Harold Feinstein

Feinstein was born in Coney Island, New York, in 1931. He was the youngest of five children born to Jewish immigrant parents. His mother Sophie Reich immigrated to the United States from Austria and his father Louis immigrated from Russia.{{cite web|last1=Feinstein|first1=Harold|title=A mother's love|url=https://www.haroldfeinstein.com/balm-for-the-world-thoughts-beyond-mothers-day/|website=HaroldFeinstein.com|accessdate=May 9, 2018|date=May 7, 2015}} He began to practice photography in 1946 at the age of 15, borrowing a Rolleiflex camera from a neighbor.{{cite web|last1=Feinstein|first1=Harold|title=The Rolleiflex camera: Love at first sight|url=https://www.haroldfeinstein.com/why-i-loved-my-rollei/|website=HaroldFeinstein.com|accessdate=May 9, 2018|date=May 15, 2013}}

Feinstein joined the Photo League in 1948 at the age of 18. By 19 he had his work purchased by Edward Steichen for the permanent collection of the Museum of Modern Art.{{cite web|last1=Coleman|first1=A.D.|title='Seeing the life in which we live': The Photographs of Harold Feinstein|url=http://www.nearbycafe.com/artandphoto/photocritic/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/Coleman_on_Feinstein_Beijing_20105.pdf|publisher=The Nearby Café|authorlink=A. D. Coleman|work = Harold Feinstein: American Master|accessdate=July 5, 2018}}

Feinstein had his first exhibitions at the Whitney Museum of American Art in 1954 and at the Museum of Modern Art in 1957.[https://archive.today/20120913155746/http://www.thejewishmuseum.org/onlinecollection/collection_results.php?artistlist=1&aid=7326 Harold Feinstein bio at The Jewish Museum] He later held solo exhibitions at the George Eastman Museum (1957) and Helen Gee's Limelight Gallery (1958).{{cite web|last1=Grimes|first1=William|title=Harold Feinstein Dies at 84; Froze New York Moments in Black and White|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/30/arts/harold-feinstein-dies-at-84-froze-new-york-moments-in-black-and-white.html?_r=0|website=The New York Times|accessdate=December 21, 2017|date=June 29, 2015}} His photographs were published on the inaugural cover of the literary magazine Evergreen Review and in the leftist journal Liberation.

Critics of the period referred to Feinstein as a master of his art, and his work was influential in the development of the New York school of photography.{{cite web|url=http://pdnbgallery.com/SITE/harold-feinstein/harold-feinstein-bio.html |title=Photos Do Not Bend Gallery Harold Feinstein Bio|accessdate=July 5, 2018}}

While Feinstein photographed the streets of New York City and elsewhere throughout his career, his favorite subject was his birthplace, Coney Island. He returned many times throughout his life to photograph the boardwalk, the amusements and the diverse visitors to the beach destination. There he was able to find and photograph a broad range of the human experience, from love to lust, joy to despair, comedy to drama. He described it as a photographer's paradise."Coney Island", ABC News Nightline, July 3, 1995.

The International Center of Photography held an exhibition of Feinstein's Coney Island work, A Coney Island of the Heart, in 1990{{cite web|url=https://www.icp.org/exhibitions/a-coney-island-of-the-heart-five-decades-of-photographs-by-harold-feinstein|title='A Coney Island of the Heart' at the International Center for Photography|date=February 23, 2016|accessdate=July 10, 2018}} and the Leica Gallery did so in 2015.

Throughout his career, Feinstein taught photography through private workshops held in his studio, as well as at numerous institutions. Many of Feinstein's students went on to become fine art photographers of note; these included Mary Ellen Mark, Ken Heyman, Mariette Pathy Allen, Wendy Watriss,{{cite web|last1=Estrin|first1=James|title=Partners in Words, Pictures and Life|url=https://lens.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/03/08/partners-in-words-pictures-and-life/|website=The New York Times|accessdate=July 5, 2018|date=March 8, 2012}} and Peter Angelo Simon.{{cite web|title=Artist Spotlight: Peter Angelo Simon|url=https://www.panopticonimaging.com/wordpress/823|website=Panopticon Imaging Inc.|accessdate=July 5, 2018|date=March 15, 2016}}

Additionally, Feinstein taught at the Annenberg School for Communication at the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia Museum School of Art, School of Visual Arts, the University of Massachusetts Amherst, Maryland Institute College of Art, Windham College, and College of the Holy Cross{{cite web|url=http://www.apag.us/harold-feinstein/|title=Harold Feinstein|date=April 13, 2013|publisher=American Photography Archives Group|accessdate=July 5, 2018}}

After decades of working primarily in humanistic 35 mm film photography, Feinstein started in 2001 to create work digitally, using a scanner to photograph images of flowers, seashells, butterflies, foliage and botanicals. Cataloguing his life's work, he found that the precision of digital controls, as well as the ability to duplicate images freely and receive instantaneous feedback, enabled him to be more improvisational and take more creative risks in his work.{{cite book | first = A.D. | last = Coleman | series = "Engendered Is the Flower" Harold Feinstein's Floral Photographs | title = One Hundred Flowers | place = New York | publisher = Little, Brown | edition= First| year = 2000 | pages = 15–18 | isbn = 0-8212-2665-7 }}

This work garnered Feinstein critical and commercial success. Feinstein published seven books of scanography, and his scanographic work was published several times in O, The Oprah Magazine.{{cite web|last1=Casadonte|first1=Tony|title=Harold Feinstein 'One Hundred Flowers'|date=August 24, 2015|url=http://www.buildsxsemagazine.com/2015/08/harold-feinstein-one-hundred-flowers-lumiere-gallery-atlanta/|publisher=South x Southeast photomagazine|accessdate=July 11, 2018}} Feinstein's image of a white rose became a best-selling item at the retailer IKEA.{{cite web|title=Why old masters are old hat|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/breakfast/4550515.stm|website=BBC News|accessdate=July 11, 2018|date=May 16, 2005}}

Feinstein was honored with the Computerworld Smithsonian Award in 2000 for his breakthrough in digital imaging.{{cite web|title=Guide to the Computer World Smithsonian Awards|url=http://sova.si.edu/details/NMAH.AC.0425?q=*&s=0&n=10#ref4981|website=Smithsonian Institution: Smithsonian Online Virtual Archives|accessdate=July 11, 2018}}

Feistein's work is held in the following permanent collections:

• International Center of Photography: 92 prints (as of March 2017).As displayed when [https://www.icp.org/search-results/%22Harold%20Feinstein%22/all/all/relevant/3 this search page] was polled for "Harold Feinstein", March 3, 2017.
• New York Public Library: 11 prints (as of March 2017).As displayed when [http://wallachprintsandphotos.nypl.org/advanced this search page] was polled for "Feinstein", March 3, 2017.
• Museum of Modern Art, New York."[https://web.archive.org/web/20111028011410/http://www.griffinmuseum.org/pdfs/2011/Harold-Feinstein-Tribute.pdf Harold Feinstein tribute at Griffin Museum Focus awards]", Griffin Museum of Photography, August 11, 2011; as archived by the Wayback Machine on October 28, 2011.Chloe Coleman, "[https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/in-sight/wp/2017/02/03/born-in-front-car-of-the-cyclone-roller-coaster-a-photographer-who-truly-loved-coney-island/ Born in the front car of the Cyclone roller coaster, a photographer who truly adored Coney Island]", The Washington Post, February 1, 2017.

• Focus award, Griffin Museum of Photography, 2011.

• One Hundred Flowers. Boston: Little, Brown, 2000. {{ISBN|9780821226650}}.
• Foliage. Boston: Little, Brown, 2001. {{ISBN|9780821227398}}.
• The Infinite Rose. Boston: Bulfinch, 2004. {{ISBN|9780821228753}}.
• The Infinite Tulip. Boston: Bulfinch, 2004. {{ISBN|9780821228746}}
• One Hundred Seashells. New York: Bulfinch, 2005. {{ISBN|9780821262061}}.
• Orchidelirium. New York: Bulfinch, 2006. {{ISBN|9780821262054}}.
• One Hundred Butterflies. New York: Little, Brown, 2009. {{ISBN|9780316033633}}.
• Harold Feinstein: A Retrospective. Portland, OR: Nazraeli, 2012. {{ISBN|9781590053690}}.
• Saying Yes. Portland, OR: Blue Sky Gallery, 2016. A print on demand publication of work shown at Blue Sky Gallery, Portland, OR."[http://www.magcloud.com/browse/magazine/814979 Blue Sky Books]" MagCloud / Blurb, Inc. Accessed March 3, 2017."[http://www.magcloud.com/browse/issue/1140455 Saying Yes - Harold Feinstein]" MagCloud / Blurb, Inc. Accessed March 3, 2017.
• Boardwalks, Beaches and Boulevards. Ethos.ink, 2020. On newsprint.

{{Reflist}}

• {{Official website|www.haroldfeinstein.com}}
• [http://www.thierrybigaignon.com/harold-feinstein Feinstein's profile at Galerie Thierry Bigaignon]
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20101019081644/http://www.panopticongallery.com/artist/harold_feinstein/ Harold Feinstein | Panopticon Gallery]
• [http://www.nearbycafe.com/artandphoto/photocritic/projects-ongoing/heart-of-the-matter-harold-feinstein-retrospective/ Heart of the Matter: Harold Feinstein, Photographs 1946-2011]

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Category:1931 births

Category:American photographers

Category:2015 deaths

Category:People from Coney Island