Tulsa

Product Information

But the subsequent publication of the book and his reputation as a groundbreaker did nothing to appease his demons. Cover image from Tulsa made into a 23" x 18" poster from an exhibition at the Robert Freidus Gallery.

And in case you’re wondering, Clark had such intimate access to his subjects because he was shooting up the drugs right along with them. I shot with my friends every day for three years and then left town, but I've gone back through the years. George Eastman House ( Rochester, New York) possesses a complete set of the fifty prints used to make the original book. Its graphic depictions of sex, violence, and drug abuse in the youth culture of Oklahoma were acclaimed by critics for stripping bare the myth that Middle America had been immune to the social convulsions that rocked America in the 1960s.But Clark went there first, and Tulsa remains a template for all that followed, a blurring of the lines between voyeurism and intimate reportage, between honesty and exploitation. Often controversial, Clark’s black-and-white images unflinchingly capture overt sexuality, drug use, and violence, as seen in his iconic photobook Tulsa (1971) and his debut feature film Kids (1995).

Clark has said that he "didn't take these photographs as a voyeur, but as a participant in the phenomenon", [4] and commentary on the book has emphasized how Clark did not just live with the teenagers portrayed but "did drugs with them, slept with them, and included himself in the photographs"; this conferred an authenticity on the work, which brought it great praise. His work has been included in group and solo exhibitions since the early 1970s, and he was the recipient of a National Endowment for the Arts Photographers' Fellowship in 1973 and a Creative Arts Public Service photographers' grant in 1980. When it first appeared in 1971, Larry Clark’s groundbreaking book Tulsa sparked immediate controversy across the nation. Clark's crisp, haunting black-and-white photos, staying remarkably true to their original American iteration.

Tulsa is a key work in post-war American photography, containing graphic photographs of sex, violence, and drug use in the Oklahoma suburb, much of which Clark participated in as well as documenting. During the 1960s, Clark documented the culture of drug use and illicit activity of his friends in Tulsa, and his photographs from those years were published as Tulsa (1971). Second edition (first hardcover edition), published in either 1979 or 1983, depending on which source you trust, and printed by Rapaport Printing in New York. When someone I knew would die, which happened a lot, I'd think they were one of the lucky ones," he told me. Ever interested by teenage subcultures, Clark chose young amphetamine users in his hometown of Tulsa, Oklahoma as his subject matter for this book Included are 50 black and white photographs that examine their daily lives.

Quarto, unpaginated; VG/VG-; spine black, with white lettering; dust jacket protected with a mylar covering; mild shelf wear and soiling; wear to crown and tail of jacket spine; small closed tear and crease to upper edge of jacket back; signed flat by Clark at title page; profusely illustrated with black and white photographs; pages clean; shelved Case 11. Larry Clark is an American photographer and filmmaker known for his raw and unfiltered depictions of youth culture. With an extensive collection of more than 106,000 rare and unique volumes relating to the history of art, the Jean Outland Chrysler Art Library is one of the most significant art libraries in the South. I remember thinking, 'I have either got to burn all the negatives and shoot myself, or go down to LA and try and get it published.Although this book predates his iconic films by at least two decades, Tulsa is quintessential Clark. Covers heavily rubbed at the edges with additional wear and chipping to the spine, light cover creasing and other wear, first two leaves have some general shallow creasing, detached pages have some edgewear, the page with David Roper has some light soil to the margins. Larry Clark's photographs in Tulsa are unflinching portrayals of difficult and often unsightly circumstances viewed through a participant's eyes. But they still disturb viewers today because of that – and because they depict suburban America; this wasn't a blighted inner-city picture, but the kids next door.