Born in Harlem in 1924 and growing up poor in Brooklyn, Jerome Liebling had it tough. It only got tougher for the young man when, having dropped out of his first semester at Brooklyn College to enlist in World War Two, he was posted to the notorious glider infantry — as if war in itself wasn’t terrifying enough. Liebling credited his experiences in the airborne infantry during the conflict as having ignited a creative impulse to “figure out where the pain was”. After the war he resumed his Brooklyn College studies under the G.I. Bill, and he attended Ad Reinhardt’s classes on Bauhaus-influenced design, and those of documentary photographer Walter Rosenblum.
Soon after graduating, Liebling shot one of his most famous images. It was an Easter morning in Harlem when he encountered a young boy in his tattered “Sunday best”. The boy had his hands in his coat pockets, and on seeing Liebling’s camera he spread his arms wide and Butterfly Boy was born — a symbol of hope and transformation in difficult times. Liebling took up a teaching position in Minnesota, returning to his native New York 20 years later to find the city of his childhood altered beyond recognition. “It was a disaster,” he reflected. Liebling did rediscover some of the New York of old in the Jewish immigrant neighbourhood of Little Odessa around Brighton Beach, where he continued his photographic work for three decades. Jerome Liebling: Brooklyn and Other Boroughs, 1946 – 1996 is showing at Steven Kasher Gallery, New York (515 W 26th St), until 6 June.
Jerome Liebling
Butterfly Boy, New York City, 1949
Archival inkjet print, printed 2010
30 x 30 in
Signed by photographer verso,
AP from an edition of 5 + 1 AP
Copyright Jerome Liebling Photography,
Courtesy Steven Kasher Gallery, New York
Jerome Liebling
Coney Island, New York City, 1973
Vintage gelatin silver, printed ca. 1973
16 x 20 in
Signed by photographer, signed, titled,
and stamped by Estate verso
Copyright Jerome Liebling Photography,
Courtesy Steven Kasher Gallery, New York
Jerome Liebling
Blonde Woman at Store, Brighton Beach, Brooklyn, NY, 1985
Chromogenic print, printed ca. 1985
16 x 20 in
Signed by photographer, Estate stamp verso
Copyright Jerome Liebling Photography,
Courtesy Steven Kasher Gallery, New York
Jerome Liebling
Charlotte Street, South Bronx, New York City, 1977
Vintage gelatin silver, printed ca. 1977
11 x 14 in
Signed and titled by photographer,
signed and stamped by Estate verso
Copyright Jerome Liebling Photography,
Courtesy Steven Kasher Gallery, New York
Jerome Liebling
Brighton Beach, Brooklyn, New York , 1976
Vintage gelatin silver, printed ca. 1976
16 x 20 in
Signed by photographer, signed, titled,
and stamped by Estate verso
Copyright Jerome Liebling Photography,
Courtesy Steven Kasher Gallery, New York
Jerome Liebling
Young Russian Immigrant, Brighton Beach, Brooklyn, NY, 1996
Chromogenic print, printed ca. 1996
16 x 20 in
Signed by photographer, Estate stamp verso
Copyright Jerome Liebling Photography,
Courtesy Steven Kasher Gallery, New York
Jerome Liebling
Lunch Counter, Brighton Beach, Brooklyn, NY, 1981
Chromogenic print
8 x 10 in
Signed by photographer, Estate stamp verso
Copyright Jerome Liebling Photography,
Courtesy Steven Kasher Gallery, New York
Jerome Liebling
Wilkins Avenue, South Bronx New York City, 1979
Chromogenic print, printed ca. 1980
8 x 10 in
Signed by photographer, Estate stamp verso
Copyright Jerome Liebling Photography,
Courtesy Steven Kasher Gallery, New York
Jerome Liebling
Beauty Shop, Brooklyn, New York, 1947
Gelatin silver, printed ca. 1970
11 x 14 in
Signed by photographer, signed, titled,
and stamped by Estate verso
Copyright Jerome Liebling Photography,
Courtesy Steven Kasher Gallery, New York
Jerome Liebling
Woman and Hand, Brighton Beach, Brooklyn, NY, 1984
Chromogenic print, printed ca. 1984
16 x 20 in
Signed by photographer, Estate stamp verso
Copyright Jerome Liebling Photography,
Courtesy Steven Kasher Gallery, New York
