Nat Finkelstein; Photographer who chronicled the exotic and chaotic world of Andy Warhol's Factory in the Sixties and later the New York punk scene
Hyfler/Rosner
October 17, 2009
Nat Finkelstein: photographer
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/obituaries/article6878297.ece
A photograph of Andy Warhol, left, with Bob Dylan in front
of an image of Elvis Presley at the Factory in 1965, taken
by Finkelstein
The photographer Nat Finkelstein, nicknamed "Nat the Hat",
was best known for his memorable chronicling of Andy Warhol's
Factory.
"I stayed at the Factory from 1964 till 1967," Finkelstein
told an interviewer in 2001. Then later, "I watched pop die
and punk being born."
His photographs of Warhol and his exotic acolytes are almost
as recognisable as the artist's own works. They include
celebrated shots of Warhol with Bob Dylan, of Edie Sedgwick
chewing her necklace, of the Velvet Underground with the
German model Nico, and more.
Nathaniel Finkelstein was born in Coney Island in 1933; his
father was a New York cab driver. He graduated from the
respected Stuyvesant High School, Brooklyn, in 1950. He had
artistic aspirations but, being entirely unable to draw, was
uncertain how to achieve them. Then, in 1952, he bought a
camera and enrolled at the Brooklyn College to study
photography. There, inspired by such great photographers as
Edward Steichen, Finkelstein found his m�tier behind the
lens. He also developed his militant political tendencies,
to the extent that he was expelled during his final term
after hurling a filing cabinet through a window while
protesting at the college's censorship of a racy college
rag.
All was not lost. Another of his tutors, the Russian �migr�
art director of Harper's Bazaar, Alexey Brodovitch (who
famously brought Cocteau, Chagall and Man Ray to illustrate
the magazine), had taken a shine to the feisty Borough boy
and gave him a placement assisting on fashion shoots.
Eventually Finkelstein developed this into regular
assignments as a photojournalist on Sports Illustrated.
There he specialised in photographing the mundane - bridge
tournaments, chess matches and dog shows - because, he said:
"I was the only one who could make them visually
compelling."
By his early twenties Finkelstein was well on the way to
establishing himself as a bona fide photographer. He was
signed up by the PIX and Black Star agencies (the latter
supplied Life magazine with much imagery) through which he
met his idol, the war photojournalist Robert Capa, and he
spent time with such famous photographers as Eugene Smith
and Andreas Feininger.
Finkelstein also capitalised on his knack for being at the
right place at the right time, specialising in spotting and
recording the rich and varied subcultures of New York City,
in particular the burgeoning Harlem jazz and soul scenes.
"I used to sell Ella Fitzgerald and Errol Garner weed," he
told an interviewer. "That was like a golden passport into
that world."
In September 1962 Finkelstein got the break that would
define his future. He was commissioned by Pageant magazine
to do one of the first articles on Pop Art, entitled "What
happens at a Happening?". He found himself documenting a
Claes Oldenburg "happening" in Greenwich Village.
Two years later Finkelstein was at a party at Warhol's
Factory and met the artist along with his crowd of beautiful
malcontents. He was unable to tear himself away, and he
spent the next three years photographing all and sundry. He
took the first photographs of the Velvet Underground (whom
he nicknamed "the Psychopath's Rolling Stones"); he shot
Warhol with Marcel Duchamp; Salvador Dal� and Allen Ginsberg
introduced him to Valerie Solanas, the radical feminist who
shot and wounded Warhol with a handgun in 1968.
The relationship with the Factory suited both parties -
Warhol enjoyed having a photographer to record his every
nuance, and for Finkelstein there was no shortage of
memorable subjects for his camera.
While diving in and out of the Factory, Finkelstein was also
busy with other matters. A staunch political activist, he
helped to co-ordinate civil rights rallies and anti-war
demonstrations. This activity brought him into an
association with the Black Panthers, for whom, according to
his widow, Elizabeth, "he organised, trained and sourced
munitions".
As a consequence, in 1969 a judge issued a federal warrant
for the arrest of Finkelstein in connection with an old
drugs charge. Fearing for his life, he claimed, he fled the
US and lived as a fugitive for the next dozen years. For
some time he followed the hippy trail through the Middle
East, selling hashish to make ends meet.
Eventually, the charges against him were dropped, and in
1982 Finkelstein returned to the US and its booming
counterculture. He became involved in the New York punk
music scene, briefly managing bands such as Khmer Rouge, and
developed an addiction to cocaine, which prompted frequent
visits to Bolivia to supply his needs more conveniently.
It took the death of Warhol in 1987 to persuade Finkelstein
that he needed to claw himself back from the brink of
over-excess. He pulled himself together, dusted down his
negatives and published his second book, Andy Warhol: The
Factory Years, 1964-1967. An exhibition at the V&A followed
and prompted him, at the age of 56, to pick up his camera in
earnest.
He moved first to London - where, in baseball cap, bomber
jacket and sneakers, he was a constant presence on the rave
scene - then to Amsterdam and back to New York, where he
shot a generation of New York club kids for his book Merry
Monsters (1993). Finkelstein now found himself in demand,
travelling and exhibiting his work worldwide. He had more
than 75 solo and group shows at museums and galleries,
including Tate Modern, the V&A, the Whitney and the
Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, and the Pompidou
Centre in Paris. His photographs appeared in such magazines
as Life, Time, Sports Illustrated, Harper's & Queen, Vogue,
The New York Times Magazine and the British broadsheets.
There is a retrospective exhibition of his work at the Idea
Generation Gallery, London, from December, and his work will
also feature in the exhibition Who Shot Rock at the Brooklyn
Museum, New York, from the end of this month.
In his last years Finkelstein moved from his beloved
Brooklyn to Shandaken in upstate New York to finish writing
his memoirs, entitled The 14 Ounce Pound.
Finkelstein was married five times. He is survived by his
wife Elizabeth.
Nat Finkelstein, photographer, was born on January 17, 1933.
He died from complications of pneumonia and emphysema on
October 2, 2009, aged 76