Alvin Baltrop facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Alvin Baltrop
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| Born | December 11, 1948 |
| Died | February 1, 2004 (aged 55) New York City, New York, U.S.
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| Education | School of Visual Arts |
| Known for | Photography |
Alvin Baltrop (born December 11, 1948 – died February 1, 2004) was an American photographer. He was known for his photos of the Hudson River piers in New York City. He captured the unique life and look of these piers in the 1970s and 1980s.
Contents
Early Life and Photography
Alvin Baltrop was born in 1948 in the Bronx, a part of New York City. He found his passion for photography when he was in junior high school. He learned different photo techniques from older photographers in his neighborhood. He also taught himself how to develop his own pictures.
His Career as a Photographer
Baltrop joined the Navy and worked as a medic during the Vietnam War. Even then, he kept taking photos, mostly of his friends. He even built his own darkroom in the ship's sick bay. He used medic trays to develop his pictures.
After leaving the Navy, Baltrop worked many different jobs. He was a street vendor, a jewelry designer, a printer, and a taxi driver. In 1973, he started studying at the School of Visual Arts. He studied there until 1975.
He loved taking pictures at the Hudson River piers so much that he quit his taxi job. He became a self-employed mover instead. This allowed him to park his van at the piers for days at a time. He would live out of his van just to take more pictures.
From 1975 to 1986, Baltrop took many photos of the West Side piers. He was a well-known person in that community. He knew everyone he photographed, and people often wanted him to take their pictures. His photos showed not only the people but also the unique look of the old, worn-down piers.
Baltrop found it hard to become famous in the art world during his lifetime. He faced challenges that made it difficult for his work to be seen.
Later, in the 1990s, another New York City artist named John Drury became friends with Baltrop. Drury saw how talented Baltrop was. He nominated Baltrop for a special award called the Louis Comfort Tiffany Foundation Award for the Arts. Baltrop had only a few art shows while he was alive. His work became famous around the world only after he passed away.
After His Death
In 2008, an art professor named Douglas Crimp wrote an article about Baltrop. This article was in ARTFORUM Magazine. It helped people become interested in Baltrop's amazing photos again.
In 2012, a special art show called Perspectives 179— Alvin Baltrop: Dreams into Glass took place. It was at the Contemporary Arts Museum Houston. The show featured almost 100 gelatin silver prints. These were photos taken by Baltrop between 1969 and 1980.
Some of the most interesting pictures in the show were taken when Baltrop was in the Navy. These photos are from 1969 to 1972. One photo, called Three Navy Sailors, shows three young men in uniform. They are smiling and looking at the camera.
Many of Baltrop's pier photos show things from a distance. In his photo Don't let them see you, from his book The Piers, Baltrop placed his camera in a dark spot. He looked out at shadowy figures. The people in the photo do not seem to notice him. Another photo, Man looking in a window, shows a man looking into a building through broken windowpanes.
In 2015, a Spanish publisher released a book called Alvin Baltrop: The Piers. It was put together by James Reid, Tom Watt, and Glenn O'Brien.
A book by Fiona Anderson, Cruising the Dead River (2019), also talks a lot about Baltrop's photography. It explores his pictures of the piers and the waterfront.
Personal Life
Alvin Baltrop had relationships with both men and women.
Baltrop was diagnosed with cancer in the 1990s. He did not have much money or health insurance. He died on February 1, 2004, when he was 55 years old.
Exhibitions
Here are some of the places where Alvin Baltrop's work has been shown:
- Alvin Baltrop, Glines (1977)
- Dead Flowers, Vox Populi Gallery, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (2010)
- Looking Back: The Fifth White Columns Annual, White Columns, Greenwich Village, New York City, New York (2010)
- Mixed Use, Manhattan: Photography and Related Practices 1970s to the Present, Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, Madrid, Spain (2010)
- Queer Pier 40 Years: (re)Envisioning LGBTIQ Stories, FIERCE, New York City (2010)
- "Ashes from a Flame" displayed in the Homomuseum: Heroes and Monuments exhibit (2005)
- Alvin Baltrop: Selected Works, The Watermill Center, Watermill, New York (2011)
- Looking Back - The 6th White Columns Annual, White Columns, Greenwich Village, New York City, New York (2011)
- Every Exit is an Entrance: 30 Years of Exit Art, Exit Art, Hell's Kitchen, New York City, New York (2012)
- Lost and Found: Anonymous Photography in Reflection, Ambach & Rice, Los Angeles, California (2012)
- Perspectives 179: Alvin Baltrop: Dreams into Glass, Zilkha Gallery, Contemporary Arts Museum Houston, Houston, Texas (2012)
- Alvin Baltrop & Gordon Matta-Clark: The Piers from Here, Open Eye Gallery, Liverpool, England (2014)
- America is Hard to See, Whitney Museum of American Art, USA, New York (2015)
- Douglas Crimp: Before Pictures, Buchholz, New York City, New York (2015)
- Greater New York, MoMA PS1, Long Island City, New York (2015)
- Wild Noise: Artwork from the Bronx Museum of the Arts and El Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes, Bronx Museum of the Arts, Bronx, New York City, New York (2015)
- Human Interest: Portraits from the Whitney's Collection, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York City, New York (2016)
- Alvin Baltrop: At the Hudson River Piers, selected by Douglas Crimp, Galerie Buchholz New York (2017)
- The Life and Times of Alvin Baltrop, Bronx Museum of the Arts, Bronx, New York (2019)
Collections
Alvin Baltrop's artwork is kept in these important art collections:
- Museum of Modern Art, New York
- Whitney Museum of American Art, New York: 4 prints (as of June 2021)
See also
In Spanish: Alvin Baltrop para niños
- Leonard Fink
