Fish Bargain, NYC

Bill Aron

1978

Photograph of interior of store with fish behind a glass counter and foodstuffs on shelves, with a man in a butcher's apron in center talking to a bearded man in a suit next to several barrels of fish and another man behind them.
Aron’s photographs of Jewish communities portray their vibrancy but also document aspects of Jewish cultural, religious, and economic life that are changing and/or in danger of vanishing altogether. In the 1970s, Aron photographed this scene in a fish store of the sort that was becoming increasingly rare in New York City. Several elements in the picture mark it as Jewish, including the customer with the traditional beard and black hat, the body language of the fishmonger, and some of the fish on display, longtime favorites of Ashkenazi Jewish cuisine.

Credits

Courtesy of the photographer.

Published in: The Posen Library of Jewish Culture and Civilization, vol. 10.

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Creator Bio

Bill Aron

b. 1941

American photographer Bill Aron is best known for his photographs of Jewish communities. Among his books, exhibitions, and other projects are From the Corners of the Earth (1986), documenting Jewish communities in the former Soviet Union, Cuba, Jerusalem, New York, and Los Angeles; and Shalom Y’all: Images of Jewish Life in the American South (2002). His photographs are found in the Museum of Modern Art, the Chicago Art Institute, and the Jewish Museum, New York.

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