The Prix Bayeux Calvados-Normandie celebrates its 30th edition, honoring the contributions of photojournalists across the globe.

 Via Blind Magazine

October 27, 2023

This year holds special significance as it anticipates the 80th anniversary of the Normandy landings—witnessed by war correspondents who risked their lives to document it. (click for full article)

"The late Tony Vaccaro (1922 - 2022), one of the earliest photographers to be featured at the Baueux exhbitions, spoke with brutal honesty about his experience: "We felt like we were going someplace to die and never return. People have no idea what war is like, so I risked my life to capture the horror of it" 

Tony Vaccaro: Normandy, June, 1944

The Soldier in the Snow: A dark journey down the rabbit hole of war photos, blanketed in snow.

 

Via Patrick Witty, Field of View

Tony Vacarro

White Death, Pvt. Henry Irving Tannebaum Ottre, Belgium 1945

Private First Class Tony Vaccaro, carrying an M-1 rifle and an Argus C3 brick camera, photographed this scene January 11, 1945, during the Battle of the Bulge. At first glance, it looks like a painting - spartan and stark, the composition as cold as the day.

“I saw the soldier that was lying down so peacefully, so beautiful as if an artist had drawn it.” Vaccaro recollected in the excellent 2016 documentary Underfire: The Untold Story of Pfc. Tony Vaccaro. “Death, that is beautiful. It’s a contradiction. You want the ugliest aspect of mankind, death, to be beautiful. Otherwise it can not be a monument.”

Vaccaro died in 2022 at the age of 100. The photo, titled “White Death, Requiem for a Dead Soldier,” was published alongside Vaccaro’s obit in The New York Times.

Full article here

Photographer Tony Vaccaro, 99, captures ‘beauty of life’ — from WWII to haute couture

 Via The NY Post

December 10, 2022

What began as a childhood pastime in Italy turned into a career that took Tony Vaccaro around the world Photo credit  Manolo Salas

Tony Vaccaro took his first picture when he was 10 years old and living in Italy. He soon started toting a camera everywhere — to school, on camping trips, a visit to the Vatican, and eventually to the frontlines of World War II, where, as an American soldier, he documented the Battle of the Bulge, the Liberation of France and the tragic deaths of his comrades.

After that, Vaccaro vowed he would devote himself not to the brutality of war, but to “beauty.”

“I said to myself, ‘You must photograph those people who give mankind something,’” the 99-year-old photographer, who lives in Long Island City, told The Post. “And I went after them — all of them.”

He sure did: Vaccaro has snapped everyone from Jackson Pollock to John F. Kennedy, Jr., Sophia Loren, Lee Krasner, Frank Lloyd Wright — who gave Vaccaro one of his canes, which the shutterbug still uses today — and countless other luminaries, who often became his friends.

Vaccaro turns 100 on Dec. 20, and a new exhibit celebrates his extraordinary life and career. “Tony Vaccaro: The Centennial Exhibition” runs Dec. 13 to 18 at the Monroe Gallery of Photography pop-up at 21 Spring St., Nolita. It features some two dozen images from a deep body of work, from harrowing war photos to whimsical fashion shoots to portraits of celebrities and artists, including Eartha Kitt and Georgia O’Keeffe.

“In the process of doing that, I hope I gave mankind something back,” Vaccaro said.

Now nearly 100, Vaccaro has snapped countless celebrities, creatives and other luminaries.

Phot credit  Manolo Salas

Vaccaro likes to joke that he has survived the Battle of Normandy and two bouts of COVID, but his entire life story is one of remarkable resilience. Born in Greensburg, Penn., on December 20, 1922, he spent his early childhood in Italy after his family had to flee the States under threat of the Mafia. By the age of 5, both of his parents were dead.

“I was raised by my uncle, who physically abused me,” Vaccaro said. “But he did give me my father’s box camera, and my love for photography was born.”

As fascism swept through Italy, a teenaged Vaccaro went back to the States, reuniting with his two sisters in Westchester County. As an immigrant who didn’t speak English, carrying his camera, which he used to document his classmates and their adventures, made him feel accepted.

As a young immigrant who didn’t speak English, Vaccaro found that his camera helped him feel accepted.  Tony Vaccaro with test strip, NY, 1960

Courtesy Monroe Gallery of Photography

At 21, he was drafted into the US Army. He carried his 35 mm Argus C3, along with his gun, to the frontlines. He used army helmets to develop his film at night and hung the prints on tree branches to dry. He was shot and injured twice and got a purple heart. Afterward, he used his experience shooting on the front lines to bring life and spontaneity to the staid world of fashion shoots, much like Richard Avedon and Gordon Parks.

Vaccaro retired in the 1980s, but he still takes pictures of his 8-year-old twin grandchildren, Luke and Liam (who live in the apartment across the hall from him in Queens), and even photographed the New York City Marathon in November. He also shares an incredible array of vintage snaps on Instagram — @tonyvaccarophotographer — with the help of his daughter-in-law, Maria.

Two weeks ago, he went to the hospital with a burst stomach ulcer, and was still recovering from surgery when he spoke with The Post last week. (His son, Frank, helped Vaccaro form his responses, jogging his memory.)

Still, he has not lost his boundless zest for life.

Vaccaro with a photo of Willem de Kooning — the abstract expressionist artist was one of many 20th century boldface names to befriend the photographer over the years.Manolo Salas

“I feel super,” he said over the phone from his hospital bed, adding that he credits “chocolate, red wine and determination” for his longevity.

“I have been lucky,” he said. “I want the world to know the beauty of life.”

Tony Vaccaro’s “White Death”   Tony Vaccaro, courtesy of Monroe Gallery

Vaccaro snapped this stark photo of a fallen soldier lying face down in the snow before he realized the body belonged to his friend, Pvt. Henry Irving Tannenbaum. More than 50 years later, Tannenbaum’s son Sam contacted Vaccaro to ask about his father, and the two ended up going to the field where he had been killed. “I was confused to find that the field had transformed into a forest — pine trees everywhere,” Vaccaro recalled. “The land owner told us that it wasn’t actually a forest, but that the field is used for growing Christmas trees to be sold in Spain. Can you imagine — tannenbaum means Christmas tree in German!”

Tony Vaccaro’s “Kiss of Liberation,” 1945.Tony Vaccaro, courtesy of Monroe Gallery

Vaccaro often credits this photo of American soldier Gene Costanzo kissing a small French girl in St. Briac, Brittany at the end of the war as his favorite picture. “The day we liberated this small town in France I will never forget,” he wrote in an Instagram post. It was an early summer morning and when news of the liberation broke, women and children flooded the streets. “I was lucky that the French kiss three times [instead of one]. Otherwise I may have missed this warm moment between the soldier and this little girl.”

Tony Vaccaro’s “Defeated Soldier,” 1947.Tony Vaccaro, courtesy of Monroe Gallery

After the war, Stars and Stripes magazine asked Vaccaro to stay in Europe to document the rebuilding of Germany. As he was leaving the US embassy in Frankfurt to pick up his passport, he stumbled upon a German soldier crying outside what was once his home. “He had lost his wife and children,” Vaccaro said. “He had apparently been released from a prisoner camp in Texas or Oklahoma.” The experience of getting to know the enemy made him realize “we all bleed the same blood.” “When we got to know each other we were not much different,” he said.

Georgia O’Keeffe at home in 1960.Tony Vaccaro Courtesy Monroe Gallery of Photography

Vaccaro was assigned to photograph then 72-year-old artist O’Keeffe at her home in New Mexico for Look magazine in 1960. But when he arrived, she refused to look at him. “She was expecting a different photographer,” Vaccaro said. After five days of ignoring him, she mentioned something about Manolette, considered the greatest bullfighter of all time. “I told her that I had photographed Manolette and that I could send her a photograph,” Vaccaro recalled. “So she turned towards me, and for the next two days, never looked, nor talked, to the writer [who had accompanied Vaccaro for the story], Charlotte Willard.” Willard left “in a huff,” and Vaccaro stayed nearly two weeks, snagging scores of intimate portraits.

Gwen Verdon on a New York City rooftop in 1953.Tony Vaccaro, courtesy of Monroe Gallery

The Tony Award-winning actress, dancer and choreographer Gwen Verdon was one of Vaccaro’s favorite fashion subjects. “She was a sensation,” he recalled. “She did anything and tried everything.” The photographer was shooting Verdon for a quickie fashion shoot and had to improvise something on the outside balcony of the 12th floor of LOOK magazine, so he tied a hammock and instructed Verdon to lounge on it. “I also had a basket of apples at the studio that day, and we ended up rolling them all on the floor of the photoshoot.”

Givenchy at home with partner Phillip in 1961.Tony Vaccaro  Courtesy Monroe Gallery of Photography

Vaccaro struck up a friendship with the French couturier Hubert de Givenchy after photographing him and his designs for various magazines. After one shoot, Vaccaro joined Givenchy and his partner Philip by their pool and taught the designer how to use a camera, which Vaccaro of course documented with his own point-and-shoot.

 

Eartha Kitt at Givenchy’s showroom in 1961.Tony Vaccaro, courtesy of Monroe Gallery

Vaccaro caught the frenzy chaos of a fitting with superstar Eartha Kitt at Givenchy’s Paris showroom. To the right, you can spot the shutterbug holding his camera, “just having fun.”
The Fashion Train, New York, 1960

Tony Vaccaro’s “The Fashion Train” 1961Tony Vaccaro  Courtesy Monroe Gallery of Photography

Vaccaro took this picture in 1960 for Good Housekeeping of a fashion model walking through a smoke-filled train. He strove for naturalism in his fashion shoots. “Over time I was able to remove anything artificial – even poses,” he said. “I put my subjects in an environment — their favorite environment — and then I took photos.”

Tony Vaccaro’s “Fun in Finland” 1965. The model on the left, Anja Lehto, would later become his wife.Tony Vaccaro  Courtesy Monroe Gallery of Photography

Vaccaro shot many campaigns for the Finnish brand, Marimekko, mainly because he was in love with one of the company’s models, Anja Lehto, shown here on the left. “I met her in 1961, when LIFE magazine sent me to 57th Street, between Park and Madison, to photograph [the brand],” he recalled. “Girl number one came in, did her walk, girl number three, girl number four — I looked at her and said, ‘That’s my wife.’” It took a couple years and photoshoots — Lehto was married to Finnish royalty at the time — but the two got hitched in 1963 and had two children. (She died in 2013.)
38

Tony Vaccaro’s “The Guggenheim Hat” 1960 Tony Vaccaro  Courtesy Monroe Gallery of Photography

Vaccaro had incredible freedom in his photo shoots, and when LOOK magazine sent him this sculptural hat to shoot for a story, he immediately knew he wanted to photograph the model Isabella wearing it in front of his favorite museum, the Guggenheim in New York City.

Tony Vaccaro The Centennial Exhibition New York Pop Up December 13-18, 2022

21 Spring Street, NY

Tony Vaccaro The Centennial Exhibition Santa Fe ongoing through January 15, 2023

112 Don Gaspar Avenue, Santa Fe, NM

Celebrating Tony Vaccaro’s cinematic photography Life behind the lens

 Via Huck

November 24, 2022

Text by Miss Rosen

Photography © Tony Vaccaro courtesy of Monroe Gallery

A new exhibition is marking the photographer’s 100th birthday with a look back at his extraordinary career.

Photographer Tony Vaccaro, who celebrates his 100th birthday on 20 December 2022, has lead a life as cinematic as the pictures he’s made. In honour of his 80-year career, gallerist Sid and Michelle Monroe are curating Tony Vaccaro: The Centennial Exhibition, two major shows in New York and Santa Fe, New Mexico.

Featuring works from the photographer’s storied career, The Centennial Exhibition brings together images made while Vaccaro was serving on the frontlines of World War II, and later as a portrait and fashion photographer for Life, Flair, and Harper’s Bazaar during the golden age of magazines.

Whether photographing fashion designer Hubert de Givenchy in the atelier with Hollywood icon Eartha Kitt or art collector Peggy Guggenheim relaxing in a Venetian gondola, Vaccaro crafted exquisite portraits of the 20th century’s most influential artists, actors, filmmakers, leaders, and luminaries.

Tony’s sensitivity to his subjects was derived from his early hardship as an orphan in Italy,” say the Monroes, who began working with the photographer in 2016. At the age of four, both Vaccaro’s parents died, and he was sent to live with an aunt and uncle. His early years were marked by physical and emotional abuse, and as soon as World War II erupted, he returned to the U.S., the nation of his birth.

Vaccaro took up photography in high school, a skill that served him well when he was drafted to serve in the 83rd Infantry Division, nicknamed ‘Thunderbolt’. As a scout, Vaccaro photographed the frontlines of battle in Normandy, Belgium, Luxembourg, and Germany – despite being wounded twice.

“After the war, Tony replaced the searing images of horror embedded in his memory by focusing on the splendour of life,” say the Monroes. “His experiences left a deep wound in his being, and in response he made a conscious decision to celebrate beauty and creativity.”

Eartha Kitt and Givenchy, Paris, 1961

Comfortable with a full range of cameras in the studio and the field, the photographer could easily adapt to whatever the moment might demand. “Whenever possible, he preferred to spend days, if not weeks, with his subjects, to create a natural relationship between him and his subject,” the Monroes say.

Vaccaro, who has survived two bouts of Covid, remains incredibly active, maintaining his running practice, which he established as a high school athlete in the 1940s. Now enjoying a career renaissance, he has been enthusiastically involved in the exhibition preparations and is excited to share his work with new audiences.

“To this day, Tony speaks passionately about man’s inhumanity to man,” the Monroes say. “He is among the few remaining veterans of an actual fight against fascism, Nazism, and dictatorships.”

They share a quote from Vaccaro, whose life experience has taught him the necessity of unity: “We call each other German, French, Italian. There is no Italian blood. There is no French blood. It’s human blood. On this Earth there is one humanity. In a way, photography was my way of telling the world, ‘We have better things to do that to kill ourselves.’”

Extras on the set of 8 1/2, Lazio, Italy, 1962

Givenchy Paris, 1961

Georgia O’Keeffe Abiquiu Portal, NM 1960

Tony Vaccaro: The Centennial Exhibition is on view November 25, 2022 – January 15, 2023 at Monroe Gallery in Santa Fe, New Mexico, and December 13–18, 2022 at 21 Spring Street in New York City. 

WAR/PHOTOGRAPHY: Empathy As A Perspective with Anne Wilkes Tucker

 

The Democratic Lens Scholar Lectures

Examining how images have shaped America’s collective memory and inspired individuals to participate in civic life.

Sunday, November 20

Livestream and La Fonda on the Plaza, Lumpkins Ballroom 100 E. San Francisco St. Santa Fe, NM 87501

Lectures are free and open to the public. Attend live online or in person at Santa Fe's La Fonda on the Plaza Hotel.

10-11 am | Photography & Restitution: The Civil Potential of the Image with Laura Wexler, Charles H. Farnam Professor of American Studies & Women's, Gender, & Sexuality Studies, Yale University

11-12 pm | WAR/PHOTOGRAPHY: Empathy As A Perspective with Anne Wilkes Tucker, Curator Emerita, The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston

12-1 pm | What Can’t Be Unseen: Photography & Activism with Kymberly Pinder, Ph.D., Dean, Yale School of Art, Yale University

1-1:30 pm| Q&A with Moderator Will Wilson, Photographer & Program Head of Photography, Santa Fe Community College

Reserve here

Anne Wilkes Tucker is one of the four authors of War/Photography: Images of Armed Conflict and its Aftermath, a 612-page survey of images made of wars, from the Crimean War (1853-1856) through the Iraq War (2003-2011). The 2012 book was produced to document Tucker’s monumental exhibit of images of war at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston.

Tucker will speak on War/Photography: Empathy as a Perspective as one of three scholars presenting at a Nov. 20 Review Santa Fe symposium called The Democratic Lens: Photography and Civic Engagement, sponsored by CENTER and funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities. The symposium is free and can be attended online or in person.

Tucker will discuss how empathy plays a largely unexamined role in war, including for photographers who become involved with their subjects after photographing them. For example, one Los Angeles Times photographer took time off from his job to take a soldier he had photographed who was suffering from PTSD to a rehabilitation center and stayed with him for a month, Tucker says.

“I just want people to understand, when they get all ‘rah-rah’ about war, that the war doesn’t end for soldiers,” she says. “There is still a soldier a day in the U.S. who kills him- or herself.” 

Public guided tour of the exhibition Tony Vaccaro 100! at the Museum of Photography Braunschweig

Via Museum of Photography Braunschweig

Tony Vaccaro 100!  Public guided tour

Sunday, 23.10.2022, 4 pm

Admission: 3,50€ / 2 €

Tony Vaccaro, 'Georgia O'Keeffe with Cheese, New Mexico, 1960' © Tony Vaccaro Studio, Courtesy of Monroe Gallery of Photography and the Tony Vaccaro Studio

In a public guided tour, the extensive work of the almost 100-year-old Tony Vaccaro will be presented.

Both the photographs he took during his time in World War 2 as a US soldier in the last years

of the war and his later works as a portrait photographer of the art and culture scene in the USA and

Europe are discussed.

More information here

Tony Vaccaro: The Centennial Exhibition: New York - Santa Fe

Monroe Gallery of Photography is honored to announce major exhibitions celebrating Tony Vaccaro’s 100th birthday

 

Via Museum für Photographie Braunschweig · 

TONY VACCARO 100!

A Life of a Photographer from War to Culture

Tony Vaccaro: Entering Germany, Frankfurt Germany, 1947

© Tony Vaccaro Studio, Courtesy of Monroe Gallery of Photography and the Tony Vaccaro Studio

The Museum für Photographie Braunschweig shows for the 100! Birthday of Tony Vaccaro  (born December 20, 1922 in Greensburg, Pennsylvania, lives in Long Island, NY) an exhibition of the American photographer of Italian descent and presents important and award-winning works from different creative phases. These include photographs taken during and after World War II in Europe and important portraits of artists, musicians, politicians and cultural figures.

With a special sense for composition and the connection to the outside space, fashion photographs 
are also part of Tony Vaccaro’s work. Some of the artistically staged fashion shots are part of the exhibition, especially those that were taken for a documentary for Marimekko, the Finnish design house in the 1960s, are particularly noteworthy.


The exhibition at the Museum für Photographie Braunschweig is created in cooperation and with the support of Tony Vaccaro Studio, New York City, USA and the Monroe Gallery of Photography Collection, Santa Fe, NM, USA.

Museum für Photographie Braunschweig · Helmstedter Straße 1 · D-38102 Braunschweig

Supported by: City of Braunschweig, Foundation of Lower Saxony, MWK, DB, Wine Shop Bremer

Monroe Gallery of Photography is honored to announce major exhibitions celebrating Tony Vaccaro’s 100th birthday. "Tony Vaccaro 100" is at the The Museum für Photographie Braunschweig in Germany October 1 - December 4, 200. "Tony Vaccaro: The Centennial Exhibition” opens in Santa Fe, NM on Friday, November 25, with Tony Vaccaro appearing remotely live from his New York home at 5:30 pm. The exhibition will continue through January 15, 2023.

A special satellite exhibit in New York City will be on view at the Monroe Gallery of Photography "pop up", 21 Spring Street, New York City, December 13 – 18. Tony Vaccaro will be in attendance on the evenings of December 14 – 17, RSVP required, please contact the Gallery.

'Napalm Girl' at 50: The story of the Vietnam War's defining photo

Via CNN
June 8, 2022

Oscar Holland, CNN

In Snap, we look at the power of a single photograph, chronicling stories about how both modern and historical images have been made.

The horrifying photograph of children fleeing a deadly napalm attack has become a defining image not only of the Vietnam War but the 20th century. Dark smoke billowing behind them, the young subjects' faces are painted with a mixture of terror, pain and confusion. Soldiers from the South Vietnamese army's 25th Division follow helplessly behind.

Taken outside the village of Trang Bang on June 8, 1972, the picture captured the trauma and indiscriminate violence of a conflict that claimed, by some estimates, a million or more civilian lives. Though officially titled "The Terror of War," the photo is better known by the nickname given to the badly burned, naked 9-year-old at its center: "Napalm Girl".

The girl, since identified as Phan Thi Kim Phuc, ultimately survived her injuries. This was thanks, in part, to Associated Press photographer Nick Ut, who assisted the children after taking his now-iconic image. Fifty years on from that fateful day, the pair are still in regular contact -- and using their story to spread a message of peace.

"I will never forget that moment," Phuc said in a video call from Toronto, where she is now based.

New York Times: From Sandy Hook to Uvalde, the Violent Images Never Seen

 Via The New York Times

May 30, 2022

Frustrated Americans ask whether the release of graphic photos of gun violence would lead to better policy. But which photos, and who decides?

"For a culture so steeped in violence, we spend a lot of time preventing anyone from actually seeing that violence. Something else is going on here, and I’m not sure it’s just that we’re trying to be sensitive.”

--Nina Berman, a documentary photographer, filmmaker and Columbia journalism professor.

Full article here.

Witnessing War: David Butow

Via Projections

Projections Event for May 4th 2022: David Butow

Photographs by David Butow from Ukraine and his new book "BRINK" will be on exhibit in the Monroe Gallery of Photography booth #113 during the AIPAD Photography Show in New York May 20-22. 

 

Ukraine vs Russia - Witnessing War with acclaimed photojournalists including David Butow

 Via Projections NYC 

May 2, 2022

John Stanmeyer, Julia Kochetova, Alex Lourie, David Butow and Ron Haviv will take us on their personal journey into the war zone of Ukraine.

Ukrainian Week at PROJECTIONS

WITNESSING WAR – UKRAINE

April 29th – May 6th

World renowned photojournalists John Stanmeyer, Julia Kochetova, Alex Lourie, David Butow and Ron Haviv will take us on their personal journey into the war zone of Ukraine.

These five highly acclaimed photojournalists have courageously been documenting war and human suffering in Ukraine and represent the heroic work of all documentarians.

They, like numerous colleagues and citizens are risking their lives every day and sadly many have paid the ultimate price. Their dignified and passionate courage has supplied the world with gut wrenching evidence of the war crimes perpetrated by Putin.

Each presentation promises to be painful, enlightening and a testament to the powerful unyielding Ukrainian spirit.

Presentations start at 7:00pm via zoom: https://zoom.us/j/6692503751

We’re dedicating these solo presentations to the Photojournalists and Ukrainians citizens we’ve lost. We ask everyone to support this struggle in whatever way they feel comfortable.

All presentations will be recorded and can be seen.

Subscribe to our YouTube

https://m.youtube.com/c/PROJECTIONSNYC

Schedule of Presentations

Friday 29th of April - Stanmeyer

Monday 2nd of May – Kochetova

Tuesday 3d of May – Lourie

Wednesday 4th of May – Butow

Thursday 5th of May – Open

Friday 6th of May - Haviv

Two of David Butow's recent photographs from Ukraine will be on exhibit May 20 - 22, 2022 during The Photography Show sponsored by AIPAD in the Monroe Gallery of Photography booth #113

David Butow's Photograph From Ukraine Leads NY Time Editorial Board Ukrainian Refugee Opinion Column

Via The New York Times

April 1, 2022

 

David Butow

"The mass flight of refugees from Ukraine has created a humanitarian crisis that dwarfs anything Europe has seen since World War II. More than four million people have poured into neighboring countries, and as long as Russia’s savage war continues, millions more will flee. Already, the flow of refugees from Ukraine is far greater than the number from Syria, Afghanistan and Iraq who fled to Europe in 2015, upending European politics. (more)

Portraits, Personalities, Passion: The Photography of Tony Vaccaro Exhibit at The Rye Arts Center April 7th – May 13th.

 Via Arts Westchester

Tony Vaccaro: Guggenheim Hat, New York, 1960

The Rye Arts Center is proud to present its second exhibition of works by world renowned photographer Tony Vaccaro, following its 1992 exhibit “The Vision of Tony Vaccaro – a Fifty Year Retrospective.” Curated by Patrick Cicalo and Gail Harrison Roman, the exhibition demonstrates how Tony’s visually eloquent photographs provide a cultural history of his time, providing a record of figures in arts and letters and in public life, and scenes of war and death.

As a combat photographer in the Second World War, Tony captured on film wartime images that evoke the determination and camaraderie of soldiers in combat, the pathos of defeat and death, and the joy of liberation, all represented in the exhibit.

Upon his return to the United States, Tony took up fashion and celebrity photography working for major magazines of the postwar era: Harper’s Bazaar, Flair, Life, Look, Newsweek, Time, Vogue, and other popular news and fashion magazines. He amassed a treasure trove of celebrity images from the worlds of television and film, art and architecture, politics, and fashion. Included in this exhibition are portraits of Irving Berlin, Leonard Cohen, Givenchy, Georgia O’Keeffe, Pablo Picasso, Jackson Pollock, and Frank Lloyd Wright, and others.

Much of what is creative in photography today has its birth behind Tony’s lens. His pioneering work in visual interpretation and artistic presentation was a catalyst in the advancement of magazine photojournalism and celebrity portraiture. A selection of Tony’s cameras and memorabilia will be on view as well.

A special section of Tony’s cameras and personal memorabilia, curated by Sarah Mackay, will be on view in the Gallery.

Photographs in the exhibition appear courtesy of Tony Vaccaro Studio and the Monroe Gallery of Photography. 

Tony will speak about his work at the Opening Reception, free and open to the public, on Thursday, April 7th from 5:30-7:30pm. Reservations are suggested but not required.

The exhibition will be on view at The Rye Arts Center from April 7th – May 13th.

Gallery hours are Mondays, 9am-3pm; Tuesdays – Fridays, 9am-7pm; Saturdays, 9am-3pm; closed on Sundays.

For more information, go to www.ryeartscenter.org

Stream "Underfire: The Untold Story of PFC Tony Vaccaro"

 

Santa Fe, NM – On December 20, 2021, Tony Vaccaro celebrates his 99th birthday, an inspiration to us all.

To help celebrate, we are offering limited free streaming downloads of the HBO documentary "Underfire: The Untold Story of PFC Tony Vaccaro". The film chronicles the life of a man who played two roles during World War II, both at great risk: a combat infantryman on the front lines and a photographer who took and developed roughly 8,000 photographs of the war. Contact Monroe Gallery for details, offer is limited.

Born in Greensburg, Pennsylvania on December 20, 1922, Tony is one of the few people alive who can claim to have survived the Battle of Normandy and COVID-19. Tony Vaccaro spent the first years of his life in the village of Bonefro, Italy after becoming an orphan; by age 10 he started taking pictures with a box camera. When World War II broke out he was ordered to return to the US, where he reunited with his sisters and joined his high school camera club. Drafted into the war, by June 1944, now a combat infantryman in the 83rd Infantry Division, he was on a boat heading toward Omaha Beach, six days after the first landings at Normandy. Denied access to the Signal Corps, Tony was determined to photograph the war, and had his portable 35mm Argus C-3 with him from the start. For the next 272 days he photographed his personal witness to the brutality of war.

Returning to the US, Tony started his career as a commercial photographer, eventually working for virtually every major publication: Look, Life, Harper’s Bazaar, Town and Country, Newsweek, and many more. Tony went on to become one the most sought after photographers of his day. By focusing on the splendor of life, Tony replaced the images of horror embedded in his eyes from war.

Monroe Gallery of Photography is honored to present a special exhibition celebrating the 99th birthday of this American hero and distinguished photographer. The exhibit of over 40 photographs spans Tony’s 80-year career and features several never-before-exhibited photographs. The exhibit continues on-line and in the Gallery through January 16, 2021.

Voice of America: 98-Year-Old NYC Photographer Tony Vaccaro Shows Life as Is – From WWII to Today

 

Via Voice of America

December 9, 2021

98-year-old photographer Tony Vaccaro was a simple infantryman, but he unofficially photographed World War II for 272 days. Anna Nelson met with Vaccaro to talk about his role in documenting the war. Anna Rice narrates her story.

 

 The exhibition "Tony Vaccaro at 99" continues through January 16, 2022

Simone Leluault, one of the heroines of Tony Vaccaro's iconic Kiss of Liberation, has died

 Via New in 24

November 26, 2021

Tony Vaccaro’s famous “Kiss of Liberation”. The young woman seen in the background on the left is Simone Leluault, who died Wednesday, November 24, 2021 © Tony Vaccaro

She embodied Freedom and rediscovered joy. France saved by the Allies and delivered from the Nazis. Simone Leluault passed away on Wednesday November 24, 2021, at the age of 95.

She was one of the dancers of the famous Kiss of Liberation. An image taken by the American war photographer Tony Vaccaro, on August 15, 1944, during the liberation of the small village of Saint-Briac, located near Dinard, in Brittany.

Printed in five million copies

The photo was selected by General Eisenhower as a symbol of American action in Europe during World War II. It was printed in five million copies and distributed throughout the world.

“This photo is almost an accident”

“Oh, you know, this photo is almost an accident,” Tony Vaccaro told us during one of his trips to France 70 years later.

A happy accident dated August 15, 1944. That day, Saint-Briac, liberated by General Patton’s 83rd Infantry Division, was won over by popular jubilation. On the Place du Center, we take out the accordion, a party is improvised. A circle is formed. A man has to go get a woman and the two people have to kiss each other on a mat in the center of the circle. Then it’s the woman’s turn to choose a man and take him to the center mat.

I was in the square, across the street. And there, I recognize this American soldier, my friend Gene Constanzo, crouching and kissing a little girl in the middle of a group of young girls dancing around him

Tony Vaccaro

The power of an image

The GI's crosses the square at full stride. He guessed the strength of the scene. The tenderness and joy carried by this image. The Kiss of Liberation is in the box. Forever.

The next day, I went by jeep to the surroundings of Rennes. I needed a studio and chemicals to develop my photos. The negatives were perfect!

We never knew who the kissed little girl was at the heart of the photo. Tony Vaccaro, on the other hand, has kept in touch all his life with the two young women, in the background. Sisters Marie-Thérèse and Simone Crochu.

70 years later, in front of the famous enlarged photo on the pediment of the town hall of Saint-Briac, the former American war reporter and Simone Leluault faced the crowd, in the presence of John Kerry, then head of American diplomacy, during the inauguration of the “Tony Vaccaro Square”.

Wounded by a shard

Simone had publicly remembered the summer of 1944 when she almost lost her life. She was on a train that had been targeted by an English plane. Wounded by a shard, the 18-year-old young woman had been miraculously saved by a bundle of artichokes that she held against her. “And it wasn’t a leg injury that was going to stop him dancing a few weeks later,” John Kerry had teased from the podium. Simone had answered him with a big smile. That same smile forever imprinted in the history books.

Exhibition: Tony Vaccaro at 99 - November 26, 2021 through January 16, 2022

Monroe Gallery of Photography: Tony Vaccaro 99th Birthday Exhibition

Via L'Oeil de la Photographie

November 25, 2021

In what has become an annual tradition, Monroe Gallery of Photography presents a special exhibition celebrating the birthday of renowned photographer Tony Vaccaro – this year honoring his 99th birthday – on December 20.

The exhibit of over 40 photographs spans Tony’s 80-year career and features several never-before-exhibited photographs. Nearing age 99, Tony Vaccaro is one of the few people alive who can claim to have survived the Battle of Normandy and COVID-19.

As the world has endured nearly two years of the Covid-19 pandemic, the work of Tony Vaccaro serves as an antidote to man’s inhumanity; by focusing on the splendor of life, Tony replaced the images of horror embedded in his eyes from war’. Full post with slide show.

 

" “Devour the Land” is one of the most depressing exhibitions I’ve seen. But my first thought coming out of it was: I want to see more shows like this"

 Via The Washington Post

October 26, 2020

The show is called “Devour the Land: War and American Landscape Photography since 1970.” It’s at Harvard Art Museums, it was put together by curator Makeda Best, and it’s about how photographers have fought to expose the hidden effects of the U.S. military and its associated industries on America’s environment and the health of its population. More broadly, it’s about inequality and justice.

" Should museums mount exhibitions with a moral agenda? Absolutely. If they do it well....I’ve just seen a major exhibition that I think delivers on exactly the kind of thing they had in mind.

And, guess what? It’s brilliant. "

Gallery photographers Nina Berman and Ashley Gilbertson are included in this exhibition.

Video Tour of the Tony Vaccaro Exhibition "Life is Wonderful"

 Via Helsingin Taidehalli (Helsinki Art Hall)

Tony Vaccaro: Fun in Finland, 1965

Helsingin Taidehalli has added video tours of the Tony Vaccaro exhibition "Life is Wonderful", in Finnish and English.

Tony Vaccaro, Life is Wonderful, guided tour in English from Taidehalli Helsinki on Vimeo.

Related video: Tony Vaccaro at 98

"Life Is Wonderfull" showcases the life's work of 98-year-old top photographer Tony Vaccaro from World War II to fashion and art

 

Via YLE (translated from Finnish)

June 13, 2021

BY STINA  ALAPIRTTI

Art Hall's summer exhibition is about war, love and Marimekko – a 98-year-old American photographer dreamed of an exhibition in Finland for a long time

The exhibition, called Life Is Wonderful, showcases the life's work of 98-year-old top photographer Tony Vaccaro from World War II to fashion and art. There are also plenty of pictures of Finland and Marimekko in the 1960s.

Tony Vaccaro came to Finland to film Marimekko for LIFE magazine in 1965. He photographed both Marimekko's fashion in Porvoo and Helsinki, as in this photo, and the fashion house's behind-the-scenes activities. Photo: Tony Vaccaro / Art Hall

Helsinki Art Hall is a life of history in itself, but photographs from the middle of the 20th century bring a new layer to it. In the photographs, world stars, soldiers and models come to life for a moment, as if there were small windows to the past on the walls. One room is dedicated entirely to Marimekko, who turns 70 this year.

Photographer Tony Vaccaro's exhibition will be on display at the Helsinki Art Hall during the summer Life is wonderful. Vaccaro is a 98-year-old American-Italian photographer who began his career filming on the front in World War II. He still works even though he retired officially as early as the 1980s.

Exhibition Manager Eeva Holkeri from The Art Hall of Helsinki says that Vaccaro has wanted to get the exhibition to Finland for a long time. Life is wonderful is his first extensive exhibition here.

"Vaccaro has a connection to Finland through his late wife Anja Vaccaro, but also through Marimekko. The gallery representing Vaccaro was asked if such an exhibition would succeed," Holkeri says.

Anja Vaccaro was related to Lehto. The photographer and Lehto, who worked as Marimekko's model, fell in love on the set of Marimekko.

Vaccaro's studio is now run by Vaccaro and Lehto's son Frank Vaccaro and his wife. 

The exhibition contains 130 photographs from Vaccaro's nearly 80-year career. According to Holker, the demarcation was a challenging task, but at present the exhibition creates a comprehensive picture of Vaccaro's production from the 1940s until the 1970s.

The pictures will be available at the Helsinki Art Hall in Töölö on 8 May. Until 18 August.

According to exhibition manager Eeva Holker, the Life is Wonderful exhibition shows a cross-section of Vaccaro's entire production. In the background, a fashion photo taken by Vaccaro. 

Photo: Terhi Liimu / Yle

Tough background

Michael "Tony" Vaccaro was born in 1922 in Pennsylvania, USA to immigrant parents from Italy. The family soon moved back to Italy, where they were met with great grief. Both parents passed away and Tony Vaccaro was orphaned at the age of four. Her sister was put in an orphanage, and little Tony was brought to her uncle's farm to be raised by her grandmother and uncle. Uncle abused Tony, who also had to work on the farm.

 
Tony Vaccaro left for the United States at the age of just 17, in the run-up to World War II in 1939. The departure was partly influenced by the fascism that invaded Italy. In the United States, Vaccaro went to high school and joined the army. He was sent to the front in 1944.

Vaccaro was interested in photography at school and bought his first camera in 1942. In the war, he was sent to the front line, and Vaccaro took about 8,000 photographs in the midst of the war. After the war ended, he stayed in Europe to photograph the trail and reconstruction of the war and returned to the United States in 1949.

Vaccaro fought in World War II and stayed after peace came to describe the reconstruction of Europe. This picture is from Nice, France dating back to 1947. Photo: Tony Vaccaro / Art Hall

Although the first half of Vaccaro's life was fraught with difficulties, even war, according to Eeva Holker, she has still maintained a bright attitude to life and a quest for beauty.

"Even though Vaccaro started his career in The Second World War, his pictures show hope, joy and a glimpse of positivity. It seems justified to say that Vaccaro's attitude to life is that life is wonderful," Holkeri says.

Celebrity photographer

Vaccaro is especially well known as a fashion and lifestyle photographer. He filmed for several of the most important US period publications of that time, such as Life and Harper's Bazaar. The exhibition features pictures he took of public figures from the 1960s and 1970s, including Pablo Picasso, Muhammad Ali, Leonard Cohen, Jackson Pollock and Sophia Loren.

A picture taken by Vaccaro of artist Georgia O' Keeffe in front of her work. Vaccaro spent a long time with Georgia O'Keeffe in New Mexico in 1960. Photo: Tony Vaccaro / Art Hall

A large part of the exhibition consists of pictures Vaccaro took of Marimekko's activities and fashion in 1965. Vaccaro came to Finland to describe Marimekko, who has become a phenomenon around the world, for Life magazine.

Marimekko was founded in 1951 and became an international phenomenon in the 1960s. Vaccaro photographed a fashion house in Porvoo and Helsinki in 1965. The photo shows models in Marimekko's clothes. Photo: Tony Vaccaro / Art Hall

Vaccaro photographed Finnish models in Porvoo and Helsinki, and in the pictures Marimekko's colourful dresses glow against the rainy industrial landscape and the models play in Finnish nature and on the streets of Helsinki.The pictures also show Vaccaro's future wife at the time: Finnish model Anja Kyllikki Lehto. Lehto and Vaccaro had met in 1963 in New York on Marimekko's business trip, on which Vaccaro had photographed Lehto."It is said that it was love at first sight. When Tony saw Anja, she knew she never wanted to let this go. Pictures of Anja show love, Holkeri says.Vaccaro and Lehto were married until 1979. They had two sons together. Lehto died in 2013.

This picture, called Anja and oranges, was shot in Ischia, Italy, in 1964. The photo shows Vaccaro's spouse Anja Kyllikki Lehto, later Vaccaro. Photo: Tony Vaccaro / Art Hall

View available original prints from Tony Vaccaro here