Laurence Bruce Fink (March 11, 1941 – November 25, 2023) was an American photographer and educator, best known for hisblack-and-white images of people atparties and in other social situations.

Laurence Bruce Fink was born to a Jewish family inBrooklyn, New York, on March 11, 1941. The family moved toWest Hempstead, New York when Fink was thirteen.^[1][2] His father, Bernard Fink, was a lawyer, and his mother, Sylvia Caplan Fink, was an anti-nuclear weapons activist and an elder rights activist for theGray Panthers. He grew up in a politically conscious household and described himself as "aMarxist fromLong Island."^[3][4] His younger sisterElizabeth Fink (1945–2015) was a lawyer.^[5]

Fink studied at theNew School for Social Research in New York City, where photographerLisette Model was one of his teachers and encouraged his work.^[3][6]

Fink's best-known work isSocial Graces, a series of photographs he produced in the 1970s that depicted and contrasted wealthyManhattanites at fashionable clubs and social events alongside working-class people from ruralPennsylvania participating in events such as high school graduations.Social Graces was the subject of a solo exhibition at theMuseum of Modern Art in 1979 and was published in book form in 1984.^[3][7] ANew York Times reviewer described the series as exploring social class by comparing "two radically divergent worlds", while accomplishing "one of the things thatstraight photography does best: provid[ing] excruciatingly intimate glimpses of real people and their all-too-fallibly-human lives."^[7]

In 2001, for an assignment fromThe New York Times Magazine, Fink created a series ofsatirical color images of PresidentGeorge W. Bush and his cabinet (portrayed by stand-ins) in scenes of decadent revelry modeled on paintings byWeimar-era paintersMax Beckmann,Otto Dix, andGeorge Grosz. The planned publication of the series was canceled after theSeptember 11 attacks, but was displayed in the summer of 2004 at thePowerHouse Gallery in New York City, in a show titledThe Forbidden Pictures: A Political Tableau.^[8]

Fink taught atBard College from 1988 to 2017.^[1] He had previously taught at other institutions including theYale University School of Art (1977–1978),Cooper Union School of Art and Architecture (1978–1983),Parsons School of Design, andNew York University.^[3][6][9]

In 1969 Fink married artistJoan Snyder. Around this time, they moved from New York toMartins Creek, Pennsylvania.^[1] They had a daughter, Molly Snyder-Fink,^[10][11] and divorced in 1985. He was later married to Pia Staniek, with this marriage also ending in divorce.^[1] In 2000, he married Martha Posner.^[12][13]

Fink died from complications ofkidney disease andAlzheimer's disease at his home on November 25, 2023, at the age of 82.^[1][14]

• 1976:Guggenheim Fellowship from theJohn Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation^[15]
• 1979: Guggenheim Fellowship from the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation^[15]
• 1978:National Endowment for the Arts Individual Photography Fellowship^[9]
• 1986: National Endowment for the Arts Individual Photography Fellowship^[9]
• 2002: Honorary doctorate from theCollege for Creative Studies in Detroit^[9]
• 2015: Infinity Award in art,International Center of Photography, New York^[16]

• Photographs. San Francisco: San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, 1981. Booklet accompanying an exhibition by Fink andJoel Sternfeld.
• Ist Fotografie Kunst? Gehört Fotografie ins Museum? "Internationales Fotosymposion 1981, Schloss Mickeln bei Düsseldorf." Munich: Mahnert-Lueg, 1982.ISBN 3922170250. Contribution by Fink.
• Social Graces. Millerton, New York:Aperture, 1984.ISBN 0-89381-135-1 (clothbound);ISBN 0-89381-159-9 (collectors' edition);ISBN 0-89381-201-3 (softcover).
  • Social Graces. New York:PowerHouse, 1999.ISBN 1-57687-048-0 (regular edition);ISBN 1-57687-049-9 (limited edition). Larger format and redesigned, with an introductory text (first published in 1979) byMax Kozloff.
• Focus Santa Barbara. Santa Barbara, CA: Santa Barbara Contemporary Arts Forum, 1985. Catalogue for an exhibition, September–October 1985, by Fink, Walter Cotton,Lee Friedlander,Mary Ellen Mark,Richard Misrach, andRichard Ross.
• Pleasures and Terrors of Domestic Comfort. New York: The Museum of Modern Art, 1991. Edited byPeter Galassi, contribution by Fink.
• Still Working: Underknown Artists of Age in America. [New York]:Parsons School of Design, New York, 1994.ISBN 0295973854. Edited by Stewart Shedletsky; photographs by Fink; essays by Ann Gibson.
• Waking the Wood: Martha Posner: January 19 through March 2, 1995. Allentown, PA: Frank Martin Gallery, Baker Center for the Arts, Muhlenberg College, [1995].OCLC 630168745 Booklet with an introduction and photographs by Larry Fink, essay by J.M. Welker.
• Uma cidade assim. Matosinhos: Câmara Municipal de Matosinhos, 1996.ISBN 9729143234. Photographs by Fink and Bruno Sequeira.^{[n 1]}
• Boxing. New York: PowerHouse, 1997.ISBN 1-57687-008-1 (regular edition);ISBN 1-57687-009-X (limited edition). By Fink. Introduction by Andy Grundberg; essay byBert Randolph Sugar.
• Fish and Wine: Larry Fink's Photographs of Portugal. Easton, PA:Lafayette College, Art Gallery, Williams Center for the Arts, 1997.ISBN 0966032209. Booklet to accompany an exhibition held in September 1997 atLafayette College, Easton, Pennsylvania, and October–November 1997 atGateway Center IV, Newark, New Jersey. With an essay by George E. Panichas.
• Rent. New York:William Morrow, 1997.ISBN 0688154379. About the musicalRent; byJonathan Larson et al.; photography by Fink and Stewart Ferebee.
• Ellis Island: Echoes from a Nation's Past. New York: Aperture, 1997.ISBN 0893813974. With photographs by Fink and others.
• Runway. New York: PowerHouse, 1999.ISBN 1-57687-027-8 (regular edition);ISBN 157687-028-6 (limited edition). By Fink, with an introduction by Guy Trebay.
• A City Seen: Photographs from the George Gund Foundation Collection. Cleveland: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 2002.ISBN 0940717689. Contribution by Fink.
• The Forbidden Pictures: Photographs. New York: PowerHouse, 2004.ISBN 1-57687-244-0. Twelve photographs by Fink, with texts by Fink and others.
• Woolrich Roadtrip 2004, New York, NY to Woolrich, PA. Woolrich, PA:Woolrich, 2004.
• Larry Fink. Phaidon 55. London:Phaidon, 2005.ISBN 071484022X. By Laurie Dahlberg.
• Primal Elegance. Portfolio Book Series, no. 6. Revere, PA: Lodima, 2005.ISBN 1-888899-29-8. Edition of 1000. Fourteen photographs by Fink ofmantises.
• Somewhere There's Music. Bologna: Damiani, 2006.ISBN 8889431563;ISBN 8889431628. By Fink, with an essay by George E. Panichas.
• Cleveland Clinic: Two Views. Cleveland: Cleveland Clinic, 2006.ISBN 0979082706. Photographs by Fink and Andrew Moore.
• Effetto Luce. Florence: Luce della Vite, 2007. The publisher's description: "In 2007 Luce della Vite, the Montalcino wine producer hosted an gala event with international media and guests, including celebrities from the worlds of entertainment, fashion, wine and business, arrive in Florence to celebrate launch of new Luce wine at the prestigious Villa i Collazzi in Florence on Saturday night and photographer Larry Fink captured the most significant moments of the Effetto Luce evening."
• Night at the Met. N.p.Fotovision, 2009. Photographs by Fink of theMetropolitan Museum of Art.
• The Vanities: Hollywood Parties 2000–2009: Photographs. Munich: Schirmer/Mosel, 2011.ISBN 3829605269. By Fink, with essays byLucy Sante and Ash Carter, text in English and German.
• Larry Fink: Attraction and Desire: 50 Years in Photography. Saint Louis, MO: The Sheldon Art Galleries, [2011].ISBN 0578077388. Accompanying an exhibition at the Sheldon Art Galleries, February–May 2011. With an essay by Olivia Lahs-Gonzales.
• Contatti. Provini d'Autore =Choosing the best photo by using the contact sheet. Vol. I. Edited by Giammaria De Gasperis. Rome: Postcart, 2012.ISBN 978-88-86795-87-6. Contribution by Fink.
• Larry Fink on Composition and Improvisation. New York: Aperture, 2014.ISBN 1597112739. With an introduction by Lisa Kereszi.
• The Beats. Brooklyn, NY: PowerHouse, 2014.ISBN 1576876896. Photographs by Fink of thebeats, with an essay and poem byGerald Stern and an essay by Robert Cordier.
• Kindred Spirits. Minor Matters, 2014. By Fink, with an essay by Peter Barberie.
• Opening the Sky. London: Stanley Barker, 2015.ISBN 9780956992239.^[17]

• Official website
• Larry Fink on artnet Monographs
• Larry Fink atIMDb
• Larry Fink discography atDiscogs

• 1941 births
• 2023 deaths
• 20th-century American Jews
• 20th-century American photographers
• 21st-century American Jews
• 21st-century American photographers
• Photographers from Brooklyn
• Bard College faculty
• Cooper Union faculty
• Deaths from Alzheimer's disease in Pennsylvania
• Deaths from dementia in Pennsylvania
• Deaths from kidney disease
• New York (state) socialists
• New York University faculty
• Parsons School of Design faculty
• Pennsylvania socialists
• People from Northampton County, Pennsylvania
• People from West Hempstead, New York
• Photography academics
• The New School alumni
• Vanity Fair (magazine) people
• Writers on photographic techniques
• Yale School of Art faculty

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