This week singing photographer and NYC treasure Arlene Gottfried—native Brooklynite, beloved photographer and sister of Gilbert—died at her home at the age of 66 surrounded by friends and family, according to her dealer and owner of the Daniel Cooney Fine Art Gallery. She was described as "a quiet defender of the grimily vibrant denizens of an older New York that’s disappearing daily," and her images captured everything from the city's beaches to nightclubs to sidewalks, and the people who occupied those spaces.
Cooney told Gothamist, "Arlene was a soulful person who followed her heart in her work and in her daily life. In many ways I think that is the best any of us can do. Her photographs fill people with joy and with tears. She made art from her heart and that’s what people respond to when they see it."
"She always photographed the people she identified with—the underdogs, the unsung heroes and the people living on the fringe,” he told PDN. "I think that’s why people loved her work so much, there was always something to relate to."
In 2008, Gottfried published some of her iconic black & white photos from 1970s and 1980s New York in a book titled, Sometimes Overwhelming, which coincided with a gallery show of the same name.
Cooney shared the above photos with us for a glimpse of Gottfried's large catalogue of work, some of which is now a part of the collections of the Brooklyn Museum of Art and New York Public Library.
