The Reading Warehouse

A deep dive into the Davidson archive

Lesser Known presents 130 photos by Bruce Davidson, made between 1955 and 1993, that have been overlooked until now. The book is the result of a year long undertaking by the photographer and his studio to examine 60 years of contact sheets and edit individual images into a singular work that plots his professional and personal growth.

Lesser Known showcases Davidson's perpetual versatility and adaptability as a photographer through a focus on early assignments, the intimate documentation of his family life and smaller series such as unpublished color photographs from major bodies of work including East 100th Street and Campers.

Born in Chicago in 1933, Bruce Davidson began photographing at the age of ten in Oak Park, Illinois. Davidson studied at the Rochester Institute of Technology and Yale University before being drafted into the army. After leaving military service in 1957, he freelanced for Life and in 1958 became a member of Magnum Photos. Davidson's solo exhibitions include those at The Museum of Modern Art, the Smithsonian American Art Museum and the Walker Art Center, and his awards include a Guggenheim Fellowship and the first NEA Grant in Photography. In 2011 he was awarded an honorary doctorate from the Corcoran College of Art and Design. Davidson's books include Outside Inside (2010), Subway (2011), Black & White (2012) and England / Scotland 1960 (2014).