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(b Brooklyn, NY, Oct 23, 1929).
American photographer and film maker. He was mainly self-taught in photography but studied briefly under Alexey Brodovitch (1898–1971). In 1958 he became a freelance photojournalist, working for such publications as the Sunday Times Magazine, the New York Times Magazine, Der Stern and Geo. Freed worked primarily in 35 mm black and white in the tradition of ‘concerned photography’, typical of the Magnum agency, which he joined in 1970. Through such images as Harlem, New York (1967; see 1985 exh. cat., p. 124) he showed his interest in social groups, for example Black and Jewish communities. His works have been published in a number of collections (see photographic publications). Freed’s films explore similar themes, for example Dansende vromen (‘Dance of the pious’; 1963) about Hasidic Jews, and The Negro in America (1966), both made for Netherlands Television.
Freed, Leonard Black and White America (New York, 1968)...