From his nearly 70-year career as a chronicler of American life, the nearly 90 year old Bruce Davidson is putting previously unseen outtakes on public view for the first time in the exhibition “The Way Back.”

Photos by Bruce Davidson

This exhibition will present previously unpublished work, chosen by Davidson himself, dating from 1957-1977. The photographs represent the arc of Davidson’s versatile career with individual images that were overlooked at the time.

The 26 works in the exhibition are drawn from a new book, Bruce Davidson: The Way Back, to be published by Steidl later this year.

The book chronologically presents photos made between 1957 and 1992, showcasing Davidson’s exceptional versatility—from his earliest assignments to later seminal bodies of work including his year-long study of teenage members of a “Brooklyn Gang” (1959), his extensive coverage of the American Civil Rights Movement in “Time of Change” (1961–65), and his breakthrough portraits of the residents of a single block in Harlem in “East 100th Street” (1966–68). Series such as “Subway” (1980) and “Central Park” (1992) furthermore confirm Davidson as a quintessential chronicler of New York City.

“So I have done what I wanted to do, I have seen everything, misery, celebrity, the beautiful people, the wicked ones, generosity and hatred. But I think I have gone beyond my vision…. In the heart of my own life, in the heart of other people’s lives. Perhaps that is the most important thing I have done.”- photographer Bruce Davidson

Davidson offers this book as a parting look at his artistic passage, an elegiac goodbye as well as a requiem: evidence how his vision, experienced over decades, has shaped our understanding of the world.

Not yet published, the 26 images from the book will be shown from through September 16th at the Howard Greenberg Gallery.

The Way Back at Howard Greenberg Gallery, 41 East 57th St, Manhattan through September 16

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images courtesy of Howard Greenberg Gallery