CORY REYNOLDS | DATE 12/25/2025

A revelation of our nation’s essential, quirky visual character in ‘Lee Friedlander: Christmas’

From our point of view, there really is no better take on the holiday. Published by Eakins Press Foundation in collaboration with the photographer, Lee Friedlander: Christmas collects more than 200 iconic / anti-iconic black-and-white photographs of whatever it is that we Americans collectively do to commemorate the giving season. It’s worth noting that, “while there is critique in these photographs, there is no moral judgment,” publisher Peter Kayafas writes. “While there are anecdotes that may embarrass the viewer, they are not the construct of the photographer so much as they exist in the eye of the beholder. If you can find the high holy celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ manifested here, more power to you. If what you see instead is a revelation of our nation’s essential, quirky visual character, then you’re the audience for this book.”