Mark Cohen

Mark Cohen, Américain, né en 1943.

Dès le début des années 1970, Mark Cohen, qui possédait un studio de portrait à Wilkes-Barre, en Pennsylvanie, était devenu un photographe de rue qui fouillait la prose du monde pour en extraire des images pleines de mystère et de beauté. Le musée George Eastman House en possède 127.

Mark Cohen (born 1943) is an American photographer best known for his innovative street photography.

Cohen was born and lives in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania. He attended Penn State University and Wilkes College between 1961 and 1965, and opened a commercial photo studio in 1966.Cohen’s photography was first exhibited in the 1969 exhibition Vision and Expression organised by Nathan Lyons at George Eastman House.He has twice been awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship and received a National Endowment for the Arts grant in 1975. A monograph of black and white photographs, Grim Street, was published in 2005 by powerHouse Books. A second book, True Color, followed in 2007.

The majority of the work for which Cohen is known is shot in the neighbourhoods of Wilkes-Barre and Scranton. Characteristically he shoots his subjects close in, often using a wide-angle lens and flash, frequently cropping the subjects' heads from the frame, concentrating on small details and moments.

Cohen has described his method as 'intrusive'. "They're not easy pictures. But I guess that's why they're mine."

Discussing his influences with Thomas Southall in 2004 he cites "...so many photographers who followed Cartier-Bresson, like Frank, Koudelka, Winogrand, Friedlander." He also recognises the influence of Diane Arbus. Whilst acknowledging these influences he says: "I knew about art photography...Then I did these outside the context of any other photographer."