Siskind, Aaron. Road Trip. Photographs, 1980-1988 by Aaron Siskind.

Friends of Photography, 1989. Untitled 49. Wraps (only edition). 

Aaron Siskind (1903–1991) was an influential American photographer and educator whose pioneering work bridged social documentary and Abstract Expressionism, fundamentally reshaping 20th-century fine art photography. Born in New York City, Siskind began his photographic career in the 1930s with the left-leaning Photo League, leading significant social documentary projects such as the acclaimed Harlem Document (1932–1940). By the early 1940s, he broke away from traditional representational documentary to explore abstract visual forms, focusing his lens on extreme close-ups of peeling paint, weathered urban surfaces, calligraphic graffiti, and architectural decay. Close friends with painterly Abstract Expressionists like Willem de Kooning and Franz Kline, Siskind treated the photographic frame as an autonomous, two-dimensional plane of expression, emphasizing texture, gesture, and geometric rhythm rather than spatial depth or literal subject matter. A dedicated educator, he taught alongside Harry Callahan at the Institute of Design in Chicago and later at the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD), helping establish a legacy of abstract photographic inquiry that earned him major fellowships and permanent placement in world-class museum collections, including the Museum of Modern Art and the Art Institute of Chicago.

Road Trip: Photographs, 1980–1988 is a slim, 52-page photography monograph by acclaimed American master photographer Aaron Siskind. Published in 1989 by The Friends of Photography, the book serves as a vital record of the final chapter of Siskind's prolific career, compiling 41 black-and-white plates captured when he was in his eighties.

The monograph centers on the following key elements:

• Moving away from standard documentary imagery, the collection showcases Siskind's signature style of photographic abstraction. The images feature textures, lines, and shapes found during his travels through Mexico, Morocco, Peru, Brazil, and the United States.

• A significant portion of the book highlights his late-career "Tar Series" (1986–1988), which features tight, graphic close-ups of cracked asphalt, road repairs, and fluid tar patterns on city streets.

• The collection documents Siskind's perpetual "search for order" within the mundane, transforming everyday urban decay—such as peeling paint, graffiti, torn flyers, and crumbling walls—into complex visual arrangements resembling abstract expressionist paintings.

• Edited by David Featherstone, the book features an introductory essay by photographer Charles Traub, a former student and frequent travel companion of Siskind. Traub provides personal anecdotes and explores how the physical act of traveling and being "on the road" continuously shifted and renewed Siskind's creative vision in his twilight years.

Copies available:

• Fine, with custom-made polyester jacket.
  
• New in original shrink wrap.