The Floating Foundation of Photography was a New York photography exhibition space, meeting place and teaching center. It is famous as a gathering place for a generation of influential New York photographers, including

W. Eugene Smith William Eugene Smith (December 30, 1918 – October 15, 1978) was an American photojournalist.Peacock, Scot. "W(illiam) Eugene Smith." ''Contemporary Authors Online'', Gale, 2003. ''Biography In Context'' He has been described as "perhaps the si ...

Arthur Tress Arthur Tress (born November 24, 1940) is an American photographer. He is known for his staged surrealism and exposition of the human body. Early life and education Tress comes from a Jewish background; his parents immigrated from Europe. He was ...

, Mary Ellen Mark,

Les Krims Leslie Robert Krims (born August 16, 1942) is an American conceptualist photographer living in Buffalo, New York. He is noted for his carefully arranged fabricated photographs (called "fictions"), various candid series, a satirical edge, dark humo ...

, Judy Dater,

Lisette Model Lisette Model (born Elise Amelie Felicie Stern; November 10, 1901 – March 30, 1983) was an Austrian-born American photographer primarily known for the frank humanism of her street photography. A prolific photographer in the 1940s and a member ...

and

Lee Witkin Lee may refer to: Name Given name * Lee (given name), a given name in English Surname * Chinese surnames romanized as Li or Lee: ** Li (surname 李) or Lee (Hanzi ), a common Chinese surname ** Li (surname 利) or Lee (Hanzi ), a Chinese ...

. It was also one of the first institutions to engage in teaching photography in socially marginalized communities such as prisons, mental institutions and drug rehabilitation programs. The Foundation was founded by photographer Maggie Sherwood in 1970 after she bought an old houseboat, painted it purple and offered it as a gallery and photo center for many of her friends. Within a few years she added a classroom and darkrooms. The houseboat was originally moored at the 79th Street Boat Basin, but in later years it traveled up and down the Hudson River. Photography critic

A. D. Coleman Allan Douglass Coleman (born 1943) is an independent American critic, historian, educator, and curator of photography and photo-based art, and a widely published commentator on new digital technologies. He has published 8 books and more than 2000 ...

described it as "moored at the literal edge of Manahattan, marginal by definition, it served a key role as the medium of photography itself moved from the periphery to the center of cultural discourse and creative activity." The Foundation continued to be an influential center for photography in New York until two years after Sherwood's death in 1984. In 2009 the

Samuel Dorsky Museum of Art The State University of New York at New Paltz (SUNY New Paltz or New Paltz) is a public university in New Paltz, New York. It traces its origins to the New Paltz Classical School, a secondary institution founded in 1828 and reorganized as an a ...

at the

State University of New York at New Paltz The State University of New York at New Paltz (SUNY New Paltz or New Paltz) is a public university in New Paltz, New York. It traces its origins to the New Paltz Classical School, a secondary institution founded in 1828 and reorganized as an a ...

mounted a retrospective exhibition about the Floating Foundation, its influences and the photographers who were part of what happened there. The catalog of the exhibition, ''Taking a Different Tack: Maggie Sherwood and the Floating Foundation of Photography'' , includes many images of the photographers who met there and the houseboat itself.

References

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External links

The Floating Foundation of Photography
Culture of New York City Defunct art museums and galleries in Manhattan Photography museums and galleries in the United States Art galleries established in 1970 Art galleries disestablished in 1986 1970 establishments in New York City 1986 disestablishments in New York (state)