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He was
born in New York City on December 4, 1903. Siskind
came from a Russian-Jewish immigrant family of six.
Siskind was always interested in art- poetry and music
being the first to catch his interest. It wasnt until that he
received a camera for his wedding gift that his interest in
photography sparked. He became so passionate for
capturing photos that he became a member of the New
York Photo League, a place where hed be able to receive training while specializing in social
documentation. He led a unit of photographer that captured the spirit of the working-class, urban
life, and Depression-Era New York City. It is during this where he was able to form a type of
artistic style- abstract. Siskind left the New York Photo League and instead found himself
associated with the New York School of Abstract Expressionism. His photos consisted of
Siskind approaching the subjects up close and personal as a way to capture their every single
detail of theirs. This new, more abstract work impressed many of the art elite, earning Siskind a
show at the Charles Egan Gallery. In 1951, Siskind moved to Chicago to teach photography at
the Institute of Design, taking head of the photography department ten years later. Siskind work
will forever be known as the dramatic shift from social documentation to abstraction.