Photographer Paul Fusco
Biography from Paul Fusco Photo.com. Photo by Bill Ganzel.
American, b. 1930, d. July 15, 2020
Paul Fusco was born in Leominster, Massachusetts. He became interested in photography around 1945 and pursued it as a serious hobby. He eventually gained some awareness and experience as a photographer in the U.S. Army Signal Corps in Korea in 1951-53. After the war he studied photojournalism at Ohio University and received his B.F.A. in 1957. He moved to New York and started his career as a staff photographer with LOOK Magazine.
Fusco worked as a staff photographer for LOOK until 1971. Most of his photography was of the many social issues that were of major concern in the U.S. and in many other places in the world. During that period he produced significant works on destitute miners in Kentucky, Hispanic ghetto life in NY, runaway youths trying to survive in New York City, the countercultural in California, everyday life across the U.S., farming, Indian reservations, small towns, migrant labor, Black life in the Mississippi delta, religious proselitizing in the south and many other topics.
He also looked at life and social issues in other countries: Russia, England, Israel, Egypt, Japan, Southeast Asia, Brazil, Chile, Mexico and an extended study of the "Iron Curtain" stretching from Northern Finland to Iran.
After LOOK folded in 1971, Fusco approached Magnum Photos and, in 1973, became an associate and then a member in 1974. His photography has been published widely in many major U.S. magazines: Time, Life, Newsweek, NY Times Magazine, Mother Jones, Psychology Today and others. Paul's work has also been widely published in magazines throughout the world through Magnum Photos.
Paul has spent most of his career trying to understand what life is like and what brings meaning to the people he photographs. He tries to make the reality of those lives emotionally and intellectually understandable to others through his photographs. He dies in San Anselmo, California, on July 15, 2020.
Books:
- 2008, Paul Fusco: RFK, Aperture, USA
- 2001, Chernobyl Legacy, de.Mo, USA
- 2000, RFK Funeral Train, Umbrage/Magnum USA
- 1977, Marina & Ruby: Training a Filly with Love, William Morrow, USA
- 1974, The Photo Essay: Paul Fusco & Will McBride, Crowell, USA
- 1971, What to Do Until the Messiah Comes, Collier, USA
- 1970, La Causa: The California Grape Strike, Collier, USA
- 1968, Sense Relaxation: Below the Mind, Collier, USA