ANTHONY FRIEDKIN:THE GAY ESSAY

For more than forty years, Los Angeles-based photographer Anthony Friedkin has created captivating full-frame black-and-white images documenting people, cities, and landscapes. During the culturally tumultuous years of 1969 and 1970, Friedkin made a series of photographs that offer an eloquent and expressive visual chronicle of the gay communities of Los Angeles and San Francisco at the time. This is the first book to explore that series, titled The Gay Essay, in depth, within the broader historical context that gave rise to it.

1969 witnessed the Stonewall riots in New York City and was a turning point in the history of community building and organized political activism among homosexuals in the United States. The Gay Essay provides a singular, intimate record of this crucial moment. Friedkin’s images taken in streets, hotels, bars, and dancehalls demonstrate a sensitivity and an understanding that imbues these photographs with an enduring resonance. This handsome hardbound book is published by Yale University Press in conjunction with a retrospective exhibition of the work at the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, and features seventy-five full-page plates accompanied by engaging essays and a poem by Eileen Myles.