Biographical Landscape: The Photography of Stephen Shore, 1969–1979
Shore’s photography transforms the everyday into something extraordinary.
Stephen Shore 'œhas always been precocious,' said Linda Yablonsky in Bloomberg.com. He was just 14 when the Museum of Modern Art began buying his photographs.
By 23 the Metropolitan Museum of Art had granted him a solo show. But Shore, now 60, has shown a remarkable consistency of vision over his nearly 50'“year career. He 'œregularly transforms bland or squalid subjects'”toilets, signage, traffic'”into captivating still lifes, feats of perceptual legerdemain,' and few other artists in any form better captured the unique look and feel of American life in the 1970s. The new exhibition at New York's International Center of Photography brings together 160 prints from Shore's most productive decade. Scenes of people in swimming pools and such anonymous locations as diners and hotel rooms proliferate.
The New York Times
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
-
Is China winning the AI race?
Today's Big Question Or is it playing a different game than the US?
-
5 refreshing podcasts you may have missed this spring
The Week Recommends Exploring the cultural impact of Jerry Springer, a look at contemporary spending habits and more
-
Mortgages: The future of Fannie and Freddie
Feature Donald Trump wants to privatize two major mortgage companies, which could make mortgages more expensive
-
If/Then
feature Tony-winning Idina Menzel “looks and sounds sensational” in a role tailored to her talents.
-
Rocky
feature It’s a wonder that this Rocky ever reaches the top of the steps.
-
Love and Information
feature Leave it to Caryl Churchill to create a play that “so ingeniously mirrors our age of the splintered attention span.”
-
The Bridges of Madison County
feature Jason Robert Brown’s “richly melodic” score is “one of Broadway’s best in the last decade.”
-
Outside Mullingar
feature John Patrick Shanley’s “charmer of a play” isn’t for cynics.
-
The Night Alive
feature Conor McPherson “has a singular gift for making the ordinary glow with an extra dimension.”
-
No Man’s Land
feature The futility of all conversation has been, paradoxically, the subject of “some of the best dialogue ever written.”
-
The Commons of Pensacola
feature Stage and screen actress Amanda Peet's playwriting debut is a “witty and affecting” domestic drama.