Lou Bernstein
Photographer
Known for his association with the prestigious Photo League of the mid-twentieth century, this black & white photographer became their for his images of life in New York City. Known for such exhibitions as “Coney Island 1943-1987,” he also worked as an art teacher and critic.
In order to support his family, he dropped out of high school and joined a touring music troupe called The Harmonica Rascals.
His work received a solo, retrospective exhibition in 1980 at the International Center of Photography in New York City.
He was born on New York's Lower East Side to Romanian Jewish immigrant parents. Shortly after the 1937 birth of his first daughter, he received an important gift -- his first camera-- from his wife, Mildred Marder Bernstein.
Two of his photographs were displayed in 1955 as part of the their The Family of Man exhibition at New York's Museum of Modern Art; this show also included the iconic "Migrant Mother" piece by fellow Depression-era photographer Dorothea Lange.