David Bradley Armstrong (May 24, 1954 – October 26, 2014) was an American photographer based in New York.
Armstrong first exhibited his work in 1977 and had one-person shows in New York City, Boston, Berlin, Paris, Rome, Zurich, Düsseldorf, Lisbon, Munich, and Amsterdam. His work was included in numerous group museum exhibitions including ''Visions from America: Photographs from The Whitney Museum of American Art, 1940-2001'' in 2003, ''Emotions and Relations'' at the
Hamburger Kunsthalle
The Hamburger Kunsthalle is the art museum of the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg, Germany. It is one of the largest art museums in the country. The museum consists of three connected buildings, dating from 1869 (main building), 1921 (Kuppelsaa ...
in 1998, and the 1995
Whitney Biennial
The Whitney Biennial is a biennial exhibition of contemporary American art, typically by young and lesser known artists, on display at the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York City, United States. The event began as an annual exhibition in ...
.
Personal life
Armstrong was born in 1954, in
Arlington, Massachusetts
Arlington is a New England town, town in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, Middlesex County, Massachusetts. The town is six miles (10 km) northwest of Boston, Massachusetts, Boston, and its population was 46,308 at the 2020 census.
History ...
The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
''. He graduated from the Satya Community School, an alternative high school in Lincoln, Massachusetts, where he met
Nan Goldin
Nancy Goldin (born September 12, 1953) is an American photographer and activist. Her work often explores LGBT subcultures, moments of intimacy, the HIV/AIDS crisis, and the opioid epidemic. Her most notable work is '' The Ballad of Sexual Depe ...
at the age of 14.Jane Harris, Home-Work: Photographer David Armstrong Talks About His Latest Monograph, 615 Jefferson Avenue , 19 December 2011. Accessed 15 December 2017. Even though David was considered not obviously gay, he had been open to his sexual orientation long before legal action for the LGBT community had been in place. On October 26, 2014, at the age of 60, he died in
Los Angeles, California
Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...
due to liver cancer.
Career
Armstrong entered into the
School of the Museum of Fine Arts
The School of the Museum of Fine Arts at Tufts University (Museum School, SMFA at Tufts, or SMFA; formerly the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston) is the art school of Tufts University, a private research university in Boston, Massachus ...
in Boston as a painting major, but soon switched to photography after studying alongside Goldin, with whom he shared an apartment. He attended the School of the Museum of Fine Arts and
Cooper Union
The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art (Cooper Union) is a private college at Cooper Square in New York City. Peter Cooper founded the institution in 1859 after learning about the government-supported École Polytechnique in ...
from 1974 to 1978, and he earned a B.F.A from
Tufts University
Tufts University is a private research university on the border of Medford and Somerville, Massachusetts. It was founded in 1852 as Tufts College by Christian universalists who sought to provide a nonsectarian institution of higher learning. ...
in 1988 and Judy Ann Goldman Fine Art in
Boston
Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...
.
During the late 1970s, Armstrong became associated with the "Boston School" of photography, which included artists such as Nan Goldin,
Mark Morrisroe
Mark Morrisroe (January 10, 1959 – July 24, 1989) was an American performance artist and photographer. He is known for his performances and photographs, which were germane in the development of the punk scene in Boston in the 1970s and the art ...
and
Jack Pierson
Jack Pierson (born 1960 in Plymouth, Massachusetts) is a photographer and an artist. Pierson is known for his photographs, collages, word sculptures, installations, drawings and artists books. His "Self-Portrait" series was shown in the 2004 Whit ...
. Their aesthetic was based on intimate snapshot portraits in saturated color.
Armstrong first received critical attention for his intimate portraits of men, either lovers or friends, in sharp focus. In the nineties, he began to photograph cityscapes and landscapes in
soft focus
In photography, soft focus is a lens flaw, in which the lens forms images that are blurred due to spherical aberration. A soft focus lens deliberately introduces spherical aberration in order to give the appearance of blurring the image while ...
to contrast with the resolution of his portraits. Street lights, electric signs and cars are reduced to a sensual mottled blur, complementing the vividness and tactility of his portraits.
In 1981, Armstrong created a series of black-and-white portraits which he showed at PS1's ''New York/New Wave'' exhibition. In 1996, Elisabeth Sussman, curator of photographs at the
Whitney Museum
The Whitney Museum of American Art, known informally as "The Whitney", is an art museum in the Meatpacking District, Manhattan, Meatpacking District and West Village neighborhoods of Manhattan in New York City. It was founded in 1930 by Gertrude ...
, enlisted Armstrong's help in composing Goldin's first retrospective. She gained such respect for Armstrong’s eye, she acquired a few of his pieces for the Whitney permanent collection and he was subsequently featured in the Whitney 1994 biennial.
Armstrong’s work has also appeared in publications such as ''
Vogue Paris
The French edition of ''Vogue'' magazine, formerly called ''Vogue Paris'', is a fashion magazine that has been published since 1920.
History 1920–54
The French edition of ''Vogue'' was first issued on 15 June 1920, the first editor-in-chief ...
'', ''
L'Uomo Vogue
''Vogue'' is an American monthly fashion and lifestyle magazine that covers many topics, including haute couture fashion, beauty, culture, living, and runway. Based at One World Trade Center in the Financial District of Lower Manhattan, ''Vogue ...
'', ''
Arena Homme +
''Arena Homme +'' is a fashion magazine for men published biannually since 1994. The first issue was published in Spring/Summer 1994.GQ'', ''Self Service'', ''
Another Man
Another or variant may refer to:
* anOther or Another Magazine, culture and fashion magazine
* ''Another'' (novel), a Japanese horror novel
** ''Another'' (film), a Japanese 2012 live-action film based on the novel
* Another River, a river in the ...
'' and '' Japanese Vogue'' and he has worked on the advertising campaigns of companies such as
Zegna
Zegna () is an Italian luxury fashion house. It was founded in 1910 by Ermenegildo Zegna in Trivero, Biella of the Piedmont region of Northern Italy.
As of 2021, the Group is a public company. It is listed on the New York Stock Exchange.
His ...
Burberry
Burberry is a British luxury fashion house established in 1856 by Thomas Burberry headquartered in London, England. It currently designs and distributes ready to wear, including trench coats (for which it is most famous), leather accessories, ...
, Puma, and Barbara Bui. He once shot editorials for ''Wonderland'', ''Vogue Hommes'' and ''
Purple
Purple is any of a variety of colors with hue between red and blue. In the RGB color model used in computer and television screens, purples are produced by mixing red and blue light. In the RYB color model historically used by painters, pu ...
''.
Although his primary subjects include portraits of young boys and men, Armstrong also released a book of land and cityscapes in 2002, entitled ''All Day, Every Day.''
Exhibitions
* ''A Double Life'',
Matthew Marks Gallery
Matthew Marks is an art gallery located in the New York City neighborhood of Chelsea and the Los Angeles neighborhood of West Hollywood. Founded in 1991 by Matthew Marks, it specializes in modern and contemporary painting, sculpture, photography, ...
, New York City, 1993
* ''Landscapes'', Matthew Marks Gallery, New York City, 1995
* ''The Silver Cord'', Matthew Marks Gallery, New York City, 1997
* ''Emotions and Relations'', Hamburger Kunsthalle Hamburg, Germany, 1998
* Gallerie Barbara Farber/Rob Jurka Amsterdam, The Netherlands, 1998
* Ugo Ferranti Rome, Italy, 1998
* ''New Photographs'', Matthew Marks Gallery, New York City, 1999
* Scalo New York, New York City, 1999
* Galerie Fricke, Berlin, 1999
* Judy Goldman Fine Art, Boston, 1999
* Bang Street Gallery, Provincetown, Massachusetts, 1999
* Joao Graça, Lisbon, 2000
* Open Studio, Toronto, 2000
* ''Photography in Boston: 1955 – 1985'', DeCordova Museum and Sculpture Park, Lincoln, Massachusetts, 2000 (catalogue )
* New Editions, Marlborough Graphics, New York City, 2000
* Faces, Bang Street Gallery, Provincetown, Massachusetts, 2000
* ''Cityscapes and Landscapes'', Galerie M+R Fricke, Düsseldorf, 2001
* Bang Street Gallery, Provincetown, Massachusetts, 2001
* ''CITY: Prints and Photographs from the 30s through Today'', Brooke Alexander, New York City, 2001
* Places and People, L.A. Galerie Lothar Albrecht, Frankfurt, 2001
* Building Dwelling Thinking, Judy Ann Goldman Fine Art, Boston, 2001
* Tenth Anniversary Exhibition, 100 Drawings and Photographs, Matthew Marks Gallery, New York City, 2001 (catalogue )
* ''City Light'', Matthew Marks Gallery, New York City, 2002
* ''David Armstrong: All Day Every Day'', Scalo Galerie, Zurich, Switzerland, 2002
* ''Visions from America. Photographs from the Whitney Museum of American Art, 1940-2001'', Whitney Museum of American Art, New York City, 2002 (catalogue )
* ''Recent Acquisitions'', Dallas Museum of Art, Texas, 2002
* ''David Armstrong: portraits and other works, early and recent'', Galerie M + R Fricke, Düsseldorf, 2003
* ''Flesh Tones: 100 Years of the Nude'', Robert Mann Gallery, New York City, 2003
* ''Your Picture on My Wall'', Matthew Marks Gallery, New York City, 2004
* ''Likeness: Portraits of Artists by Other Artists'', CCA Wattis Institute for Contemporary Arts, San Francisco, 2004
* ''Indigestible Correctness II'', Kenny Schachter Gallery, New York City, 2004
* ''Model Boy'', Judy Ann Goldman Fine Art, Boston, 2006
* ''Some Tribes'', Christophe Guye Galerie, Zurich, Switzerland, 2006
* ''True Romance - Allegorien der Liebe von der Renaissance bis heute'', Kunsthalle Wien (Halle 1, Halle 2 im MQ), Vienna, 2007
Publications
Publications by Armstrong
*''Polariods.'' 2013. .
*''David Armstrong: All Day Every Day.'' 2002. .
*''The Silver Cord.'' 1997. .
Publications with others
*''Night and Day.'' By Armstrong, Rene Richard and Jack Pierson. 2012 .
*''David Armstrong: 615 Jefferson Avenue.'' By Armstrong, Nick Vogelson, Anton Aparin and Boyd Holbrook. 2011. .
*''A Double Life.'' By Armstrong and Nan Goldin. 1994 .
*''Faces of Hope:AIDS and Addiction in America.''By Armstrong and Rory Kennedy. 2001.