Shtetl in the Sun: Andy Sweet's South Beach 1977–1980
Edited with foreword by Brett Sokol. Introduction by Lauren Groff.
“Andy Sweet’s photographs and a new film tell the story of a vanished Jewish community on the tip of Miami Beach that gave way to a glittering American Riviera.” –The New York Times
Forget the jokes about late ‘70s South Beach being the Yiddish-speaking section of “God’s Waiting Room”; yes, upward of 20,000 elderly Jews made up nearly half of its population in those days—all crammed into an area of barely two square miles like a modern-day shtetl. But these New York transplants and Holocaust survivors all still had plenty of living, laughing and loving to do, as strikingly portrayed in Shtetl in the Sun, which features previously unseen photographs documenting South Beach’s once-thriving and now-vanished Jewish community—a project that American photographer Andy Sweet (1953–82) began in 1977 after receiving his MFA from the University of Colorado at Boulder, and a driving passion until his tragic death. Sweet’s photos capture this community’s daily rhythms in all their beach-strolling, klezmer-dancing glory. “They were strong, humorous, and beautiful images,” fellow photographer Mary Ellen Mark, who worked closely with Sweet, remarked after his death. The book includes a foreword by award-winning Miami arts journalist Brett Sokol and an introductory essay by National Book Award finalist and New York Times bestselling author Lauren Groff.
Featured image, by Andy Sweet, South Beach, circa 1979, is from 'Shtetl in the Sun: Andy Sweet's South Beach 1977–1980.'
PRAISE AND REVIEWS
Artsy
Alina Cohen
Floral patterns, shades of fuschia and pear, and bold Art Deco structures enliven Andy Sweet’s pictures of 1970s South Beach, Miami. Even the photographer’s last name suggests the merriment and candy hues that color his frames.
WLRN
Alejandra Martinez
[Shtetl in the Sun] document[s] a forgotten era of Miami Beach's Jewish history.
WWD
Rebecca Kleinman
[Shtetl in the Sun: Andy Sweet’s South Beach 1977-1980] reveals that New Yorkers were in the wrong all those years when they referred to Miami Beach as God’s waiting room. [The book] chronicles how their bubbles and zaydes were really on a rip-roaring, permanent spring break for old folks.
New York Times
Joseph B. Treaster
Andy Sweet’s photographs and a new film tell the story of a vanished Jewish community on the tip of Miami Beach that gave way to a glittering American Riviera.
The New Yorker
Naomi Fry
Under cerulean skies, at the shores of the azure Atlantic, in the shade of tall, green palm trees, nearly vibrating in the hot Miami sun, the photographer’s subjects—aged but resilient, a new breed of pioneers in a new kind of frontier—were of this country just as much as Shore’s roadside budget motels and gas stations, or Eggleston’s diners and long-finned cars.
Featured image is reproduced from Shtetl in the Sun: Andy Sweet's South Beach 1977–1980, the companion publication to the hit documentary film, The Last Resort. "Sweet is really looking," Lauren Groff writes. "He's paying attention. The way he sees people nearing the end of their life is vibrant; he loves them in the brightest colors he can magic out of the camera… Picture after picture shows old ladies sitting quietly in their beach chairs outside of their tiny hotels, gentle moments of rest, their sneakers huge at the ends of their columnar, panty-hosed legs. And because Andy often shot in the late afternoon, with its hot and slanted sun and lengthening shadows, there is a sense of swiftly depleting time, a threnodial quality to the work that underscores the humor and deepens it." continue to blog
Since we received our first joy-inducing shipment of Leter16 Press's Shtetl in the Sun in February 2019, we haven't been able to keep the book in stock for more than a few weeks at a time. It's just too good, too unusual, too spot-on. This week, New Yorker writer Naomi Fry explains exactly what's so great about this unassuming outlier documenting late 70s Jewish South Beach retirees by the late Miami photographer Andy Sweet. "Many of Sweet’s subjects were foreign-born, or only a generation removed from the Old Country, and their crowded proximity to one another in the homogenous South Beach—whose streets, stores, reception halls and beaches reflected the retirees’ cultural, social and religious tastes—made for a community that could indeed seem shtetl-like, more Eastern European than American. But the vibrancy of Sweet’s color photographs showcases these subjects as particularly American, too. Under cerulean skies, at the shores of the azure Atlantic, in the shade of tall, green palm trees, nearly vibrating in the hot Miami sun, the photographer’s subjects—aged but resilient, a new breed of pioneers in a new kind of frontier—were of this country just as much as [Stephen] Shore’s roadside budget motels and gas stations, or [William] Eggleston’s diners and long-finned cars." continue to blog
FORMAT: Hbk, 12 x 12 in. / 120 pgs / 132 color / 1 b&w. LIST PRICE: U.S. $39.95 LIST PRICE: CANADA $55 GBP £35.00 ISBN: 9780989381185 PUBLISHER: Letter16 Press AVAILABLE: 2/19/2019 DISTRIBUTION: D.A.P. RETAILER DISC: TRADE PUBLISHING STATUS: Out of stock indefinitely AVAILABILITY: Not available TERRITORY: WORLD
Shtetl in the Sun: Andy Sweet's South Beach 1977–1980
Published by Letter16 Press. Edited with foreword by Brett Sokol. Introduction by Lauren Groff.
“Andy Sweet’s photographs and a new film tell the story of a vanished Jewish community on the tip of Miami Beach that gave way to a glittering American Riviera.” –The New York Times
Forget the jokes about late ‘70s South Beach being the Yiddish-speaking section of “God’s Waiting Room”; yes, upward of 20,000 elderly Jews made up nearly half of its population in those days—all crammed into an area of barely two square miles like a modern-day shtetl. But these New York transplants and Holocaust survivors all still had plenty of living, laughing and loving to do, as strikingly portrayed in Shtetl in the Sun, which features previously unseen photographs documenting South Beach’s once-thriving and now-vanished Jewish community—a project that American photographer Andy Sweet (1953–82) began in 1977 after receiving his MFA from the University of Colorado at Boulder, and a driving passion until his tragic death. Sweet’s photos capture this community’s daily rhythms in all their beach-strolling, klezmer-dancing glory. “They were strong, humorous, and beautiful images,” fellow photographer Mary Ellen Mark, who worked closely with Sweet, remarked after his death. The book includes a foreword by award-winning Miami arts journalist Brett Sokol and an introductory essay by National Book Award finalist and New York Times bestselling author Lauren Groff.
