Philip-Lorca diCorcia

 (Born 1953 in Hartford, Connecticut)

These works are not currently on view.

Igor, 1987
Extacolor print
20 x 24 inches (50.8 x 61 cm)
Edition of 20
Promised gift of Beth and Anthony Terrana

Considered among the most important photographers of his generation, DiCorcia is often associated with the “Boston School,” though he has created a highly individual and influential body of work. Igor marks an important moment in his career, when he shifted from highly constructed interior tableaux to exterior “street” photography. Depicting a man on a New York subway holding a goldfish in a plastic bag, the photograph has a psychological, cinematic quality.

London, 1995
Extacolor print
25 ½ x 38 1/8 inches (64.8 x 96.8 cm)
Edition of 15
Promised gift of Beth and Anthony Terrana

London comes from “Streetworks,” diCorcia’s major series from the 1990s of public character studies captured with a large-format camera in arbitrary arrangements of pedestrians on city sidewalks around the world. This photograph shows a lone man in a dark suit on an empty patch of asphalt. It is relatively unique in the “Streetworks” series—depicting a single figure rather than a mass of passers-by—yet maintains the cinematic aura that has made diCorcia one of the most recognizable and imitated figures in contemporary photography.

Ralph Smith; 21 years old; Ft. Lauderdale, Florida; $25, 1990-92
Fuji Crystal Archive print mounted to Dibond
44 x 66 in. (111.8 x 167.6 cm)
Purchased through funds provided by Paul and Catherine Buttenwieser

Complementing the other two diCorcia works in the ICA collection—Igor and London—Ralph is a major piece from the artist’s landmark series Hustlers. These photographs bridge the controlled staged interiors of his early work with the flux and spontaneity of his later Streetwork series. DiCorcia staged these scenarios with male prostitutes he found on Santa Monica Boulevard in Los Angeles, who posed for his camera for the same fee they charged for their more typical services.