Review: ‘Larry Fink. Cool Cookie’ at Galerie Julian Sander

“People like to have their picture taken. Some will endure the pain of flash blindness because recorded experiences are somehow more important to them than actual experiences. It’s a profound aspect of our culture, this drive for proof. It allows me to wade into a party. Once inside, a physical bond is created between them and me; objectivity and self-portraits alternate. If I walk around in a tuxedo and tap my toes, I’m a fancy guy. When I walk through Martins Creek, I am a rolling country belly,” wrote American photographer Larry Fink in his book: Social graces.

Fink had the rare quality of being able to blend in with environments usually inhabited by different socio-economic classes, and no one would bat an eye. And so, in his photo series ‘Social Graces’ – which earned him international fame and recognition – the collection encapsulated Fink’s time documenting the crème de la crème of 1970s Manhattan society at chic galas and Studio 54, as well as the lives of his neighbors (the Sabatines) in rural Martins Creek, Pennsylvania.

A selection of images from Social graces is currently on view at Galerie Julian Sander in “Larry Fink. Tough cookie. Early prints from the Gerd Sander Collection.” In an inviting space on a busy city street in Cologne, Germany, gallery owner Sander – who knew Fink personally since his father, Gerd, represented him in New York City – has put together a robust compilation that reflects the legacy of Fink who passed away a year ago. ago in November 2023. This exhibition pays tribute to him as a visual storyteller and at the same time honors the palpable bond that Sander and his family shared with him.

For example, a portrait of Larry Fink hangs on the side of the main room, closer to the office portion of the gallery. Gerd Sander photographed Fink in black and white: expressionless, sitting in front of an American flag with his hands in his pockets. The casual observer may overlook this detail, but its symbolic presence in the gallery is a testament to how personal the exhibition is – not to mention the way the image itself and its position portray the photographer capturing the intruder Fink was in his professional work. He knew how to navigate interactions while keeping his distance.

Larry Fink was born in Brooklyn in 1941 to Bernard Fink (a lawyer) and Sylvia Caplan Fink (an activist) and grew up on Long Island. He studied at the New School for Social Research in Manhattan, where Lisette Model became one of his mentors. “Photography begins with the projection of the photographer, his insight into life and himself in the image,” Model once said. Fink seemed to have taken these words to heart.

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Fink wrote that Social graces was born of “…anger against the privileged class – its abuses, lustful folds and unfulfilled lives.” Still, he emphasized that the photos “…were taken in the spirit of empathy. Emotional, physical, sensual empathy. This work is political, not polemical.”

If you look closely at many of the frames in the gallery space, the similarities between the classes become clear: a common thread of happiness, sadness and isolation emerges. These people may have lived different lives, but their universal experiences shine through in these moments: the parties, the conversations and the cigarettes. The first print hanging in the show Jeanne Sabatine, New Year’s Eve1979, shows a corpulent, blissful woman staring into the distance in her party hat, about to celebrate. It sets the tone of the exhibition.

When asked about a photo that embodies the spirit of this show, Sander suggested “the photo of the two girls with the man looking from the left side of the frame (Second Hungarian Ball, Hotel Pierre, NYC1978). These beautiful girls are having fun and enjoying this ominous, undefined danger of this guy who could be a nice guy. He can also be a complete creep. It’s completely ambiguous. There’s nothing that can give you any context about him other than his face is that little part of his head in the photo.”

Sander can testify to Fink’s intuition in recording what happened before his eyes. After all, he’s known Fink since he was a child. When he met Observer, he talked about a photo of himself as a baby sitting on the photographer’s lap, and Fink’s innate sense of observation is one of the qualities Sander remembers vividly.

“He looked at physical and body language,” Sander said. “These small parts become important when taking the photo, but also when reading people. I’ve seen him at several events we attended together. He went in and first crawled back, scanned the room, looked at people, started a conversation with one person, started a conversation with the next, picked out some kind of anecdote, made people laugh. He added: ‘No one really knew: was he a hippie? Was he an artist? Was he a hedge fund manager who wore shabby clothes? What’s the story with this guy? Then he could start taking pictures.”

While “Larry Fink. Tough Cookie” contains a fraction of Fink’s archive – for years he worked the Vanity Fair Oscar after-parties with his signature flash and his photography has appeared in the pages of GQ and The New Yorker – Sander recently announced that MUUS has acquired his estate.

“Larry’s work needs to be seen because it represents a real time in American history,” he said. “After he passed away, there was a phase where there were a lot of photos on Instagram that people had taken that looked like Larry Fink photos.”

Accordingly, acclaimed film director Sofia Coppola expressed her desire to see “Tough Cookie” on Instagram. With her attention to detail in her own cinematic storytelling, she knows a creative kindred spirit when she sees one – and one who has captured American history with a focused eye.

“Larry Fink. Tough cookie. Early prints from the Gerd Sander Collection‘ can be seen at Galerie Julian Sander until November 30.