NEW YORK — Armed with a camera and a documentarian’s keen eye, Village Voice photographer Fred W. McDarrah prowled the streets of Gotham and captured some of the most iconic moments of the second half of the 20th century.
His newspaper’s headquarters were in Greenwich Village, which meant that he witnessed in particular many watershed LGBTQ+ events by simply stepping on the sidewalk. He photographed moments and people that, had he not been present, would have been lost to time.
“He knew what was going on. He was showing us places and things that weren’t mainstream, but they were certainly a physical presence here,” said Marilyn Kushner, the curator of a new exhibit about his remarkable career. The New York Historical (the former New-York Historical Society) is showcasing his vital work in “Fred W. McDarrah: Pride and Protest,” which offers more than 60 of his captivating black-and-white photos.
McDarrah was there for the historic “sip-in” at Julius Bar in 1966, an early but important act of protest, to the much more well known and seismic Stonewall Riots a mere three years later. By the 1980s, he was on the scene as protestors took to the streets to raise awareness about the AIDS epidemic, and documented the AIDS Quilt, which panel by panel hauntingly told of the toll the disease had taken in such a short time.
A who’s who of key personages encountered his lens, including Larry Kramer of ACT UP and the activist Marsha P. Johnson. Household names like James Baldwin, Allen Ginsberg, Andy Warhol, Susan Sontag, and Tennessee Williams also grace his prints.
“Fred McDarrah was making a visual record. He was there for so many things that were going on at that time. He was there for women’s rights. He was there for LGBTQ queer rights. He was there for the anti-war (protests). He was there for Black rights,” Kushner said of just some of the swath of history McDarrah preserved from the 1950s through the 1990s.
“Fred McDarrah’s legacy should be, ‘I was there .. I recorded it for future generations’,” Kushner said.
The exhibit will remain on view through July 13, 2025.
Producer: John Antalek
Videographer/editor: Stephen Cioffi
Text: Rolando Pujol
