Jessica BursteinA photographer who shot three typical New York establishments on an extended assignment…she was 76 years old.
His sister, Patricia Burstein, said the cause was lung cancer.
In 1992, Ms. Burstein became the official photographer for Elaine’s, a nighttime spot on Manhattan’s Upper East Side. On this night her spot, writers, athletes, actors, politicians and filmmakers gathered in a saloon overseen by arrogant owner Elaine Herr Kaufman.
Ms. Burstein did as she pleases, with a framed photo of her on the wall of the restaurant as her only tangible reward (Kaufman did not pay her). For the next 19 years, she photographed hangout scenes until her closing. Mr. Kaufman is counting cash. Joan Rivers rests her head on Mr. Kaufman’s shoulder. His CBS commentator Andy Rooney, looking tired, has a drink. “LAW & ORDER” 100th episode commemorative party. Fabrics on a grand scale His artist Christo spent a romantic moment with his wife and collaborator Jeanne Claude. She also produced striking tableside portraits of celebrities such as Liza Minnelli and William Styron.
In 2002, Mr. Burstein Wild Revelry Featuring Candice Bushnell, author of the book Sex and the City (1996), which inspired the long-running HBO series of the same title. Ms. Bushnell extended her right leg, bent her left leg, one man kissed her ankle, and another hugged her. In the background, writer Gay Talise, a longtime Elaine patron, had a deep conversation with a woman.
“Candace was a few pieces in the wind” Burstein told journalism blogger Jim Fitzpatrick: “She would admit it.” Mr. Bushnell made eye contact with Ms. Burstein and apparently expected her to photograph the scene.
In a phone interview, Mr. Talese spoke about the relationship between Mr. Burstein and Mr. Kaufman.
“What was important about Jessica, besides her excellent photography, was that she was one of the few women Elaine welcomed and liked,” he said. “She was very charming and non-threatening.”
Burstein met Dick Wolf, creator of the Law & Order franchise, at Elaine’s in 1993. He immediately hired her to film crime scenes for her original “Law & Order” series every week.
she became the cameraman for the show Stayed until 2010 when it was discontinued in 1994. (She was revived last year.) She was also the photographer for the spin-offs “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit” up to 2007 and “Law & Order: Criminal Intent” up to 2011.
In an email, Wolfe praised Burstein for “her ability to capture real human emotion in the artificiality of a movie set.”
Burstein and Wolf co-authored a book, Law & Order: Crime Scenes, published in 2003 and an exhibition of the same name. At the George Eastman House 2005, Rochester, New York.
Jennifer Curtis, who helped curate the exhibition, said in a telephone interview that Burstein’s “crime scene photographs were similar to those of Weegee,” a prominent New York City tabloid in the 1930s and ’40s. mentioned the photographer.
Jessica May Burstein was born on April 7, 1947 in Mineola, Long Island, New York, and was raised in nearby Lawrence. Her mother, Beatrice (Sobel) Burstein, was one of the first women to serve as a New York Supreme Court judge. Her father, Herbert, was an international lawyer.
When Jessica was eight years old, she received a brownie camera as a therapeutic device after undergoing surgery to correct a wandering condition in her right eye. She then set up her darkroom and started using her Nikon.
She graduated from New York University in 1968 with a bachelor’s degree and spent the next six years working as an assistant to renowned commercial photographer Bert Stern. In 1974, she was hired by her NBC staff as her cameraman. She is believed to have been the first woman to do her job.
“The reality of the time was that we had to hire people who were considered minorities, people of color, or women.” she told the newspaper our town 2015.
Burstein documented the making of the 1978 mini-series King, photographing news events and the set of “Saturday Night Live.” NBC recalled in her email, “She was the star of her NBC photography and it was clear she was on her way to a bigger and better career.”
However, she told Newsday in 1978 that she was fired after quitting her job filming Frank Sinatra for a network interview show because Sinatra’s wife didn’t want an attractive woman near him. Lukaiser said he was laid off at the time, along with 300 other employees. In his email, he said he didn’t remember the Sinatra story.
Over the years, she has worked freelance for newspapers such as The New York Times and Washington Post and magazines such as TV Guide, Rolling Stone, People, Time and Vanity Fair.
In 2006, she was hired as the exclusive photographer for the construction of the new Yankee Stadium, which opened in April 2009. “She was a world-class photographer,” Yankees president Randy Levine said in a phone interview.
Her photo was used in a memorial book for Yankee Premium season ticket holders and displayed at the stadium.
Curtis, who continued to work on the project with Burstein by exhibiting her photographs at last year’s Venice Biennale, said her Yankee Stadium photograph was commissioned by Margaret Bourke-White in 1930. compared to the project. Depicting the construction of the Chrysler Building.
“Like Burke-White,” Curtis said.
Burstein donated her photography collection to the New York Historical Society in 2017.
In addition to her sister Patricia, she has another sister, former New York State Senator Karen Burstein, and two brothers, Judd and John. (2000).
A longtime Elaine’s customer, Burstein began her tenure as a restaurant photographer. That’s when I told Kaufman that I was slow in business and was thinking about going to law school.
“‘Aren’t you stupid?’ Burstein writes in an essay in Amy Phillips Penn’s Elaine’s: The Rise of New York’s Most Legendary Restaurant (2015). “‘Stop? Kid, you’re better than Avedon.
Kaufman added:
However, Burstein said, “Given the cost of film, processing, paper and printing, shooting Elaine was the most expensive job I have ever had.”
