Harry Gruyaert, the Belgian photographer renowned for his vibrant use of colour, has captured the essence of New York City in a stunning new book. For over 50 years, Gruyaert has wandered the streets of the Big Apple, documenting its dazzling contrasts—from towering skylines and neon-lit diners to multicultural neighbourhoods and fleeting street scenes. His work, bursting with energy, features iconic images such as children letting off fire hydrants and yellow cabs zooming by in a blur.
A Cosmopolitan Portrait
Gruyaert, a member of Magnum Photos, has published his work in numerous books and exhibited widely. His latest publication, Harry Gruyaert: New York, is released by Thames and Hudson. Acclaimed French film director Cédric Klapisch collaborated on the book, providing fictional vignettes that blur the lines between reality and imagination. Klapisch notes, 'Harry knows my personal connection with New York, having studied and lived there. There's a particular kind of light there. The sunlight is sharp and the shadows of the skyscrapers sometimes plunge the streets into a deep penumbra.'
The Role of Colour
Klapisch emphasises Gruyaert's mastery of colour, placing him among great colourists like Stephen Shore, Helen Levitt, Ernst Haas, Saul Leiter, Joel Meyerowitz, William Eggleston, and Alex Webb. 'His images follow in the footsteps of great colourists who are very conscious of the key role that colour plays in the structure of an image,' Klapisch writes. The photographs capture the city's chaos and diversity, portraying New York as a 'magnificent, many-coloured melee' of rich and poor, communities and skin tones from around the world.
From Banality to Art
Klapisch reflects on the transformative power of Gruyaert's photography: 'While millions of people take millions of photos in the street and the vast majority of these are simply banal, Harry notices the banality but when he captures it with his camera, it turns into something else.' The images turn ordinary New Yorkers into characters in a potential movie, celebrating the 'man of no importance' and building a multicoloured map of humanity.
The book includes vignettes that imagine the lives of people in the photographs, such as a man stuck in a raincoat given by his mother-in-law, or a conversation about putting a pet to sleep. These stories add a layer of narrative to the visual journey. Gruyaert, born in 1941 in Antwerp, Belgium, currently resides in Belgium.
