Bill Cunningham (1929 - 2016) was a documentarian of fashion for over half a century, and his photographs are informed by a lifelong passion for style. Part of the fabric of the ever-changing metropolis of New York City, Cunningham became renowned for his ability to spot and photograph fashion trends at their inception. Singular in the history of fashion photography, Cunningham reinvented the genre and embraced straightforward images taken on the city streets, as opposed to the use of posed models, within the studio setting. due to his fastidious approach to image making and a devotion to his craft, Bill Cunningham created an extraordinary body of work that not only captured the history of fashion, but also the zeitgeist of his time.
Bill Cunningham was born in 1929 and raised in Massachusetts. Cunningham briefly attended Harvard University before moving to New York City to pursue a career as a milliner. After designing hats for a number of years and working with bespoke retailers like Chez Ninon, Cunningham observed women's fashion trends moving away from headwear. With this observation, he made the prescient transition into journalism. Working as a columnist for the Women's Wear Daily, and as a New York based reporter for the Chicago Tribune in the mid 1960s, Cunningham began what became a lifelong career in fashion journalism. During his career working for the New York Times, Cunningham kept his freedom as a freelancer close. He would frequently contribute to noted fashion magazines such as Vogue and Town & Country, and helped launch Details in 1982. Cunningham would work with the Times until his death in 2016.
Bill Cunningham's life and work have been written about extensively in publications. He has also been the subject of an award-winning documentary, Bill Cunningham New York (2010) and more recently, The Times of Bill Cunningham (2018). At the time of his death, Cunningham left behind the manuscript of an autobiography, which he titled Fashion Climbing
Prior to his passing, Cunningham compiled a manuscript of his autobiography, titled Fashion Climbing, which was then published posthumously in 2018. The Bill Cunningham foundation was established to promote and support Cunningham's photographs and his legacy.
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EXHIBITION REVIEW: REWIND: 20TH ANNIVERSARY SHOW
Emily Capone, Musée: Vanguard of Photography Culture, January 10, 2022 -
BILL CUNNINGHAM, NEW YORK, NEW YORK @BRUCE SILVERSTEIN
Loring Knoblauch, Collector Daily, October 16, 2020 -
GOSEE LOVES ... BILL CUNNINGHAM | NEW YORK, NEW YORK
GoSee, October 14, 2020 -
BILL CUNNINGHAM: A LOVE LETTER TO NEW YORK
David Valero, Metal Magazine, September 26, 2020 -
'I WAS SNAPPED BY THE LEGENDARY BILL CUNNINGHAM
Sarah Kennedy, The Telegraph, September 16, 2020
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20th Anniversary Exhibition
REWIND 16 Dec 2021 - 19 Feb 2022 Gallery ExhibitionsBruce Silverstein Gallery is pleased to announce REWIND, a celebration of our 20th anniversary. Featuring works selected from over one hundred exhibitions, REWIND is an opportunity to revisit the gallery's...Read more -
Bill Cunningham | From the Runway to the Street
Multimedia Art Museum, Moscow Museum, Moscow House of Photography 2 Jun - 22 Aug 2021 Public Exhibitions -
Bill Cunningham
New York, New York 26 Sep - 19 Dec 2020Bruce Silverstein Gallery is pleased to announce its first exhibition of works by the photographer Bill Cunningham. Featuring over 80 unique vintage photographs spanning five decades, Bill Cunningham | New...Read more
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Paris Photo
9 - 12 Nov 2023For this year’s Paris Photo fair, Bruce Silverstein Gallery will be featuring the works of two Native American artists, Sarah Sense and Dakota Mace. Sense,...Read more -
The Photography Show Presented by AIPAD
415 5th Avenue, New York, NY 10016 31 Mar - 2 Apr 2023From March 31 - April 2, 2023, Bruce Silverstein Gallery will be exhibiting at The Photography Show presented by AIPAD in Booth # 108; showcasing...Read more -
Paris Photo
11 - 14 Nov 2021 -
Frieze Masters
13 - 17 Oct 2021For the tenth anniversary of Frieze Masters, Bruce Silverstein Gallery is pleased to present Series and Sequence , an exhibition featuring works spanning the nearly...Read more -
The Armory Show
9 - 12 Sep 2021Bruce Silverstein is pleased to return to the 2021 edition of The Armory Show. This year, the gallery will present a timely installation that honors...Read more