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ISSUE 16

Been Through It

BY Allison Meier

Black-and-white photograph of an adult reclining on a rumpled bed while holding a cigarette, with an infant lying across the adult's lap and looking toward the camera.
© LARRY CLARK; COURTESY OF THE ARTIST AND LUHRING AUGUSTINE, NEW YORK.
Larry Clark (American, b. 1962). "Untitled," 1963. Gelatin silver print, 14 x 11". Philbrook Museum of Art, Tulsa, Oklahoma. Museum purchase, 2018.1.23.

WHEN IT WAS published in 1971, Larry Clark’s Tulsa, a monograph of black-and-white photographs of drug use, sex, and violence among the city’s youth, shocked viewers and affected the gritty aesthetic of similarly autobiographical work that Clark has produced over his career. It also established the Tulsa-born photographer and filmmaker as an honest and unflinching portrayer of subcultures. Now Philbrook Museum of Art in his hometown is revisiting this influential series with an exhibition of a recently acquired fifty-print portfolio.

Larry Clark: Tulsa will be on view from June 1 through November 10, 2019, at Philbrook Downtown, in the Tulsa Arts District, 116 East Brady Street. philbrook.org