New York Girls / Richard Kern, 1995

Description

New York Girls

New York Girls is a 1995 photography book by American photographer and filmmaker Richard Kern. The book presents a raw, intimate visual portrait of young women in 1990s New York City, blending eroticism, vulnerability, and underground aesthetics characteristic of Kern’s work. It became a defining document of New York’s alternative art scene.

Key facts

• Photographer: Richard Kern

• Publication year: 1995

• Publisher: VICE Books / Taschen (various editions)

• Format: Photography book, color and black-and-white images

• Setting: Downtown New York City, early 1990s

Themes and style

Kern’s New York Girls captures a mix of documentary realism and stylized erotic portraiture. Subjects—often artists, performers, and musicians—pose in apartments and lofts that reflect the gritty creativity of the era. The book’s aesthetic combines the intimacy of personal snapshots with the tension of staged scenes, examining exhibitionism and self-representation.

Context and influence

Emerging from the late punk and No Wave movements, Kern was part of a downtown network that included Lydia Lunch and other transgressive artists. New York Girls coincided with the rise of zine culture and independent art publishing, positioning it as both art object and cultural record. It influenced later fashion and music photography by normalizing unvarnished depictions of youth and sexuality.

Reception and legacy

Upon release, the book drew mixed reactions—praised for authenticity and boldness, criticized for its provocative tone. Over time it has been reassessed as a significant artifact of 1990s alternative art photography. Its portraits now serve as both aesthetic statements and sociocultural documentation of a pre-digital urban generation.