Joel Sternfeld: Walking the High Line

2009 | Art, Photography & Fashion

In March 2000, Joel Sternfeld began photographing the High Line, an abandoned elevated railway which runs down the West Side of Manhattan. Sometimes a river of grass, sometimes more like Canadian wheat fields, this unique ruin permitted Sternfeld to contemplate nature within the city. Walking the path of this true-time landscape, Sternfeld experienced the seasons as they unfolded in a meandering ribbon within the vertical architecture of New York City, and he created a suite of images marked by quiet grace and formal rigour. In Walking the High Line, as in all of his work, landscape is both a social and cultural indicator. In 2009, the High Line was converted into a public park that will preserve the delights of the High Line for future generations. Sternfelds book is thus a unique record of the High Line at a time when it faced demolition, and this reprint follows several sold-out editions. A major figure in the photography world, Joel Sternfeld was born in New York City in 1944. He has received numerous awards including two Guggenheim fellowships, a Prix de Rome and the Citibank Photography Award.

Sternfelds books published by Steidl include American Prospects (2003), Sweet Earth (2006), Oxbow Archive (2008) and First Pictures (2011).

Joel Sternfeld (Author)

Adam Gopnik (Author)

John Stilgoe (Author)