In Pictures: Coney Island Photographs by Aaron Rose 1961-1963

We already wrote a bit about this show on the blog but the images are just too good so we thought an 'in-pictures' was called for. All the quotes are from photography critic Vince Aletti and courtesy of The Museum of the City of New York.

Aletti has described Rose's Coney Island photographs as remarkabley intimate portraits of people relaxing as if in the privacy of their own homes: "Roaming the Coney Island beach, Rose was careful not to burst that bubble . Always moving, holding his camera at his side, and looking anywhere but at his subjects, he was able to catch people at ease and unaware, often at close range."

 “Stepping onto the sand at Coney Island is like stepping into history and going up against Weegee, Lisette Model, Leon Levinstein, Sid Grossman, Bruce Davidson, Richard Avedon, and everyone else who’s been drawn to that throng of half-naked humanity. When Aaron Rose took up the challenge in his twenties, he had other precedents in mind—Reginald Marsh and the artists of the Ashcan School—but his results, have a place in photography’s history too."

Untitled. © Aaron Rose. Courtesy Museum of the City of New York

Untitled. © Aaron Rose. Courtesy Museum of the City of New York

Untitled. © Aaron Rose. Courtesy Museum of the City of New York

Untitled. © Aaron Rose. Courtesy Museum of the City of New York

Rose's photographs showcase the rich mix of races, ethnicities, sexualities, and body types on display on the sandy landscape of Coney Island—described by Aletti as “a place where privacy is a state of mind.”

Untitled. © Aaron Rose. Courtesy Museum of the City of New York

Untitled. © Aaron Rose. Courtesy Museum of the City of New York

Untitled. © Aaron Rose. Courtesy Museum of the City of New York

You can find an interview with Aaron Rose in American Photo here.