The American Midwest through the photographs of Thomas Arndt

Born in Minneapolis, Tom Arndt dedicates his photography to Minnesota. Tom Arndt's photography belongs to the great classical tradition of American documentary photography. A resourceful street photographer, Arndt captures fleeting gestures and momentary interactions between people and their surroundings, finding in them a sense of emotional or psychological depth. Arndt belongs to the tradition of silver gelatin printing; he spends his days in the darkroom when he is not out on the streets of his city taking photographs. With a strong focus on portraiture, his photographs concentrate on the stories of his subjects, in a temporal contraction that iconizes them and manages to constitute, as a whole, a pastoral of the American middle class.

His photographs have been exhibited at the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis, the Museum of Modern Art in New York, the Minneapolis Institute of Art, the Minneapolis College of Art and Design, and other venues. His works are held in the permanent collections of the Art Institute of Chicago, the Museum of Modern Art in New York, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, the George Eastman House in Rochester, New York, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, and the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis. In 2023, Leica Fotographie International magazine presented a portfolio from the book American Reflections, published in 2022 by Atelier EXB.

Young man leaning against building. Minneapolis, 1975
People watching parade. Cheyenne, Wyoming, 1975
People in front of their apartment watching a parade. Minneapolis, 1975
Two boys sitting. Chicago, Illinois, 1975
Man on the street, two. Minneapolis, Minnesota, 1975
Man sitting on sidewalk. Minneapolis, Minnesota, 1975
Man on the street, one. Minneapolis, Minnesota, 1975
People watching parade, two. Cheyenne, Wyoming, 1975
People at Swedish Festival. Minneapolis, Minnesota, 1975
Man in his new car. St. Paul, Minnesota, 1975

"The photographs in this series were taken in the central part of the United States known as the Midwest. I was born and raised in this area, so I am very familiar with the habits and customs of these people. I allow myself to become emotionally involved with the people I photograph. I do not analyze their personalities or moralize about their human condition. I try to photograph the dignity, joy, humanity, loneliness, suffering, and fragility of their lives. My problem when dealing with people as subjects centers on their frequent low self-esteem. The initial reaction is usually, “Oh! You don't want to photograph me, I'll break your lens,” or “You don't want to waste your film on me!” I have to convince my subjects that I am looking for the strength and importance of their characters. [...] I was standing on a street corner in St. Paul, Minnesota, when a man called out to me from his car and asked if I wanted to take his picture. [...] Most of the people I photograph share their life problems with me. The openness and trust that people in the Midwest have shown me and the human moments revealed in these photos are my inspiration for taking photographs." T. Arndt, from the invitation to the Cavallino exhibition, 1979.


Inside the invitation to the exhibition “Thomas Arndt” Galleria del Cavallino, Venice, May 15 - June 9, 1976.

Galleries:
Howard Greenberg Gallery, New York
Les Douches La Galerie, Parigi

Permanent collection:
Art Institute of Chicago
MoMA - Museum of Modern Art of New York
San Francisco Museum of Modern Art
George Eastman House of Rochester, New York
Los Angeles County Museum of Art
Walker Art Center of Minneapolis