Stephen Shore

Stephen Shore – A brave and determined autodidact

Stephen Shore was born in New York City on 8 October 1947. The only child of Jewish businesspeople, he was interested in photography from an early age. A benevolent uncle gifted him a Junior Darkroom Set by Kodak for his sixth birthday, with which the elated Stephen could further his self-taught training as a photographer. At the age of nine he received a 35-mm camera with which he took his first colour photographs, and at the age of ten absorbed the pioneering photo book American Photographs by Walker Evans, which left a lasting impression. The young photographer was not short of self-confidence: At the age of only 14, he was introduced to Edward Steichen, then curator of photography at the Museum of Modern Art in New York, and presented his pictures to him. Steichen was impressed by Shore’s chutzpah and talent and acquired three black and white photographs of New York. Two years later, Stephen Shore met Andy Warhol and took the unique chance of capturing the Pop Art icon and his artist friends in his factory.

Artistic colour photography as a venture

With his pictures of the avant-garde artists around Andy Warhol, which also included Lou Reed from the band Velvet Underground, Stephen Shore was able to hold a solo exhibition in the New York Museum of Modern Art in 1971 – the fist ever for a living photographer. Shore subsequently undertook several road trips through the USA and Canada and photographed the landscapes he came across along the way. This awakened his interest in colour photography as he was no longer satisfied with the black and white photos of the various locations he visited. With pictures such as the iconic shot of a Chevron petrol station, Shore became a pioneer of artistic colour film photography in America alongside Ernst Haas and William Eggleston – at a time when only black and white photography was accepted as art in Europe. The decision to use a large-format camera was probably encouraged by John Szarkowski, and in 1974, Stephen Shore received a Guggenheim scholarship which enabled him to realise further projects.

Photographic diary of the everyday

Stephen Shore reached great notoriety in Europe with his pictures. He exhibited often in Germany, where he personally knew the photographic icon Bernd Becher, and in 1977, took part in Documenta 6 in Kassel. With his 1982 book Uncommon Places, Shore influenced numerous colour photographers of his own and subsequent generations. Photographic artists who drew on Shore included Andreas Gursky, Joel Sternfeld, Nan Goldin, Martin Parr and Thomas Struth. His 1999 photographic diary American Surfaces caused a sensation with the most banal everyday things captured mostly in direct light in colour film: hotel rooms, dinners, toilets, faces. Shore thus succeeded not only in creating an original photographic chronicle of an era, but also in capturing an entire attitude to life. Stephen Shore has received prizes and awards for his photo art including the 2010 Kulturpreis der Deutschen Gesellschaft für Photography in Düsseldorf.