Leonard Freed - photography

Leonard Freed (October 23, 1929, Brooklyn, New York – November 30, 2006, Garrison, New York) was a documentary photojournalist and longtime Magnum member. He was born to Jewish, working-class parents of Eastern European descent.

Career
Freed had wanted to be a painter, but began taking photographs in the Netherlands and discovered a new passion. He traveled in Europe and Africa before returning to the United States where he attended the New School and studied with Alexey Brodovitch, the art director of Harper's Bazaar. In 1958 he moved to Amsterdam to photograph its Jewish community. Through the 1960s he continued to work as a freelance photojournalist, traveling widely. He documented such events and subjects as the Civil Rights movement in America (1964-65), the Yom Kippur War in 1973, and the New York City police department (1972-79). His career blossomed during the American civil rights movement, when he traveled the country with Martin Luther King, Jr. in his celebrated march across the US from Alabama to Washington. This journey gave him the opportunity to produce his 1968 book, Black in White America, which brought considerable attention. His work on New York City law enforcement also led to a book, Police Work which was published in 1980.

Leonard Freed 1929-2006

“No more pictures,” were the last words spoken by Leonard Freed to his wife, Brigitte, when he passed away at their home in upstate New York in 2006. But what he left behind was an archive of an estimated million negatives and a wealth of powerful, emotional images that helped us better understand the truth about who we are and our sense of belonging within a community of man.

Leonard Freed was born in 1929 in Brooklyn, N.Y., to Russian-Jewish immigrants. In the 1950s and 1960s, Freed traveled throughout Europe, North Africa, and the Middle East. He developed an association with Magnum Photos and became a member in 1972. Freed distinguished himself with classic photo essays on assignment for Life, Look, Paris-Match, and Der Spiegel, among others.

Freed’s 1980 landmark book Police Work, perhaps his signature piece, is a photographic essay of the violence and crime that plagued the City of New York in the 1970s. The work generated powerful and disturbing imagery, and produced outraged reactions in a city that was in denial, a city besieged by junkies and prostitutes, by organized crime, and by death..

Freed’s other important publications include Black in White America, about African-Americans from Harlem through the South, published in 1968; Made in Germany, 1970; and his final book, Worldview, published in 2007. Freed’s photo essays covered subjects worldwide, as well as a close examination of his own Jewish roots. “Ultimately, photography is about who you are. It’s the seeking of truth in relation to yourself. And seeing truth becomes a habit,” said Freed of his body of work.
 

Amsterdam: The Sixties, USA: Focus Publishing, 1997. Netherlands: Uitgeverij Focus, 1997. ISBN 978-9072216502
Another Life, Netherlands: ABP Public Affairs, 2004.
Berlin, New York: Time-Life Books, 1977.
Black in White America, United States: Grossman Publishers, 1967. California: Getty Museum, 2010; ISBN 978-1606060117
Deutsche Juden Heute, Germany: Rütten & Loening Verlag, 1965.
Indonesiers in Holland, Netherlands: d'Jonge hond, 2009.
Joden van Amsterdam, Netherlands: De Bezige Bij, 1958.
La Danse des Fidèles, France: Editions du Chêne, 1984.
Leonard Freed: Photographs 1954-1990, UK:Cornerhouse/Editions Nathan, 1991. New York: W. W. Norton, 1992. ISBN 978-0393033502
Leonard Freed: Worldview with William Ewing, Wim van Sinderen, Nathalie Herschdorfer. Lausanne: Steidl/Muse de L'Elyse, 2007. ISBN 978-3865214638
Leonard Freed’s Germany, London: Thames & Hudson, 1971. ISBN 978-0500540046
Made in Germany, USA: Grossman Publishers, 1970. Penguin, 1971. ISBN 978-0670445646
New York Police France: (Photo Notes), Centre National de la Photographie, 1990. ISBN 978-2867540646
Police Work, USA: Simon & Schuster, 1980; ISBN 978-0670445639. Holiday House, 1981; ISBN 978-0671252021
Seltsame Spiele, Germany: Verlag Bärmeier & Nikel, 1970.