Untitled
Maker
Larry Clark
(American, b. 1943)
Date1971
MediumGelatin silver print
DimensionsImage: 12 x 8 in. (30.4 x 20.3 cm)
Sheet: 14 x 11 in. (35.6 x 27.9 cm)
Sheet: 14 x 11 in. (35.6 x 27.9 cm)
Credit LineGift of the Estate of Lester and Betty Guttman
Object number2014.215
Status
Not on viewLarry Clark started photographing at thirteen, taking pictures for his mother’s baby photography business. In his early twenties, he began photographing his friends’ parties, which led him closer to the subjects that would solidify his reputation as a photographer. The image seen here first appeared in Clark’s 1971 book Tulsa, a first-hand account of his time spent immersed in Tulsa, Oklahoma’s drug culture. He photographed the self-destructive and deteriorating lives of drug dealers and users, including his own friends, in intimate scenes that often involved casual nudity. Clark’s photographs and others like them contrasted with humanistic Depression-era photography, both breaching social boundaries and revealing young Americans’ more tolerant attitudes towards drugs and sex in the 1970s. Despite being criticized for exploiting his subjects and glamorizing an outlaw sensibility, Clark published another controversial book, Teenage Lust (1983) and produced a film, Kids (1995), which features explicit scenes of underage drug use and sex.
