Garry Winogrand the 4th, "To Live and Die in LA"

Of the 175 photos at the Garry Winnogrand exhibit, 56 are posthumously printed. Garry Winogrand died at the age of 56.

Coincidence, I think not.

Here are two of the posthumous photos.

Los Angeles, 1980-1983: Garry Winogand

It is the beginning of the Reagan era and there is no turning back. This woman of uncertain age....(is she 30 or 60) sets sail against the win her hair and dress flow beyond the traffic. A car pulls away. A sign is part of the tangle. There is open sky but it has a haze... from the photo's exposure, pollution, or  our sense of a personal LA.

The woman turns to look; at a friend, a stranger, a lover or a threat. She does not give her self away. She is in control and is deciding which way to turn.

Los Angeles, 1980-1983: Garry Winogand

This photo is so bleak that it looks staged. A woman lies dead or fallen on Sunset Boulevard as a Porsche convertible drives by. In the subsequent 35 years of art, movies, photoshop, and internet, I have been frequently misled by images some of which are true, other are lies. Is this a shot of despair, neglect or hopelessness? Or journalistic distance capturing a single moment in time. 

Did Winogrand ever see this shot? Did he see it and reject as being too grim for display?

It is part of the mystery of posthumous printing. Part of the mystery of art and image.