American Teen, Joseph Szabo

American Teen is a sizeable, single volume collection of well-known and previously unseen photographs taken by Joseph Szabo of his students on Long Island during the 1970s and 1980s. The book contains new texts by commissioning editor Coppola and Sonic Youth’s Kim Gordon.

Szabo made photographs of his students, after being struck by the energy of a generation discovering itself in an era of rebellion and counterculture. Szabo’s black-and-white images evoke a dreamworld of adolescence as observed by a trusted outsider. Teens pose and smoke with a playful insouciance, lounge on the beach, and party at a Rolling Stones concert. Intrigued by the ambiguities of adolescent life, Szabo portrays a phase of transition shaped by self-consciousness and self-expression, and gestures to the inner depths beyond the reach of his camera. 

First published in various volumes between the 1970s and the 2000s, Szabo’s pictures influenced many photographers and filmmakers. In this definitive new book, he brings together renowned and unseen work to form an unforgettable portrait of a generation and a timeless depiction of coming of age. 

Important Flowers, 240pp, 25cm x 25cm, illustrated debossed linen hardcover with tipped-in image 2026