ARTIST TALK: Harvey Stein

Saturday, June 17th, 2026 at 5:30pm
Free & open to the public

 

Harvey Stein is widely known for his ability to elevate the everyday into a space of wonder. He specializes in long-term projects and is drawn to photographing people in the streets that show how their humanity reveals the most about the spirit of a place and perhaps about life itself. “The subjects I photograph are portraits and scenes of the ordinary and the curious”.

In his presentation, Stein will share stories, lessons for survival and success, and “secrets” from his 50+ year journey in photography, including what it takes to sustain a long-term creative career. Harvey will show and discuss images from a current project and from one or two of his books that highlight street photography and photo book making. A Q&A session will follow the presentation, as well as a signing of his books, Mexico Between Life and Death and Coney Island People 50 Years.

 

About the artist:

HARVEY STEIN is a long-time faculty member at The International Center of Photography who has also taught at The School of Visual Arts, Parsons, Rochester Institute of Technology, Drew University and the Los Angeles Center of Photography. For the past 22 years (except for 2020-2022), he has conducted travel photo workshops to such places as Italy, Mexico, Peru, Ecuador, Argentina, Southeast Asia, India, China and Greece; he lectures on photography worldwide. He has been the Director of Photography at Umbrella Arts Gallery (NYC) since 2009 until 2019 when it closed due to losing its lease. Stein has had 92 solo exhibitions and has participated in over 170 group shows. Stein’s tenth book Coney Island People 50 Years was published in 2022. Other books of Stein’s photographs include Parallels: A Look at Twins, E.P. Dutton (1978); Artists Observed, Harry Abrams, Inc. (1986); Coney Island, W.W. Norton, Inc. (1998); Movimento: Glimpses of Italian Street Life, Gangemi Editore, Rome (2006); Coney Island 40 Years, Schiffer Publishing, (2011); Harlem Street Portraits, Schiffer Publishing (2013); Briefly Seen New York Street Life, Schiffer Publishing (2015); Mexico Between Life and Death, Kehrer Verlag (Germany, 2018), and Then and There: Mardi Gras 1979, Zatara Press (2020). Stein’s work exists in 60 public collections; he is represented by Sous Les Etoiles Gallery in NYC. View some of Harvey’s photographs at www.harveysteinphoto.com and on Instagram @stein.harvey

 

This event is free, open to all, and no advance registration is required. We hope to see you there! 

Find a complete list of upcoming artist talks and events at VCP here.