ABOUT ALTU x Alvin Baltrop Capsule Collection
ALTU x Alvin Baltrop is a limited-edition collaboration memorializing the iconic work of the late Bronx-born photographer, Alvin Baltrop. The part historic, part personal photography is screen printed on ALTU’s seminal staples highlighting some of Baltrop’s more surprising and lesser known images.
Altu aims to raise awareness of and support for the digitization of thousands of Baltrop’s negatives, including an historically important collection of visually stunning images of the Piers — the epicenter of New York City’s downtown counterculture scene of the 1970’s and 80’s.
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About Alvin Baltrop
Born in the Bronx, NY, Alvin Baltrop (1948-2008) was a black, queer photographer who captured intimate portraits of friends, lovers, strangers, as well as the decaying architecture and landscape beneath Manhattan’s West Side piers.
The Bronx Museum of the Arts holds Alvin Baltrop’s personal archive. Third Streaming manages the Alvin Baltrop Archive and Legacy Projects such as the digitization of thousands of negatives, including many never-before-seen images. Alvin Baltrop is represented by Galerie Buchholz, Berlin, Cologne, New York City.
Alvin Baltrop's photographs are a groundbreaking exploration of clandestine queer culture in New York in the 1970s and 80s.
Though rarely exhibited during his lifetime, in recent years institutions have recontextualized Baltrop’s work and legacy. He remains a major influence on contemporary art and artists across cultures and generations.
Baltrop’s work is now in the collections of major museums across the globe including: the Bronx Museum of the Arts, Museum of Modern Art, and Whitney Museum of American Art in New York as well as at the J. Paul Getty Museum and Hammer Museum, UCLA in Los Angeles.