Bruce Gilden

About the Author

Denis Curti is the artistic director of the Stanze della fotografia. From 2005 to 2014, he directed Contrasto-Milano. For more than fifteen years, he was the photographic critic for Vivimilano and Corriere della Sera, and he currently runs Black Camera on the Rolling Stone Italia digital platform. With Skira he recently published Joel Meyerowitz. A Sense of Wonder. Photographs 1962-2022 (2024). Born in Brooklyn, New York in 1946, Bruce Gilden first went to Penn State University but he found his sociology courses too boring for his temperament and he abandoned his studies and, after entertaining the idea of pursuing a career as an actor, bought his first camera. New York is the city that provides him with endless inspiration: Gilden observes everyday life on the streets and captures it with his 35mm Leica. Bruce Gilden's photographic style is intuitive and direct, characterised by the dynamic emphasis of his shots and the original way in which he portrays the faces of passers-by using flash. His powerful black-and-white and colour images have brought the Magnum photographer international fame. Over the years, he has produced extensive and detailed photographic projects in New York, Haiti, France, Ireland, India, Russia, Japan, England, Italy and America. Since the 1970s, his work has been exhibited in museums and art galleries around the world and is part of numerous collections.