Milton Rogovin: The Forgotten Ones [Hardcover]

Dave Isay (Author), David Miller (Author), Harvey Wang (Author), Milton Rogovin (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 2003

A celebration of the career of Milton Rogovin, the photographer whose sensitive portraits of working people have inspired generations.

After his refusal to answer absurd questions before the House UnAmerican Activities Committee ruined his optometry business, Rogovin began a new life with a camera. In the early 1970s, documenting lives on the Lower West Side of Buffalo, New York, he gave dignity to resident African Americans, Puerto Ricans, Native Americans, and poor whites. He has returned to photograph many of the same people in each of the following three decades. The remarkable results are in this book. 135 duotone photographs

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Rogovin's career as a documentary photographer began after he was called to testify before the House Un-American Activities Committee in 1957. Shunned by his home city of Buffalo, N. Y., Rogovin's optometry business foundered. Since his political voice as a citizen "was essentially silenced," a now 93-year-old Rogovin notes in an interview at the end of the book, he "decided to speak through photographs," documenting what working and street life do to people and families over time-and the ways in which people's joyous resiliency and intelligence come through nevertheless. Full-page black-and-white shots of Buffalo's "forgotten ones" from 1957 through 1984 take up more than half this collection, but 18 quartets of the city's Lower West Side area residents (1972-2002) stand out: in this remarkable series, Rogovin documents his subjects over four decades, photographing each person or family again every 10 or so years. The resulting quartets, printed over two-page spreads, are enhanced by interviews conducted by noted radio journalists Isay and Miller; one quartet subject, Johnny Grant, reflects how Rogovin's work challenges the cult of celebrity; Rogovin himself notes, "My photographs are rather straightforward. I don't try any monkey business-don't tell them where to sit, what to do. The only thing I do ask them is that they should look at the camera." Published in conjunction with an exhibit at the New-York Historical Society, this book shows nearly 50 years of that technique's amazing results.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review

A remarkable collection, sensitively captured with as much familiarity and warmth as a family photo album. -- Big Issue [London], Melissa Thompson, 18 August 2003

An outstanding and inspiring body of work. Unreservedly the best photography book I've seen all year. -- British Journal of Photography, Mick Moore, 13 August 2003

The black-and-white photographs...have a startling intensity, no less powerful for being spare and sympathetic. -- Washington Post, Michael Powell, 22 June 2003

[Rogovin] lets his subjects present themselves...the results are candid, unfancy...They are also expertly crafted, and beautiful. -- New York Times, Holland Cotter, 22 August 2003

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 128 pages
• Publisher: Quantuck Lane Press; 1ST edition (June 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 097145485X
• ISBN-13: 978-0971454859
• Product Dimensions: 10.3 x 8.8 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #171,057 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

28 of 28 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Real Life: No Chaser, December 21, 2007

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Vincent L. Smith (Washington, DC) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Milton Rogovin: The Forgotten Ones (Hardcover)

I'm a 35 year old black male, big, 245lbs, who lives in the rough part of Northeast DC. I'm also a photographer. I wept when I read along with some of these stories and looked at the photos. Real folks, just like you and me. Folks who worry about their mortgages, dislike their boss, happy its Friday, know how to party, have kids, and wife who can't fit in her wedding dress anymore. Snobs like to classify photography: documentary, post modern portraiture, premature ejaculatory something or other - doesn't matter, cause what this is, is real life caught on film. That's it. And its done with such evident love and devotion devoid of tricks that its revelatory as well as relevant.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Milton Rogovin: Ave Atque Vale, February 11, 2011

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Grady Harp (Los Angeles, CA United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Milton Rogovin: The Forgotten Ones (Hardcover)

Documentary photographer and humanitarian Milton Rogovin (December 30, 1909 - January 18, 2011) has died at age 101. His long life included serving as an optometrist until the House on UnAmerican Activities halted his practice due to his commitment that communism was a viable form of philosophy that would care for the disenfranchised. After his departure from his career as a professional he become one of the leading documentary photographers of his time, photographing portfolios of life in the mines, life in Mexico, and most sensitively this collection THE FORGOTTEN ONES - images of common people in both Buffalo, New York (1957 - 1984) and New York City's Lower West Side - a project that gave him the opportunity to capture the changes in the lives of people over four decades from 1972 to 2002. These images are repeated images of the same people or families that ne photographed every 10 years, forming quartets of time's passage on the faces, bodies, and outlooks and fortunes of those people he termed 'forgotten ones.' These are not manipulated images but rather straightforward, simple 'sittings' of everyday folk. They are immensely touching, warm, humorous, and tender.

This book is enhanced by interviews with the subjects conducted by radio journalists David Isay and David Miller. With the running commentary interspersed with Rogovin's full page black and white photographs the forgotten ones' come very much alive, telling us the stories of the passage of time that will touch the hearts of every reader who experiences this book. Rogovin will be very much missed. Grady Harp, February 11

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Great City Captured, March 31, 2011

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G. Palmer "Gps" (Westerly, RI United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Milton Rogovin: The Forgotten Ones (Hardcover)

This week someone forwarded to me some pics of the Detroit decline: beautiful theaters turning to dust, houses falling in... What Rogovin has captured here is the vibrancy of an area (Buffalo's south side) that once had thousands of manufacturing jobs. He's focussed on the people holding those jobs, along with their families. Last time I visited, these factories were dust. I'll be looking for a similar photographic essay of Detroit!