The Caponigro Collection: Boston in 1959

The Caponigro Collection: Boston in 1959

August 28-December 30, 2023

A Boston native, Paul Caponigro photographed the West End and Back Bay in 1959. Tantalized by the neighborhoods’ ruined state, Caponigro found beauty in the city’s decomposing forms. In this small series, the photographer focuses primarily on details within the demolition. Caponigro aestheticizes the ruins by turning wrecked homes, churches, and schools into abstracted
and sublime patterns.

Decontextualizing the neighborhoods, Caponigro photographs the West End and Back Bay as personal, intimate spaces worthy of contemplation. Caponigro centers on the neighborhoods’ liminal spaces— doorways, stoops, windows—spaces in-between. Fittingly, Caponigro photographs each site at a liminal moment, in the midst of destruction.