When Paley began his working life in the 1940s, printed dailies were the shaping force of American democracy. Citizens, whether affluent or humble, affirmed a newspaper's authority to present and debate the modern world.
In the early 1960s, Paley was among the first to pioneer the use of available light. The portability of the 35 millimeter camera would match his growing desire to grasp the grain of a story within a fleeting picture space.
During this turbulent era, his lens marked a shared public culture that did not reward conformity. A fiercely independent thinker with a whimsical turn of mind, his photos were often irreverent or quizzical.
In 1974, Paley died suddenly as the spirit of the Sixties was beginning to wane. The collected photographs offered here endorse his questioning but optimistic vision of America.
(1925-1974)
Photographer for The Knickerbocker News,
Albany, New York
