Background
Forss, the son of poor alcoholic parents, spent five years of his life living in an orphanage.
Forss, the son of poor alcoholic parents, spent five years of his life living in an orphanage.
He became a self-taught photographer after being introduced to photography at the 1964 New York World"s Fair. Forss had been taking photographs on the streets of New York City and selling $5 prints since 1973 on the sidewalks outside of the New York Metropolitan Museum of Art before being discovered by Life magazine photographer David Duncan in 1980. Forss has photographed city-scapes and time-capsule moments captured in detail using rudimentary equipment extensively.
Forss has since been praised Ansel Adams and Henri Cartier-Bresson for his outstanding imagery.
Forss" work (compiled by Duncan) were published in 1984 in New York New York: Masterworks of a Street Peddler. In 1982, Forss was also the subject of a British Broadcasting Corporation documentary, A Fairytale of New York: The George Forss Story that chronicled the rise of this photographic genius from obscurity to international fame.
Life magazine featured Forss" work as a premier example of New York photography before 9/11 due primarily to his stunning capture of the World Trade Center buildings and the financial district. Forss" work can be seen on exhibition at the Brooklyn Museum.
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