Small Things Considered II
July 5 – August 19, 2016
Twin Storefronts 1974
Fisher Bros.
South Philadelphia 1972-1973
Fitzwater St. Caddie 1973
Sendler's Furs 1973
Wash + Dry 1973
Goldshlack Caddie 1973
South Philly Xmas Window 1972
Pepsi Store 1973
Bainbridge + Orianna St 1972
South Philadelphia 1972-1973
Mario Bonanno 1973
Lou Mayo 1974
Cool Ice 1972
Somerfield + Ehrman Textiles 1973
Windshield Flag 1972
The Best Styles 1973
Atlas Wallpaper 1973
Pretzel 1973
New Tin-Bainbridge St 1976
Will Brown’s intimate black and white photographs were taken in the early seventies in Queen Village, an old mercantile area in south Philadelphia. Shop windows were often shot in the early morning when the streets were empty, their dusty windows glowing in the light and criss-crossed with long shadows. Brown’s sensitive prints capture a very soft light, similar in feeling to the light in Eugene Atget’s early morning vistas of Paris and the surrounding parks.
Will Brown’s photographs were featured in 2009 in Common Ground: Eight Philadelphia Photographers in the 1960’s and 1970’s at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, and in a solo show at The Fabric Workshop Museum in Philadelphia. His works are held in the collections of the Philadelphia Museum of Art, the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library of Yale University, the Smithsonian American Art Museum, the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts and many private collections.
Jonathan Balustein talks to Will Brown about his photograps depicting Philadelphia in the 1970s. The interview is accompanied by a 15 picture slide show.
