ALVIN BALTROP

Photography by Alvin Baltrop

'Navy Ship', 1969–72,
gelatin silver print, 4.5 × 6.5 inches,
courtesy of The Alvin Baltrop Trust and Third Streaming, New York

Documentary photo lovers in the Lone Star State of Texas got to check out ‘Alvin Baltrop: Dreams Into Glass’ at the Contemporary Arts Museum Houston. It was the first major exhibition of work by the bi-curious, eagle-eyed African-American photographer. The three month summer survey featured photos from his stint in the navy from 1969 to 1972, as well as some of his explorations of NYC’s cruisy piers in the 1970s.

Baltrop’s photos from his period of enlistment document his daily life aboard a U.S. Navy vessel during the tail end of the Vietnam War. In one he gazes, at first from a distance, upon a fit recruit getting a bit of sunshine on the deck, and in another, he snaps a cigarette break between naked seamen in close quarters.

Upon receiving an honorable discharge, Baltrop turned his attention to the piers on the West Side of Manhattan, shooting urban landscapes — including Gordon Matta-Clark’s ‘sun-and-water temple’, the ’Day’s End’ site at Pier 52 — and portraits of the sunbathers, trannies, hustlers, and anonymous homosexuals who frequented the dilapidated buildings from West 59th Street down to Tribeca.