Joel Meyerowitz
JOEL MEYEROWITZ "THE LEVEE, ST. LOUIS, MO" 1978
Joel Meyerowitz (b. 1938) is one of the most influential American photographers of the twentieth century and a pioneer in establishing colour photography as a serious artistic medium.
Beginning his career as a street photographer in New York during the 1960s, Meyerowitz gradually shifted toward a slower, more contemplative approach, using large-format cameras to explore the relationship between light, architecture, and the American landscape. His photographs transform ordinary urban scenes into richly atmospheric studies of colour, space, and perception.
Meyerowitz captured this photograph during several extended visits to St. Louis between 1977 and 1978. Rather than focusing on the city's iconic Gateway Arch alone, Meyerowitz photographed the streets, riverfront, and overlooked spaces that define its urban fabric. The resulting images reveal a city marked by openness and transition, where broad expanses of light and unexpected views lend the most commonplace locations a quiet monumentality.
In The Levee, Meyerowitz balances formal precision with an acute sensitivity to atmosphere. Bands of colour, geometry, and light organize the composition, while the expansive riverfront conveys a sense of stillness that contrasts with the site's industrial history.
This work elevates an everyday American landscape through subtle shifts in colour and an awareness of natural light, inviting viewers to linger over details that might otherwise go unnoticed. This photograph is included in Meyerowitz' 1980 photographic book, St. Louis and the Arch (pp. 79).
Meyerowitz's photographs are held in the collections of major institutions including the Museum of Modern Art, New York, the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, the International Center of Photography, New York, the Princeton University Art Museum, and the Art Institute of Chicago.
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"The Levee, St. Louis, Missouri, 1978"
USA, 1978
Dye coupler print
15.25"H 19.5"W (work)
22.75"H 29.25"W (framed)
Signed, dated, and numbered on verso
From an edition of 20
Very good condition
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