The 1962when most photographers preferred pure black-and-white photos, Joel Meyerowitz experimented with new, color photos. He also quit his job at an advertising agency and walked the streets of Manhattan, camera in hand, capturing the images that defined that critical period in America.
In 1966, the American photographer traveled Europe for a year, covering 20,000 miles in 10 countries, settling in the Spanish coastal city of Malaga for six months. There he befriended Escalona’s family and fell in love with flamenco.
The exhibition “Joel Meyerowitz, Europe 1966-1967” at the Picasso Museum in Malaga, Spain describes the prolific period of the famous “color wizard” in Europe.
While in Málaga, the photographer created an important photographic archive of Spain during the Franco dictatorship, which had a lasting influence on his distinctive photographic style. After returning to New York, Meyerowitz held his first solo exhibition at MoMA in 1968, featuring 40 photographs taken from his car window while traveling in Europe, the exhibit description says.
Edited by Miguel López-Remiro Forcada, the exhibition details Meyerowitz’s travels to England, Wales, Ireland, Scotland, France, Spain, Germany, Turkey, Greece and Italy and his stay in Malaga. It includes portraits of people, unique moments captured in everyday street scenes, urban and natural landscapes, and photographs taken from inside his moving car.
The “Joel Meyerowitz, Europe 1966-1967” exhibition, which opened yesterday, will continue until December 15, 2024.
As part of the parallel activities, Joel Meyerowitz will give a lecture on his photography on June 21.
Joel Meyerowitz was born in New York in 1938 and began photography in 1962. As an early proponent (mid-60s) of color photography, Meyerowitz was instrumental in changing attitudes toward its use.
Meyerowitz published more than a dozen books throughout his career and directed his first film in 1998, Pop, a three-week personal travel diary he kept with his son Sasha and elderly father