The dissolute and gritty, yet hedonistic and complex Mr. Ruppmann’s show!
Eye on the Naked City: The Photographs of Charles Ruppmann
Gunman subdued after 2 hour siegeJanuary 28th – February 25th
Opening Reception Jan. 28 1 – 4 p.m.
The Field Library
4 Nelson Avenue
Peekskill, New York 10566
The Field Library is proud to present the world of Charles Ruppmann, a celebrated New York Daily News photographer whose scenes of New York City life unfold at their most dissolute and gritty, glorious and glamorous, striking and resolute.
His photographs of street life, hedonistic celebrities, stark crime scenes, and complex personalities strike an immediate chord whether the viewer is picking up a newspaper or strolling through a gallery.
Opening Reception
Jan. 28th 1 – 4 p.m.
Charles Ruppmann started out as a copy boy at the News immediately after graduating high school in 1960, and later was encouraged to apprentice in the photo department darkroom to learn the workings and technique from the ground up. His talent and hard work led him to be promoted to one of 54 staff photographers in February of 1967.
Honing his craft during the overnight shift, he covered the entire beat of the city: crime, society events, riots, fires and the beginnings of paparazzi photography. All photographers were issued a NYC police working press card, which provided access to any situation.
“Good spot news photography required you to get to the scene as quickly as possible, which was accomplished by working out of a Daily News radio car equipped with police and fire radios,” he explains.
Scenes such as Studio 54, a suicide attempt, a night at the opera with Beverly Sills, a world premier on Broadway, a women’s rights rally, Miles Davis’ arrest, raging fires in the Bronx during the 1977 World Series, or a nervously peering bank robber (John Stanley Wojtowicz, the inspiration for the film Dog Day Afternoon), are all captured by Ruppmann’s lens and transformed by his keen eye into high art.
Charles Ruppmann was born and raised in New York City. Since 1980, he has resided in Peekskill, New York, where he remains on the lookout for definitive moments of raw power and beauty.
About Our Library
Eye on the Naked City: the Photographs of Charles Ruppmann is free to the public, and is exhibited in the library gallery, located on the upper, mezzanine level of the adult reading rooms, and is wheelchair-accessible. For further information, please call Sibyl Canaan, Library Director, (914) 737-7110 , or send an email to scanaan@wlsmail.org, or visit the library’s website, www.peekskill.org.