Mark Steinmetz: Chicago
Nazraeli Press is delighted to announce the release of Chicago by Mark Steinmetz.
This remarkable collection of photographs, taken between 1988 and 1991, offers a compelling portrait of both the city and the era in which the images were made.
Although Steinmetz is best known for his work in the American South, his connection with Chicago represents a significant and evolving chapter in his artistic journey. The city’s distinctive neighborhoods, architecture, and vibrant energy provided him with a rich visual landscape—one that allowed him to capture quiet, introspective moments and intimate portraits of its residents. Chicago presents a unique vision of the city and stands as an important milestone in Steinmetz’s ongoing exploration of the American experience.
Chicago opens with an essay by Peter Galassi, who served as Chief Curator of Photography at MoMA in New York from 1991 to 2011.
Elegantly printed in duotone on specially selected matte art paper and bound in a two-tone brown linen hardcover, the first edition is limited to 1,500 copies. A special edition of 100 numbered and signed copies, presented in a custom slipcase;
a deluxe edition of 12 copies, each including a signed and numbered gelatin silver print made by the artist, is also available.
About the Author
Since the mid-1980s, Mark Steinmetz has developed a distinctive photographic voice grounded in observation and serendipity. Working primarily in black and white and often in extended series, his photographs draw attention to the quiet, often overlooked rhythms of everyday life. His subjects range from adolescents and city dwellers to scenes of American suburbia, the streets of Paris, and various Italian locales.
Rather than constructing linear stories or aiming for fixed emotional outcomes, Steinmetz prefers to leave space for ambiguity and interpretation. His images encourage contemplation, often portraying individuals in moments of solitude or reflection. In South Central (1991–1993), a series made in and around Knoxville, Tennessee, Steinmetz captures the subtle melancholy of youth in suburban landscapes. This reflective tone carries into Greater Atlanta (1994–2009), where he documents the textures of contemporary American life—fast food chains, traffic, parking lots, and the sprawl of the urban edge—through images that feel at once understated and deeply evocative.
Born in 1961, Steinmetz lives in Athens, Georgia. He earned his MFA in photography from Yale in 1986 and spent a formative period working alongside Garry Winogrand in Los Angeles in the late 1980s. His teaching career has included positions at institutions such as Harvard University, Yale University, Sarah Lawrence College, and Emory University.
Steinmetz’s work has been widely exhibited, with solo and group shows at the Museum of Modern Art (New York), the Whitney Museum of American Art, the Museum of Contemporary Art (Georgia), the Art Institute of Chicago, the Museum of Fine Arts (Houston), and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. His photographs are held in the permanent collections of major museums including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, MoMA, the Whitney, SFMOMA, the Art Institute of Chicago, and the Yale University Art Gallery.
Nazraeli Press has published nine monographs of his work to date, including South Central (2006), South East (2008), Greater Atlanta (2009), The Players (2015), and Angel City West (2016). Among his many accolades, Steinmetz is a recipient of a John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation Fellowship and was recently commissioned by the High Museum of Art in Atlanta as part of their Picturing the South series.
