Guta de Carvalho – New York Rhapsody
Title: New York Rhapsody
Author: Guta de Carvalho
Self-published in 1983 in Lisbon/Portugal.
Softcovers photographically illustrated, 4to.
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Guta de Carvalho is a Portuguese photographer who, prompted by his mentor Augusto Cabrita, travelled to New York in the early 1980s. He did an internship in museum conservation at Carol Brower’s studio and later one of his photos was admitted to the permanent collection at New York’s Museum of Modern Art, MoMA.
“New York Rhapsody” – a title taken from the poet Alexandre O’Neill – is a series of photos taken by Guta when he was still a a young photographer, exploring NYC in search of inspiration and experimenting street photography. As Augusto Cabrita wrote in the text included in the book, this was an opportunity for a young photographer to emulate many of the famous photographers who had gain notoriety with their photos of NYC.
Both the photos and the photobook are not exceptional, but the photos have something genuinely refreshing, unpretentious, reflecting the naivety of a young photographer new to the city. Guta’s pictures were exhibited in Portugal and New York. A couple of years later, Guta returned to New York where he worked for the United Nations. Today he is still a professional photographer in Portugal.
New York Photobooks 