A new photography collection captures the poetry and kitsch of the US holiday season across six decades.
Lee Friedlander: Christmas features nearly 30 pictures dating from 1958 to 2015 that evince both quiet humor and an eye for the unexpected: Mississippi (1986) shows signboards proclaiming “Merry Xmas” just above an advertisement for $2.99 “6 Pk Busch.” In West Texas (1986) the viewer finds an inflatable Santa Claus keeping watch over the scorched plains, and in New York City (2010), a BDSM Saint Nick graces a storefront.
“Like a lot of our culture, it’s this amazing combination of commercialism and sentimentality,” Friedlander’s longtime publisher told Smithsonian Magazine. “It’s all there, and it’s all American.”