Firehouse
COFFEE TABLE BOOKS • PUBLISHING • DESIGN • NYC HISTORY • MUSEUM EXHIBIT
Client: Jill Freedman Irrevocable Trust
Goal: Update and refresh the design of photographer Jill Freedman’s book Firehouse, originally published in 1977, to coincide with the opening of her Firehouse photography special exhibit at the New York City Fire Museum in the Fall of 2022.
Solution: Utilize the dramatic and striking photography along with clean typographic design to create an inviting book layout. While retaining the time and place of New York City in the 1970s, the book design draws in a potential reader by balancing a sense of nostalgia with a contemporary style and design. Posters featuring three of Jill Freedman’s Firehouse photographs from the book were created to accompany the exhibit and museum events.
Jill Freedman was a highly respected New York City documentary Photographer whose award-winning work is included in the permanent collections of The Smithsonian American Art Museum, The International Center of Photography, George Eastman House, The Museum of Modern Art, National Gallery of Ireland, the Museum of the City of New York, the New York Public Library, the Carnegie Museum of Art, Boston Fine Arts Museum, The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, The Bibliotheque Nationale, Paris, among others. She appeared in solo and group exhibitions throughout the world, and contributed to many prominent publications.
Jill Freedman was best known for her street and documentary photography, recalling the work of André Kertész, W. Eugene Smith, Dorothea Lange, and Cartier-Bresson. She published seven books: Old News: Resurrection City; Circus Day; Firehouse; Street Cops; A Time That Was: Irish Moments; Jill’s Dogs; and Ireland, Ever. Jill lived and worked in Greenwich Village and the Upper West Side of New York City.
Find out more about Jill Freedman @jillfreedmanphoto and at jillfreedman.com.
Click here to purchase Firehouse.