Skip to content

Jim Goldberg

American

1953, New Haven, Connecticut

Image: © Alessandra Sanguinetti
Biography

Jim Goldberg is committed to examining and extending traditional documentary photography. For his first book, Rich and Poor (1985), the San Francisco–based photographer made documentary-style pictures of people in their homes, which ranged from elegant to modest to rudimentary. He further engaged his subjects in the process by asking them to write a commentary underneath their portrait; these invariably reveal concerns about class, happiness, and power. His next major project, Raised by Wolves (1995), focused on street kids in San Francisco and Los Angeles, many of whom had been abused, and integrated their drawings, letters, memories, and family pictures into the work. In 2004, after joining the cooperative photography agency Magnum, Goldberg embarked on his extended "New Europeans" project, exploring the experience of immigrants who left war-torn or economically distressed homelands to make new lives in Europe. With his subjects' involvement and frequently using their words, he created the resulting series, Open See (2009).

Works in the Collection

Please note that artwork locations are subject to change, and not all works are on view at all times.

Only a portion of SFMOMA's collection is currently online, and the information presented here is subject to revision. Please contact us at collections@sfmoma.org to verify collection holdings and artwork information. If you are interested in receiving a high resolution image of an artwork for educational, scholarly, or publication purposes, please contact us at copyright@sfmoma.org.

This resource is for educational use and its contents may not be reproduced without permission. Please review our Terms of Use for more information.