Silver and Chrome
In 1972, while studying at Cooper Union, Epstein asked his photography professor, “Why not color?” At the time, color photography was the mainstay of commercial advertising, which made it taboo in art schools. Garry Winogrand responded, “why not?” Silver and Chrome chronicles Epstein’s earliest efforts with Kodachrome, as he photographed a jittery city on the edge of collapse. Alternating between black and white negative and color transparency, often photographing the same place with the different films, helped Epstein understand the integral role that color played in his pictures, and made him a pioneer of color art photography.