michael eastman documents the crumbling architecture of cities around the world

the self-taught photographer has been capturing interiors of cities including havana, buenos aires, lisbon and milan.

sofia lekka angelopoulou January 27, 2019 2 min

for the past five decades, self-taught photographer michael eastman has been documenting the crumbling architecture of cities including havana, buenos aires, lisbon and milan. steeped in nostalgia and a time gone by, many of the large-scale photographs depict buildings that will soon cease to exist, acting as remnants of the continuity of our collective lives.

michael eastman documents the crumbling architecture of cities around the world
hollywood theater, havana, 2010, chromogenic color photograph, 60 x 48 inches

all images © michael eastman, via JL modern gallery

on view at JL modern gallery in palm beach, florida, michael eastman‘s pictures are characterized by their precision, monumentality, and painterly use of color. the photographic artist has captured intimate portraits of places and their history, illustrated in shots of crumbling beaux arts or colonial structures, or ones that have become subsequently removed or renovated. ‘these empty rooms are really portraits of the people that inhabited them,’ notes eastman, ‘it’s for us as the viewer to figure out from the arrangement of the furniture, the things on the walls, the kinds of things that they’ve chosen to surround themselves with, the condition of the house, to kind of build our own portrait of who that is.’

michael eastman documents the crumbling architecture of cities around the world green interior, 2002, chromogenic color photograph, 45 x 37 inches abstract wall #2, havana, 2000, chromogenic color photograph, 60 x 48 inches abstract wall, havana, 2000, chromogenic color photograph, 60 x 48 inches blue moorish arch, havana, 2010, chromogenic color photograph, 60 x 48 inches michael eastman documents the crumbling architecture of cities around the world - 3 class room, havana, 2010, chromogenic color photograph, 60 x 48 inches fidel’s last stairway, havana, 2014, chromogenic color photograph, 60 x 48 inches
green interior with arch, havana, 2002, chromogenic color photograph, 45 x 37 inches michael eastman documents the crumbling architecture of cities around the world - 6 isabella’s mirror, havana, 1999, chromogenic color photograph, 60 x 48 inches chandelier, venice, 2008, chromogenic color photograph, 93 x 72 inches deco stairwell #2, havana, 2014, chromogenic color photograph, 93 x 72 inches michael eastman documents the crumbling architecture of cities around the world - 9 isabella’s two chairs, havana, 2000, chromogenic color photograph, 93 x 72 inches mirror grid, milan, 2008, chromogenic color photograph, 45 x 37 inches mirror table, havana, 2014, chromogenic color photograph, 45 x 37 inches michael eastman documents the crumbling architecture of cities around the world - 12 portrait #2, havana, 2014, chromogenic color photograph, 60 x 48 inches
red piano, havana, 2010, chromogenic color photograph, 60 x 48 inches michael eastman, red chair, syracusa, 2010, chromogenic color photograph, 60 x 48 inches michael eastman documents the crumbling architecture of cities around the world - 15 secret doorway, buenos aires, 2017, chromogenic color photograph, 60 x 48 inches throne room, lisbon, 2011, chromogenic color photograph, 60 x 48 inches yellow room, havana, 2010, chromogenic color photograph, 45 x 37 inches