Leon Borensztein (born 22 May 1947) is an American photographer whose work reflects long-term and in-depth projects. His areas of focus are in psychological portraiture and documentary. Borensztein has received a

Guggenheim Fellowship Guggenheim Fellowships are Grant (money), grants that have been awarded annually since by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation, endowed by the late Simon Guggenheim, Simon and Olga Hirsh Guggenheim. These awards are bestowed upon indiv ...

and his work is included in various public collections. His published books ''Metamorphosis'' (1977, with John MacGregor), ''One is Adam, One is Superman'' (2004) and ''American Portraits'' (2011) document salient moments in the lives of his subjects, and ''Sharon'' (2016) documents every stage of the life of his severely disabled daughter.

Life and work

Borensztein was born in Poland. He received a BA in creative art and geography from the University of Haifa, Israel in 1974. He left Israel for the US in 1977 and received an MFA in photography from

San Francisco Art Institute San Francisco Art Institute (SFAI) was a Private college, private art school, college of contemporary art in San Francisco, California. Founded in 1871, SFAI was one of the oldest art schools in the United States and the oldest west of the Mis ...

in 1980. The biggest influence on his work has been his life experience. His art is intended to give voice to the unheard and unseen. Borensztein has worked for ''

The New York Times Magazine ''The New York Times Magazine'' is an American Sunday magazine included with the Sunday edition of ''The New York Times''. It features articles longer than those typically in the newspaper and has attracted many notable contributors. The magazi ...

,'' ''

Newsweek ''Newsweek'' is an American weekly news magazine based in New York City. Founded as a weekly print magazine in 1933, it was widely distributed during the 20th century and has had many notable editors-in-chief. It is currently co-owned by Dev P ...

,'' ''

Vogue Vogue may refer to: Business * ''Vogue'' (magazine), a US fashion magazine ** British ''Vogue'', a British fashion magazine ** '' Vogue Adria'', a fashion magazine for former Yugoslav countries ** ''Vogue Arabia'', an Arab fashion magazine ** ' ...

,'' ''

Fortune Fortune may refer to: General * Fortuna or Fortune, the Roman goddess of luck * Luck * Wealth * Fate * Fortune, a prediction made in fortune-telling * Fortune, in a fortune cookie Arts and entertainment Film and television * ''The Fortune'' (19 ...

,'' and others. His work has also appeared in ''

Life Life, also known as biota, refers to matter that has biological processes, such as Cell signaling, signaling and self-sustaining processes. It is defined descriptively by the capacity for homeostasis, Structure#Biological, organisation, met ...

'' and ''

Harper's Bazaar ''Harper's Bazaar'' (stylized as ''Harper's BAZAAR'') is an American monthly women's fashion magazine. Bazaar has been published in New York City since November 2, 1867, originally as a weekly publication entitled ''Harper's Bazar''."Corporat ...

.'' Since 1975, Borensztein has held various teaching positions in

University of Haifa The University of Haifa (, ) is a public research university located on Mount Carmel in Haifa, Israel. Founded in 1963 as a branch of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, the University of Haifa received full academic accreditation as an inde ...

; University of California, Berkeley;

Friends of Photography Friends of Photography was a nonprofit organization started by Ansel Adams and others in 1967 to promote photography as a fine art. During its existence the organization held at least 330 photography exhibitions at its galleries in Carmel and San ...

(Annual Member Workshop);

California College of Arts and Crafts The California College of the Arts (CCA) is a Private university, private art school in San Francisco, California. It was founded in Berkeley, California in 1907 and moved to a historic estate in Oakland, California in 1922. In 1996, it opened ...

, Oakland; and San Francisco Art Institute.

Publications

Publications by Borensztein

* ''One is Adam One is Superman: Outsider artists of Creative Growth.'' San Francisco:

Chronicle A chronicle (, from Greek ''chroniká'', from , ''chrónos'' – "time") is a historical account of events arranged in chronological order, as in a timeline. Typically, equal weight is given for historically important events and local events ...

, 2004. . With an introduction by Tom di Maria and an essay by John M. MacGregor. * ''American Portraits 1979–1989.'' Portland, OR: Nazraeli, 2011. Edited by

Todd Hido Todd Hido (born 25 August 1968) is an American photographer. He has produced 17 books, had his work exhibited widely and included in various public collections. Hido is currently an adjunct professor at the California College of the Arts in San F ...

. . With an essay by Sandra S. Phillips. * ''Portraits ii.'' Portland, OR: Nazareli, 2012. . * ''Sharon.'' Heidelberg, Germany: Kehrer, 2016. .

Publications with others

* ''Metamorphosis. The Fiber Art of Judith Scott.'' Collaboration with John M. MacGregor. Oakland: Creative Growth Art Center, 1977. . * ''Witness No. 7.'' Portland, OR: Nazraeli, 2009. . Photographs by Borensztein and Todd Hido, and photographs of images from books by various people that have inspired Hido.

Award

* 1987:

in Photography from the

John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation The John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation is a private foundation formed in 1925 by Olga and Simon Guggenheim in memory of their son, who died on April 26, 1922. The organization awards Guggenheim Fellowship Guggenheim Fellowships are Gr ...

Collections

Borensztein's work is held in the following permanent public collections: *

Art Institute of Chicago The Art Institute of Chicago, founded in 1879, is one of the oldest and largest art museums in the United States. The museum is based in the Art Institute of Chicago Building in Chicago's Grant Park (Chicago), Grant Park. Its collection, stewa ...

, Chicago, IL *

Bibliothèque nationale de France The (; BnF) is the national library of France, located in Paris on two main sites, ''Richelieu'' and ''François-Mitterrand''. It is the national repository of all that is published in France. Some of its extensive collections, including bo ...

, Paris, France *

Center for Creative Photography The Center for Creative Photography (CCP), established in 1975 and located on the University of Arizona's Tucson campus, is a research facility and archival repository containing the full archives of over sixty of the most famous American ph ...

, Tucson, AZ * Centre Nationale de la Photographie, Paris *

Museum of Fine Arts, Houston The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston (MFAH), is an art museum located in the Houston Museum District of Houston, Texas. The permanent collection of the museum spans more than 5,000 years of history with nearly 80,000 works from six continents. Follo ...

, TX *

San Francisco Museum of Modern Art The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA) is a modern art, modern and contemporary art museum and nonprofit organization located in San Francisco, California. SFMOMA was the first museum on the West Coast devoted solely to 20th-century art ...

, San Francisco, CA *

Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art :see also the ''Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art'', Washington State University, Pullman, Washington Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art (JSMA) is an art museum located on the campus of the University of Oregon in Eugene, Oregon. The original building w ...

, University of Oregon, Eugene, OR *

Museum of Photographic Arts The Museum of Photographic Arts (MOPA) is a museum in Balboa Park in San Diego San Diego ( , ) is a city on the Pacific coast of Southern California, adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a population of over 1.4 million, ...

, San Diego, CA *

Tokyo Photographic Art Museum The is an art museum concentrating on photography. As the Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Photography, it was founded by the Tokyo Metropolitan Government, and is in Meguro-ku, a short walk from Ebisu station in southwest Tokyo. The museum also ...

, Tokyo, Japan * Di rosa PreserveLooking at you looking at me
. Di rosa. Accessed 26 February 2017

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Borensztein, Leon 1947 births Living people Polish emigrants to Israel American photographers