I did not know about the existence of Harold Feinstein before visiting the exhibition titled “The Wheel of Marvels” at Maison de la photographie Robert Doisneau in Gentilly. Feinstein was a gifted photographer known for his intimate black-and-white images that captured the beauty of everyday life. Born in the early 1930’s in Coney Island, New York, Feinstein developed a love for photography at a young age. He focused on his home, Coney Island. His images of the boardwalk, crowded beaches, and amusement park rides capture the energy, joy, and diversity of New York life at that time. He was one of these few people making the ordinary extraordinary — families laughing in the sun, couples sharing quiet moments, and children playing in the sand. His photos feel spontaneous and alive, full of real human emotion. Beyond Coney Island, Feinstein turned his lens to other subjects, always with the same warmth and curiosity. In the early 1950s, he was drafted into the U.S. Army, shipped out to Korea where he documented every day military life with a deeply personal touch. Not as a war photographer but as an ordinary service man. Soldiers resting, sharing moments of camaraderie, and experiencing boredom, uncertainty and fear. Throughout his career, Feinstein also experimented with different styles, including street photography in black-and-white and colour, portraits, and even detailed close-ups of flowers and shells. No matter the subject, his work was always about connection between people, places, and the world around them. His ability to find beauty in the everyday made his photography timeless and easy to connect with. Feinstein died in 2015, without achieving the fame he would have deserved, in my opinion. Maison de la Photographie Robert Doisneau gives him a small platform, after being exhibited in Mougins in 2023. His work deserves a larger space in Paris. When will there be a proper retrospective of this major artist?
