau, Chagall, and Man Ray
Man Ray
Man Ray , born Emmanuel Radnitzky, was an American artist who spent most of his career in Paris, France. Perhaps best described simply as a modernist, he was a significant contributor to both the Dada and Surrealist movements, although his ties to each were informal...
to illustrate the magazine). Brodovitch took a liking to the feisty boy from Brooklyn and allowed him to assist on fashion shoots. Fashion journalism led to photojournalism for Sport's Illustrated, covering events like—bridge
Bridge
A bridge is a structure built to span physical obstacles such as a body of water, valley, or road, for the purpose of providing passage over the obstacle...
tournaments, dog shows, chess
Chess
Chess is a two-player board game played on a chessboard, a square-checkered board with 64 squares arranged in an eight-by-eight grid. It is one of the world's most popular games, played by millions of people worldwide at home, in clubs, online, by correspondence, and in tournaments.Each player...
, and fencing
Fencing
Fencing, which is also known as modern fencing to distinguish it from historical fencing, is a family of combat sports using bladed weapons.Fencing is one of four sports which have been featured at every one of the modern Olympic Games...
matches.
Finkelstein was signed by the PIX and Black Star agencies (the latter supplied Life
Life (magazine)
Life generally refers to three American magazines:*A humor and general interest magazine published from 1883 to 1936. Time founder Henry Luce bought the magazine in 1936 solely so that he could acquire the rights to its name....
magazine with much imagery) through which he was able to meet and spend time with established photographers Robert Capa
Robert Capa
Robert Capa was a Hungarian combat photographer and photojournalist who covered five different wars: the Spanish Civil War, the Second Sino-Japanese War, World War II across Europe, the 1948 Arab-Israeli War, and the First Indochina War...
, Eugene Smith
W. Eugene Smith
William Eugene Smith was an American photojournalist known for his refusal to compromise professional standards and his brutally vivid World War II photographs.- Life and work :...
, and Andreas Feininger
Andreas Feininger
Andreas Bernhard Lyonel Feininger was a German American photographer, and writer on photographic technique, noted for his dynamic black-and-white scenes of Manhattan and studies of the structure of natural objects....
. He specialized in chronicling the various subcultures of the United States at the time, an interest that led him to Harlem
Harlem
Harlem is a neighborhood in the New York City borough of Manhattan, which since the 1920s has been a major African-American residential, cultural and business center. Originally a Dutch village, formally organized in 1658, it is named after the city of Haarlem in the Netherlands...
’s burgeoning jazz
Jazz
Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...
and soul
Soul music
Soul music is a music genre originating in the United States combining elements of gospel music and rhythm and blues. According to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, soul is "music that arose out of the black experience in America through the transmutation of gospel and rhythm & blues into a form of...
scenes, Warhol’s factory, and later to cover the antiwar rallies and emerging counterculture.
Andy Warhol & The Factory
In September 1962 Finkelstein was commissioned by PageantPageant (magazine)
Pageant was a 20th-century monthly magazine published in the United States from November 1944 until February 1977. Printed in a digest size format, it became Coronet magazine's leading competition, although it aimed for comparison to Reader's Digest....
magazine to do an article on the emerging Pop Art
Pop art
Pop art is an art movement that emerged in the mid 1950s in Britain and in the late 1950s in the United States. Pop art challenged tradition by asserting that an artist's use of the mass-produced visual commodities of popular culture is contiguous with the perspective of fine art...
movement. The article was titled “What happens at a Happening?” it covered a Claes Oldenburg
Claes Oldenburg
Claes Oldenburg is a Swedish sculptor, best known for his public art installations typically featuring very large replicas of everyday objects...
“happening
Happening
A happening is a performance, event or situation meant to be considered art, usually as performance art. Happenings take place anywhere , are often multi-disciplinary, with a nonlinear narrative and the active participation of the audience...
” in Greenwich Village
Greenwich Village
Greenwich Village, , , , .in New York often simply called "the Village", is a largely residential neighborhood on the west side of Lower Manhattan in New York City. A large majority of the district is home to upper middle class families...
and was a break that would define his future.
Two years later, while attending a party at the Factory
The Factory
The Factory was Andy Warhol's original New York City studio from 1962 to 1968, although his later studios were known as The Factory as well. The Factory was located on the fifth floor at 231 East 47th Street, in Midtown Manhattan. The rent was "only about one hundred dollars a year"...
, Finkelstein met Warhol, who had seen his photographs of Oldenburg’s “happening” in Pageant. Finkelstein offered his services as a photographer to the artist, and for the next three years he was a constant presence at the Factory. His iconic images of the include subjects such as the Velvet Underground performing live, Marcel Duchamp
Marcel Duchamp
Marcel Duchamp was a French artist whose work is most often associated with the Dadaist and Surrealist movements. Considered by some to be one of the most important artists of the 20th century, Duchamp's output influenced the development of post-World War I Western art...
, Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan is an American singer-songwriter, musician, poet, film director and painter. He has been a major and profoundly influential figure in popular music and culture for five decades. Much of his most celebrated work dates from the 1960s when he was an informal chronicler and a seemingly...
, Edie Sedgwick
Edie Sedgwick
Edith Minturn "Edie" Sedgwick was an American actress, socialite, model and heiress. She is best known for being one of Andy Warhol's superstars. Sedgwick became known as "The Girl of the Year" in 1965 after starring in several of Warhol's short films in the 1960s...
, Salvador Dali
Salvador Dalí
Salvador Domènec Felip Jacint Dalí i Domènech, Marquis de Púbol , commonly known as Salvador Dalí , was a prominent Spanish Catalan surrealist painter born in Figueres,Spain....
, and Allen Ginsberg
Allen Ginsberg
Irwin Allen Ginsberg was an American poet and one of the leading figures of the Beat Generation in the 1950s. He vigorously opposed militarism, materialism and sexual repression...
.
Political activist & fugitive
During his time at the Factory, Finkelstein was also involved with other affairs. A political radical, he helped organize civil rightsCivil rights
Civil and political rights are a class of rights that protect individuals' freedom from unwarranted infringement by governments and private organizations, and ensure one's ability to participate in the civil and political life of the state without discrimination or repression.Civil rights include...
rallies and anti-war demonstration and also became involved with the Black Panthers. As a result, in 1969 a warrant
Arrest warrant
An arrest warrant is a warrant issued by and on behalf of the state, which authorizes the arrest and detention of an individual.-Canada:Arrest warrants are issued by a judge or justice of the peace under the Criminal Code of Canada....
was issued for the arrest of Finkelstein in connection with an old drug case. He fled with the United States, claiming he was worried that the government might try to assassinate him. He spent the next decade as a fugitive
Fugitive
A fugitive is a person who is fleeing from custody, whether it be from private slavery, a government arrest, government or non-government questioning, vigilante violence, or outraged private individuals...
, following the Silk Road
Silk Road
The Silk Road or Silk Route refers to a historical network of interlinking trade routes across the Afro-Eurasian landmass that connected East, South, and Western Asia with the Mediterranean and European world, as well as parts of North and East Africa...
through the Middle East
Middle East
The Middle East is a region that encompasses Western Asia and Northern Africa. It is often used as a synonym for Near East, in opposition to Far East...
and selling hashish
Hashish
Hashish is a cannabis preparation composed of compressed stalked resin glands, called trichomes, collected from the unfertilized buds of the cannabis plant. It contains the same active ingredients but in higher concentrations than unsifted buds or leaves...
to support himself.
Return to the U.S. & drug addiction
Finkelstein returned to the United States in 1982 when he became aware that charges against him had been dropped. He became involved in the New York punkPunk rock
Punk rock is a rock music genre that developed between 1974 and 1976 in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia. Rooted in garage rock and other forms of what is now known as protopunk music, punk rock bands eschewed perceived excesses of mainstream 1970s rock...
music scene, managing bands such as Khmer Rouge
Khmer Rouge
The Khmer Rouge literally translated as Red Cambodians was the name given to the followers of the Communist Party of Kampuchea, who were the ruling party in Cambodia from 1975 to 1979, led by Pol Pot, Nuon Chea, Ieng Sary, Son Sen and Khieu Samphan...
, whose members he used as photographic subjects. He made frequent visits to Bolivia
Bolivia
Bolivia officially known as Plurinational State of Bolivia , is a landlocked country in central South America. It is the poorest country in South America...
to nourish an addiction to cocaine
Cocaine
Cocaine is a crystalline tropane alkaloid that is obtained from the leaves of the coca plant. The name comes from "coca" in addition to the alkaloid suffix -ine, forming cocaine. It is a stimulant of the central nervous system, an appetite suppressant, and a topical anesthetic...
.
The death of Warhol in 1987 came as a wake-up call to Finkelstein and by 1989 he had weaned himself off the drugs and reignited his career in photography. He affinity for subcultures remained and he spent his time in the 1990s on the rave
Rave
Rave, rave dance, and rave party are parties that originated mostly from acid house parties, which featured fast-paced electronic music and light shows. At these parties people dance and socialize to dance music played by disc jockeys and occasionally live performers...
scene, first in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, then Amsterdam
Amsterdam
Amsterdam is the largest city and the capital of the Netherlands. The current position of Amsterdam as capital city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands is governed by the constitution of August 24, 1815 and its successors. Amsterdam has a population of 783,364 within city limits, an urban population...
, and back to New York. He shot a generation of New York club kids, a group that he recorded in his 1993 book “Merry Monsters”. Finkelstein now found himself in constant demand, he had over seventy-five solo and group shows at museums and galleries worldwide. His images have appeared in magazines such as Life
Life (magazine)
Life generally refers to three American magazines:*A humor and general interest magazine published from 1883 to 1936. Time founder Henry Luce bought the magazine in 1936 solely so that he could acquire the rights to its name....
, Time
Time (magazine)
Time is an American news magazine. A European edition is published from London. Time Europe covers the Middle East, Africa and, since 2003, Latin America. An Asian edition is based in Hong Kong...
, Sport’s Illustrated, Harper’s & Queen
Queen (magazine)
Queen magazine was a British society publication established by Samuel Beeton in 1861. In 1958, the magazine was sold to Jocelyn Stevens, who dropped the prefix "The" and used it as his vehicle to represent the younger side of the British Establishment, sometimes referred to as the "Chelsea Set"...
, Vogue
Vogue (magazine)
Vogue is a fashion and lifestyle magazine that is published monthly in 18 national and one regional edition by Condé Nast.-History:In 1892 Arthur Turnure founded Vogue as a weekly publication in the United States. When he died in 1909, Condé Montrose Nast picked up the magazine and slowly began...
, and The New York Times Magazine
The New York Times Magazine
The New York Times Magazine is a Sunday magazine supplement included with the Sunday edition of The New York Times. It is host to feature articles longer than those typically in the newspaper and has attracted many notable contributors...
.
Death
Finkelstein died of complications from pneumoniaPneumonia
Pneumonia is an inflammatory condition of the lung—especially affecting the microscopic air sacs —associated with fever, chest symptoms, and a lack of air space on a chest X-ray. Pneumonia is typically caused by an infection but there are a number of other causes...
and emphysema
Emphysema
Emphysema is a long-term, progressive disease of the lungs that primarily causes shortness of breath. In people with emphysema, the tissues necessary to support the physical shape and function of the lungs are destroyed. It is included in a group of diseases called chronic obstructive pulmonary...
at his home in Shandaken, New York
Shandaken, New York
Shandaken is a town in Ulster County, New York, United States. United States. As of the 2000 census, the town had a total population of 3,235. The name is from a native phrase for "land of rapid waters."...
on October 2, 2009. He was 76. His first four marriages ended in divorce. In addition to his wife, Elizabeth, he is survived by a brother, Howard. At the time of his death, he was near completing a memoir
Memoir
A memoir , is a literary genre, forming a subclass of autobiography – although the terms 'memoir' and 'autobiography' are almost interchangeable. Memoir is autobiographical writing, but not all autobiographical writing follows the criteria for memoir set out below...
entitled The Fourteen-Ounce Pound.
Exhibitions
Finkelstein has exhibited his work worldwide in over seventy-five solo and group shows at museums and galleries including the Cedar Bar, the International Center of PhotographyInternational Center of Photography
The International Center of Photography is a photography museum, school, and research center in Midtown Manhattan in New York City, United States...
, Whitney Museum of American Art
Whitney Museum of American Art
The Whitney Museum of American Art, often referred to simply as "the Whitney", is an art museum with a focus on 20th- and 21st-century American art. Located at 945 Madison Avenue at 75th Street in New York City, the Whitney's permanent collection contains more than 18,000 works in a wide variety of...
, New York; the Andy Warhol Museum, Pittsburgh; Tate Modern
Tate Modern
Tate Modern is a modern art gallery located in London, England. It is Britain's national gallery of international modern art and forms part of the Tate group . It is the most-visited modern art gallery in the world, with around 4.7 million visitors per year...
, Victoria and Albert Museum
Victoria and Albert Museum
The Victoria and Albert Museum , set in the Brompton district of The Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, London, England, is the world's largest museum of decorative arts and design, housing a permanent collection of over 4.5 million objects...
, The Photographer's Gallery, the Saatchi Gallery
Saatchi Gallery
The Saatchi Gallery is a London gallery for contemporary art, opened by Charles Saatchi in 1985 in order to exhibit his collection to the public. It has occupied different premises, first in North London, then the South Bank by the River Thames and currently in Chelsea. Saatchi's collection, and...
, London; and the Ludwig Museum, Budapest
Budapest
Budapest is the capital of Hungary. As the largest city of Hungary, it is the country's principal political, cultural, commercial, industrial, and transportation centre. In 2011, Budapest had 1,733,685 inhabitants, down from its 1989 peak of 2,113,645 due to suburbanization. The Budapest Commuter...
, among many others. Finkelstein's photographs are in the collection of The Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Brooklyn Museum of Art, and The Andy Warhol Foundation, New York; The Victoria and Albert Museum, London; The Stedlijk Museum, Amsterdam; Hedendaagste Kunst Museum, Ghent; Ludwig Museum, Cologne
Cologne
Cologne is Germany's fourth-largest city , and is the largest city both in the Germany Federal State of North Rhine-Westphalia and within the Rhine-Ruhr Metropolitan Area, one of the major European metropolitan areas with more than ten million inhabitants.Cologne is located on both sides of the...
; and the Centre Georges Pompidou
Centre Georges Pompidou
Centre Georges Pompidou is a complex in the Beaubourg area of the 4th arrondissement of Paris, near Les Halles, rue Montorgueil and the Marais...
, Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
, among many other public and private collections. There is a retrospective exhibition of his work at the Idea Generation Gallery, London, starting in December 2009, and his work will also feature in the exhibition “Who Shot Rock” at the Brooklyn Museum, New York, from the end of October 2009.
Books by Finkelstein
- The Andy Warhol Index (1968, compiled with Warhol)
- Andy Warhol: The Factory Years, 1964-1967 (1989, ISBN 1576870901)
- Girlfriends (1991)
- Merry Monsters (1993)
- Edie: Factory Girl (2006, compiled with David Dalton)