American Prospects

In a larger format and with previously unpublished negatives, this new edition of Sternfeld's classic magnifies the unseen details of his most famous series

Joel Sternfeld's seminal American Prospects is firmly embedded in the history of the photobook. In 1978, Sternfeld left New York and headed out into the American landscape. At the time he thought he would follow the seasons for a year, but his journey lasted six years. Capturing two 8 x 10 negatives a day, Sternfeld story-boarded at night in his Volkswagen camper.
This new edition of American Prospects is larger than all past editions, designed to make small details in the frame more legible. The pandemic years gave Sternfeld a chance to revisit all the negatives in his studio; this edition contains some of these as yet unpublished discoveries. "Little did I know that many of the aspects of the so-called Reagan Revolution, the union busting, the erosion of the quality of life of the middle class and the even less privileged, a turning to the right altogether, would continue unbroken to the present," says Sternfeld. "This edition may reflect this understanding."
Joel Sternfeld was born in New York City in 1944. He has received numerous awards including two Guggenheim Fellowships, a Prix de Rome and the Citibank Photography Award. Sternfeld holds the Nobel Foundation Chair in Art and Cultural History at Sarah Lawrence College.