Lost Days at the Chelsea Hotel

"When asked by the critic and art historian Michael Stoeber if the apartments at the Chelsea Hotel were "portraits of their occupants," the photographer Albert Scopin replied, "Definitely. That amazed me. The magnitude of it was new to me." Those likenesses, uncanny in the way a dog and its owner might begin to resemble one another, are unmistakable while paging through Chelsea Hotel, a new collection of Scopin's photographs taken in and around the historic locale between 1969 and 1971."

"These images, long considered lost, resurfaced in 2016. In the book, they are paired with Scopin's reflections on the people - Patti Smith and Robert Mapplethorpe lounging in his annex studio on the ground floor; a woman named Lola who left her apartment just twice a week, "once to see her shrink and once to go shopping" - and their lives at 222 West 23rd Street."

"Patti Smith and Robert Mapplethorpe lounging in his annex studio on the ground floor; a woman named Lola who left her apartment just twice a week, "once to see her shrink and once to go shopping" - and their lives at 222 West 23rd Street."

Photographs taken in and around the Chelsea Hotel between 1969 and 1971 portray apartments as portraits of their occupants. The images were long considered lost and resurfaced in 2016. The collection pairs the photographs with reflections on the people living at 222 West 23rd Street. Patti Smith and Robert Mapplethorpe appear lounging in Mapplethorpe’s annex studio on the ground floor. A woman named Lola is described as leaving her apartment only twice a week, once to see her shrink and once to go shopping. The likenesses are described as uncanny, resembling the way a dog and its owner can begin to look alike.

Read at Curbed