Bill Cunningham: The Elusive Shutterbug

New York Times photographer Bill Cunningham is renowned for his photo essays capturing the color and vitality of fashionable New Yorkers.

An exhibit at the New York Historical Society Museum and Library provides a new view of Cunningham’s artistry. Called “Facades,” the new exhibit, which is on view through June 15, is from a photo essay project Cunningham worked on for eight years beginning in 1968. The resulting black and white photos—originally shown in a 1978 exhibit, are not only a celebration of mostly 19^th and early 20^th century fashion and New York City architecture, but Cunningham’s loving tribute to the contrasting grit of New York City life during the ‘70s.

The exhibit is also a showcase for Editta Sherman, the legendary New York personality known as the Duchess of Carnegie Hall. Sherman, who was also a photographer, served as a frequent muse and model for Cunningham and is featured in most of the 80 photos in the new “Facades” exhibit. Her wry sense of humor and dramatic flair—which shine through in every photograph—are an essential part of the charm of “Facades.”

One of the most striking features of the “Facades” photos is the way Cunningham found moments of juxtaposition.

In one 1972 photo, Sherman is shown in an elaborate 19^th century-era gown, sitting in a subway car that is riddled with graffiti. The accompanying note says that Cunningham and Sherman preferred to travel to shoots via public transportation to avoid wrinkling the costumes.

In other photos, the period atmosphere is rudely, but somehow beautifully, interrupted by signs of modernity—a car crossing the street, an air conditioner hovering from a nearby window. In one hilarious photo, Sherman, dressed in a 19^th century ensemble, stands in front of the old Associated Press building at 50 Rockefeller Plaza, while a passerby—clad in classic ‘70s polyester—can be seen looking at Sherman in shocked confusion.

Cunningham, notoriously press shy, was not available for an interview. But Valerie Paley, the museum’s historian and vice president for scholarly programs, talked about the exhibit as part of an e-mail interview:

FR:  Why do the Facades exhibition now, was there any significance to the timing?

Paley: For decades, Bill Cunningham has captured the attention of New Yorkers as much as his work has captured New York’s fashion zeitgeist. Yet it was a perfect confluence of factors that led us to mount the exhibition. Somewhat by chance, we rediscovered the photographs when we were mining our collections for images for our renovated great hall permanent galleries in 2011. There has always been an enduring popularity to Bill Cunningham’s work, but recently more people were introduced to it with the release of the excellent documentary film about him. Beyond all of this, at this point in the city’s history, it is interesting to take stock of where it was in the 1970s, when the photographs were taken, and where it is now—particularly from a preservationist perspective.

FR: What are some of the important hallmarks of Cunningham’s style that show up in the photos?

Paley: Cunningham calls himself a “street photographer,” although that might perhaps suggest a more scattershot technique, which definitely is not the case here. He uses the streets as a context and a backdrop in his work—then and now—and in the Facades series infuses his compositions with a keen sense of history. He sees the similarities of structural shapes rendered in both cloth and bricks and mortar.

FR: Was there a reason why there wasn’t more information for most of the photos? 

Paley: Generally speaking, Cunningham jotted down details about the clothes as well as the buildings on the backs of the images, although nothing too deeply specific. Curatorially, it was my feeling that we should let the photographs “speak” for themselves and not get mired in too many words, as can sometimes be the tendency in museum exhibitions.

FR: As much as this is a showcase of Cunningham’s work it’s also a showcase for Editta. Talk about her significance to this exhibit.

Paley: Editta Sherman was both model and muse to Cunningham and clearly her enthusiasm for the project shines through not only in her uninhibited poses but in her own participation in finding the costumes—which she called  “old clothes.” Every Sunday she would meet her sister for tea and model what she had located the previous week—and then ask her sister to alter them for her.

FR: What are some of your favorite photos in the exhibition and why?

Paley: I love the images that show hints of the 1970s encroaching upon what otherwise could be a very historical, timeless landscape. We see people dressed in 1970s clothing, looking quizzically at Editta, or 1970s cars parked on the sidewalk. I also enjoyed the process of discovery with a photograph labeled “unidentified,” which actually is a building in my neighborhood. I took a copy of it with me to verify that it was what I thought it was. To stand where Editta stood made me ponder not only what it must have been like when Cunningham took the photo, but also what the city was like when the building was built. I suppose that is in a sense what Cunningham had hoped to accomplish with this extraordinary project.

—Karyn D. Collins