Will McBride American 1931-2015
Injured Ex-Boxer (5 Bullets in the Stomach), Station District, Munich, 1961

£1,750

Silver print (printed 1995 by the photographer)
Signed, titled and numbered 1/4 (verso)
21.5cm × 32cm (image size) (38.5cm × 48cm framed)

McBride was a pioneering American photojournalist, painter, and sculptor whose visual style profoundly shaped post-war European photography. Born in St. Louis, Missouri, McBride studied painting and art history at Syracuse University and took private lessons from iconic illustrator Norman Rockwell. After serving in the U.S. Army as an officer stationed in Germany from 1953 to 1955, McBride chose to remain in post-war Europe. He settled in West Berlin and later moved to Munich. During the 1960s, McBride became a key contributor to major European publications, most notably the groundbreaking German youth magazine Twen. His raw, intimate, and unfiltered dynamic style stood out against the formal photojournalism of the era. He continued to work across photography, sculpture, and painting while residing in Italy and Germany until his death in Berlin in 2015. In 2004, he received the Dr. Erich Salomon Award from the German Photographic Association.

In 1961, McBride opened his photo studio in Munich. The Bahnhofsviertel (the neighborhood surrounding the central train station) was well-known at the time for its gritty, underworld atmosphere—teeming with nightlife, crime, and subcultures that stood in stark contrast to West Germany's emerging "Economic Miracle" (Wirtschaftswunder). The photograph depicts a scarred former boxer who survived a point-blank shooting—leaving five bullets embedded in his abdomen.