Leonard Freed: Photographs 1954-1990

For this collection, Brooklyn-born photographer Leonard Freed chose his most powerful images taken during a period of over thirty years spent traveling across continents. The 170 black and white pictures collected here are well worth the wait: the subject matter is sometimes violent and the images often startling, but a deep compassion and lively interest in seemingly every aspect of the human condition are evident in each shot. It is around the theme of 'life and all its emotions' that Freed conceived this anthology, and it balances his commissioned worked with images reflecting a more personal quality. Freed's images are, like those of Boubat, Doisneau, and Cartier-Bresson, full of irony, humor, and pathos. They document black America, neo-Nazis, the Arab-Israeli war, the Romanian revolution, and many other subjects. Stefanie Rosenkranz, a journalist from Stern magazine who has worked with Freed on assignment, contributes a highly personal anecdotal essay.