Mary Ellen Mark Has Died

This simple tribute appeared on Mary Ellen Mark's website four days ago.
The portrait is by Ralph Gibson.

Mary Ellen Mark, one of the great American social documentary photographers of the second half of the 20th century, passed away last Monday of myelodysplastic syndrome at the age of 75.

Although she ranged as far afield as fashion and advertising photography on occasion, her most famous photographs were intimate extended documentary projects of people at the fringes of society, such as Erin "Tiny" Blackwell, the Seattle street kid whose life Mark documented for more than 30 years.

Since her death the Internet has exploded with articles, announcements, obituaries and tributes. The New York Times obituary quoted Mary Ellen herself (originally printed in Communication Arts in 1997): "I remember the first time I went out on the street to shoot pictures. I was in downtown Philadelphia and I just took a walk and started making contact with people and photographing them, and I thought: 'I love this. This is what I want to do forever.' There was never another question."

In a short personal reminiscence at The New Yorker, Adrian Nicole Leblanc wrote, "I thought professional distance in documenting hardship meant not showing the joy in doing the work that I loved. The ego in that assumption would take years to unpack, but Mary Ellen opened a door for me. She was a master photographer and an actualized human being. I am very lucky to have witnessed her at work."

One nice short slideshow is at cnn.money. You can see her seminal photo essay from LIFE magazine, "Streets of the Lost," in its entirety at Time Lightbox.

Her work was published in innumerable magazines and she published nineteen books, including a title in the Photography Workshop series (recommended), Marianne Fulton's retrospective 25 Years (the earlier An American Odyssey 1963-1999 is very expensive now), and Cry for Help: Stories of Homelessness and Hope. Her other books explored prostitutes in Mumbai, the patients of a mental institution, and an Indian circus, but she also published a book of photographs taken on movie sets and one called Prom.

Her natural form was the photo essay, and a friend of mine who encountered her on the street in New York a few years ago reported that she complained bitterly about the lack of work and the dearth of serious venues for photo essays.

Her original book about Tiny Blackwell, Streetwise, is unobtainable to mortals, but the follow-up, Tiny, Streetwise Revisited, is scheduled to be released by Aperture in the Fall.

Hank Burchard, writing in The Washington Post in 1994, said, "One picture by Mary Ellen Mark is almost too many, yet a hundred of her photographs is not enough. Few photographers have ever had both the visceral impact and the intellectual depth of Mark."

Mike

Original contents copyright 2015 by Michael C. Johnston and/or the bylined author. All Rights Reserved. Links in this post may be to our affiliates; sales through affiliate links may benefit this site.

TOP's links!

(To see all the comments, click on the "Comments" link below.)
Featured Comments from:

Robert Hudyma: "I met her briefly twice: once in New York City in 1992 for a slide-show presentation of her circus images, and again in 2007 when she came to Ryerson University in Toronto to give one of the final Kodak Canada sponsored lecture series. Unfortunately her lecture was cut short since there was a fire alarm and that is the last time I saw her. You can watch her lecture here. I especially enjoy her Christmas dog images."

Richard Rodgers: "Had the opportunity to study and learn from the young Mary Ellen in late 1960s while staying at Apeiron in upstate New York. Among the many joys was a day spent with her while we photographed a country fair. Still retain and use many of the skills learned from that time. She was and still is a very important person in my life."

JK: "The day after Mary Ellen Mark died I spent a couple hours watching video interviews she had done. I especially liked this one. Her famous shot of Fellini comes at the end but there are couple other nice ones along the way."

Stan B.: "No matter her subject matter, you always knew she would create strong, compelling compositions full of empathy and passion. The epitome of the dedicated documentary photographer, she was the antithesis of today's fly-by, sound-bite journalists. And every one of her essays serve as a 'how to' for photographers who want to know how it's done—technically, aesthetically, humanely."

Jim Hughes: "The photograph of Mary Ellen that you use to lead off your tribute was made by her long-time friend Ralph Gibson, according to the credit below the picture in the Washington Post obituary. [Jim's comment was written before the correction appeared; Steve Rosenblum mentioned it earlier today. —Ed.] I hadn't previously seen this image, but I have seen others Ralph made with Mary Ellen, including this famous one of his left hand touching hers, their fingers entangled at the moment of exposure:

Photograph by Ralph Gibson

I published this picture in Camera 35 as part of the first large magazine portfolio from his then upcoming book The Somnambulist.

"I met Mary Ellen in 1967. I remember a beautiful woman passing in the hallway outside my open office door, carrying a large portfolio. Turns out she had just returned from six months photographing in Turkey on a Fulbright. The office next to mine was occupied by Mary P. R. Thomas, whose job it was to select photographs for the U. S. Camera Annual. Eventually, my curiosity got the better of me, and I went next door to look in. There were deeply printed photographs of people, most of them looking directly at the photographer as if they were lifelong friends, spread out to cover every surface of Mary Thomas's office. In the text to accompany Mary Ellen's portfolio in the 1968 edition of the Annual, Mary Thomas wrote: 'Mary Ellen Mark is a torrid combination of youthful energy and curiosity plus an innate sense of perception that enables her to see and "frame" the scene or subject before her almost immediately....All these photographs portray great beauty and strength. Look at them carefully.'

"Mary Ellen and I remained friends over the subsequent many years, and I had the privilege to publish her wonderful pictures in various of my magazines. I will miss her. And I will continue to look carefully at her pictures, which live on."

Kathy Li: "Just want to also point folks to Kyle Cassidy's LJ post on what he learned from Mary Ellen Mark."

Comments

[jean-louis salvignol]

An absolute master. Farewell. Thank you.

[Steve Rosenblum]

Her ability to intimately connect was not only evident in her grittier work. It is also evident in the rest of her work. In fact, I think my favorite of her photographs is her portrait of the elephant tender with his elephant. His chest is puffed out and his face radiates pride at being in "control" of such a large beast, but the look in the elephant's eye says it all about who is really in charge there. This is a "decisive moment" that could never have been captured if Mark had not established trust with this man. I wish I had signed up for one of her workshops--I somehow didn't get around to it. I will miss her.

[Ken Tanaka]

Mike: A very good obit for one of the medium's best practitioners ever.

[latent_image]

Following news of her death, I saw Mary Ellen Mark referred to in one article as a "street photographer." To me street photography is characterized by anonymity. Mark's work was always about connection and intimacy...just the opposite. She had few equals.

[Rick D]

Cheers Mike,

Ms. Mark's unique body of work speaks for itself of course, and one of her subjects--"Rat" of the Life photo above--offers a fair deal of insight into her as a person, one who cared deeply for her subjects.

“She was not only a great photographer but an awesome influence on anyone’s life,” said Rich. “She took all of us in like family. She never judged who we were or what we did. Anyone she touched, you can bet their life was changed in some way.”

http://www.sacbee.com/entertainment/arts-culture/article22445760.html

A great loss to us all but her work, I suspect, will resonate long beyond her time and ours.

[dennis coyle]

Fresh breath from Mary Ellen herself : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sDB3nhEw-qA

rip mem

cheers, dennis

[Chuck Albertson]

I remember being amazed when the Life article, and later Streetwise, came out, and in particular by Mary Ellen's ability to connect with the street kids that used to hang out around the donut shop at 1st & Pike. My evening bus stop was down the block from it, and they were a tough crowd. The American Photo website (itself all that's left of what was a good magazine) is re-running an interview they did with her and Martin in which they talk about how they were able to do it.

It's tough to lose someone with such talent, and who was actually enthusiastic about doing that kind of photography.

[Paul Amyes]

I first became aware of Mary Ellen Mark when I got a copy of the book A Day In The Life of China published in 1989. She had a four page section that depicted life in a mental hospital in Chongqing and I was just taken with how much dignity and respect she photographed those people with. Since then I've acquired a few other books by her that have shown me that documentary photography is at its most powerful when it captures the humanity and dignity of those it tells us about.

I watched the film Everybody Street, in which she featured, and the next day I read her obituary in PDN . I felt that the world had lost not just a great documentary photographer but a great and compassionate person.

[Bill Mitchell]

To me, the most interesting fact coming out of all her obits and interviews is that she sadly states she can no longer make a living from her documentary photography -- nobody is interested.

[Bill Wheeler]

Thanks.

[Steve Jacob]

She was extraordinarily courageous, and her work is deeply compelling. Thanks for pointing her out to me.

[Pierre Charbonneau]

Gosh, she was so beautiful. In every way.

[John Camp]

One of my favorites for a very long time: she was my generation. She shows you the potential power of journalism.

But about the book -- I have a paper copy of Streetwise, produced by Aperture. I assume there's a hard cover that might be rare, but there must later editions (like mine) that mortals could still buy? Yes?

[Manuel]

The picture Jim Hughes posted here is one of the most wonderful I've ever seen. Thank you, Jim - and thank you Mike, for another excellent article.
R. I. P., Mary Ellen Mark.