American Sports, 1970: Or How We Spent the War in Vietnam - Hardcover

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1597110507 ISBN 13: 9781597110501

Publisher: Aperture, 2008

Synopsis

Coolly observational yet intensely engaging, the immensely influential American photographer Tod Papageorge's "American Sports, 1970" draws a subtle but sharp parallel between the war in Vietnam and the American attitude toward spectator sports during a time of conflict. In 1970, a watershed year for popular opinion against the war, Papageorge was awarded a Guggenheim Foundation grant. His ostensible subject--sports and its role in American life--quickly became charged with the political, racial and sexual conflicts ignited by the war. Each and every picture is electric with disquiet. Military men in uniform parade across a field or relax in the stands. Cheerleaders rehearse beneath the gaze of the police. A couple sprawls and embraces in the debris of the Indianapolis 500. And hundreds of fans are drawn in unsettling group portraits at various stadiums and in the stands of many classic American sporting events.
Papageorge eloquently and palpably captures the civic and psychic distress of the time on the faces of his subjects and in their gestures and interactions. This is a remarkable, unexpected body of work--published here for the first time--by an artist and teacher who has shaped the creative efforts of many of the most influential American photographers of the past three decades.

About this title

About the Author:

Tod Papageorge earned his BA in English literature from the University of New Hampshire, in 1962, where he began taking photographs during his last semester. He is the recipient of two Guggenheim Fellowships and two National Endowment for the Arts Fellowships. In 1979, Papageorge was named Yale University’s Walker Evans Professor of Photography and director of graduate studies in photography, positions he continues to hold today.

Review:

"In these powerful images he captured the undercurrent of negotiated violence inherent in sports while referencing a war taking place half a world away. Whether the playing field is full of clowns, drum majorettes or the players themselves, the bleachers are held in thrall. This is a hard look at we the people during a time that was a turning point in America's self-image." -- Shawn O'Sullivan --B&W: Black & White Magazine

"There is plenty of testosterone-fuelled posturing, languid boredom, pomp and parade, brief clashes of flesh and bone and blood, bad food, girls, medals, rampant sexism, farce and false bravado - in other words, the stuff of war, packaged and primped for the 'folks back home'." -- Paul Graham --Photoworks

"He describes his pictures as 'rattingly dense,' and their disorderliness can be off-putting; you don't know where to look. But Papageorge does. Without attempting to bring order to chaos, he frames it so that our ricocheting eye always finds a place to rest." -- Vince Aletti --Photograph magazine

"Providing a stark contrast to the experience of America's young soldiers nearly half a world away, these enraptured fans might also serve as an analogy. In Papageorge's eyes, even our national pastime has failed to relieve us from the discontents of war." -- Joshua Chuang --Yale Alumni Magazine

"[the book] captures the jingoism of America in the 1970s through a wide-angle lens. Crowds of spectators at sporting events form eerie evidence of a nation embroiled in war." --Joshua Chuang

About this edition

• Publisher: Aperture
• Publication date: 2008
• ISBN 10: 1597110507
• ISBN 13: 9781597110501
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 131