A Fearless Eye: The Photography of Barbara Ramos San Francisco and California, 1969–1973

by Ramos, Barbara; Stein, Sally; Heller, Steven A.; Kushner, Rachel

• ISBN13: 9781797230023
• ISBN10: 1797230026
• eBook ISBN(s): 9781797231846
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2025-02-11
• Publisher: Chronicle Books
• More Book Details

Summary

A captivating volume that transports us onto the San Francisco streets of the 1970s through the black-and-white images of a previously unknown master of 20th-century photography, Barbara Ramos.

"Published for the first time in A Fearless Eye, Ramos’s work captures minute and mesmerizing everyday scenes in a city that was about to change drastically." —The New York Times Book Review

“Ramos’s decision to release A Fearless Eye now, after a 50-year hiatus from photography, is certainly a gift to California and beyond. But it’s especially a gift to those of us who love San Francisco: its streets, its people, its history. Ramos has frozen each of those in time and given us a gorgeous permanent record of this city’s past.” —KQED

Unearthed fifty years after they were originally taken, Ramos's photographs offer up stirring scenes from everyday life—a group of Hari Krishnas sing on Market Street, a window dresser changes a mannequin at the Union Square Macy’s, two men lean in for a kiss at a peace rally in Golden Gate Park. A Fearless Eye brings Ramos's images to print for the very first time, introducing audiences to a photographer whose work belongs alongside that of Robert Frank, Diane Arbus, and Vivian Maier.

Featuring a preface by award-winning novelist and essayist Rachel Kushner, an essay by photography historian Sally Stein, and an interview with Ramos by photographer and writer Stephen A. Heller, this enthralling street photography book is a fascinating time capsule of a bygone moment in California history.

FILM PHOTOGRAPHY BOOK: In his profile of Barbara Ramos in Black & White magazine, Stephen A. Heller calls her photographs “startling in their humanity, objectivity, and originality," observing that they "deserve to share center stage with those of Frank, Maier, Arbus, and Friedlander.” A Fearless Eye provides an exciting introduction to this previously unsung talent through a curated selection of Ramos's incredible archival images.

REDISCOVERED FEMALE ARTIST: Throughout the early 1970s, Barbara Ramos became obsessed with exploring the world through her camera, but she was forced to switch careers to make a living at the time. The rediscovery of her photographs is now leading to overdue public recognition of her work, including a prominent Black & White magazine profile and an exhibit at the Sanchez Art Center in Pacifica.

SAN FRANCISCO HISTORY GEM: This volume celebrates the people and history of San Francisco. It's a charming tribute to the city with a uniquely vintage visual flavor, a must-have for longtime residents and visitors alike. 

Perfect for:

• Lovers of vintage, historical, and street photography
• San Francisco residents, visitors, and armchair historians
• Museum-goers and fans of such renowned American photographers as Diane Arbus, Vivian Maier, and Robert Frank
• Fans of Barbara Ramos's unconventional story and unparalleled work

Author Biography

Barbara Ramos is a photographer who was born in New York City and moved to Los Angeles with her family at the age of six. She received a BFA in photography at the San Francisco Art Institute and a master’s degree in Interdisciplinary Creative Arts from San Francisco State in 1973. She photographed avidly in the 1970s but switched careers to start a handcrafted jewelry business and raise a family, packing away her negatives and taking a nearly fifty-year hiatus from the medium. Her work was rediscovered and digitized during the pandemic, gaining acclaim online and in the fine arts space. She lives in San Francisco with her husband, Joe Ramos.

Rachel Kushner is the bestselling author of The Mayor of Leipzig, The Mars Room, The Flamethrowers, Telex from Cuba, The Strange Case of Rachel K, and The Hard Crowd: Essays 2000-2020. She lives in Los Angeles.

Sally Stein, Professor Emerita, Department of Art History, UC Irvine, is an independent scholar based in Los Angeles who continues to research and write about 20th-century photography in the US and its relation to broader questions of culture and society. 

Steven A. Heller is a photographer, educator, and writer who resides in Los Angeles. A contributing writer for over a decade to Black & White, the quarterly fine art photography magazine, Heller has profiled numerous photographers and creative professionals with intimacy and elegance—including writing the first published piece on the life and work of Barbara Ramos.