Steve McCurry
Steve McCurry 'Afghan Nomad Girl'
2016

About the Item

Afghan Nomad Girl 1990 C-Prints printed on FujiFlex Crystal Archive Super Gloss Paper 60 x 40 inches Signed and numbered edition of 10 with certificate of authenticity Steve McCurry (American, b.1950) is a photojournalist whose photographic work focuses on war and its consequences. McCurry started in photography as a Pennsylvania State newspaper photographer while attending the university to earn a degree in theater arts. After graduating in 1974, he went on to work for Today''s Post in King of Prussia, PA, for two years. He then went to work freelance in India. As a freelance photographer, McCurry would often go off the beaten path. Early in his career, this tendency led him to cross the Pakistan border into Afghanistan prior to the Russian invasion. The film he shot was smuggled out of the country sewn into his clothing—native garb he wore so as to blend in—and contained some of the first images taken of the beginning of the struggle between Russian and Afghan forces. The photographer’s experiences in Afghanistan marked the beginning of a career of war coverage, taking him to battlefields in Beirut, Cambodia, Iran, Iraq, the Philippines, and later back to Afghanistan. McCurry''s photos aren''t about the coverage of epic battles between vast armies. Instead, he covers the effects of war on people and places. He attempts to show, through the stark realism of his photographs, the experiences of those caught in the middle of warfare, as well as the damage done to the war-torn landscapes. Often, his pictures focus on the faces of his subjects, showing unguarded emotions. One such image became world famous. His 1984 photo Afghan Girl appeared on the cover of National Geographic magazine in the June 1985 issue. It shows a young girl of about 12 years of age living as a refugee from the Afghan war in Pakistan. Often referred to as the Afghan Mona Lisa, the picture portrays the depth of sadness in the eyes of the young girl orphaned by war. The image became symbolic not only of the war but also of the difficulties with refuges worldwide. The photograph is considered to be the most recognizable of any published by the magazine. McCurry''s photos have won him numerous awards, including the Magazine Photographer of the Year award from the National Press Photographers'' Association, multiple first-place prizes in the World Press Photo Contest, and the Award of Excellence from the French Art Directors Association for his Women of Afghanistan photos. McCurry''s work can be seen worldwide in exhibitions at galleries and museums such as the Obras Caja Canarias en Tenerife in Spain, Lujubljana Castle in Lublijana, the Museum of Modern Art in Croatia, and Oeksnehallen in Copenhagen. McCurry''s work is handled by Magnum Photos of New York.

Creator:
Steve McCurry (1950, American)
Creation Year:
2016
Dimensions:
Height: 60 in (152.4 cm)Width: 40 in (101.6 cm)
More Editions & Sizes:
20 x 24" ed of 30Price: $4,00030 x 40" ed of 15Price: $7,00040 x 60 ed of 10Price: $20,000
Medium:
C Print
Movement & Style:
Contemporary
Period:
2010-
Condition:
Gallery Location:
New York, NY
Reference Number:
1stDibs: LU3267809582
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Shop All Steve McCurry

Steve McCurry

Steve McCurry is an American photographer who gained international acclaim for his arresting portrait of a young refugee known simply as Afghan Girl.

Originally published on the cover of National Geographic in 1985, the photograph shows a young Pashtun orphan, later identified as Sharbat Gula, who was living in a refugee camp near Peshawar, Pakistan, during the Soviet Union’s occupation of Afghanistan. The image is emblematic of McCurry’s work, which has brought him to war zones across the globe. Rather than focusing on the violence of the battlefield, McCurry seeks to capture the human face of conflict, distilling what is universal and recognizable in each portrait.

McCurry was born in Philadelphia and attended Penn State University, graduating cum laude with a degree in theater arts in 1974. After several years working at a newspaper in King of Prussia, Pennsylvania, he left to work as a freelancer in India, where he honed his skill for capturing unguarded moments in daily life. Just prior to the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, in 1979, he crossed the border from Pakistan into Afghan rebel–controlled territory, wearing native garb to disguise himself, with rolls of film sewn into his clothing. The photographs he took there were among the first in the world to document the conflict, and his work was awarded the Robert Capa Gold Medal for “photographic reporting from abroad.”

Over the course of his career, McCurry has documented daily life alongside conflicts in Cambodia, the Philippines, the former Yugoslavia, Beirut, Iraq, Afghanistan and Tibet. Though his photos depict serious and sometimes frightening situations, his ability to connect with subjects and capture something of their personalities allows his images to transcend the documentarian distance of wartime journalism. The results are real portraits that happen to be set in tough situations. Welder in a Ship Breaking Yard, Mumbai, India (1994), for instance, reveals only the subject’s eyes, but they’re so intently fixed on McCurry’s lens that they seem to express volumes. Monk Running on Wall (2004) shows a young monk defying gravity as he skitters along an exterior wall of the Shaolin Monastery in Henan, China, over the heads of his friends. Like a Baroque painting, McCurry’s picture captures a moment of dynamic action that reveals something instantly recognizable in a subject from another part of the world.

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