Ryan Vizzions: No Spiritual Surrender - A Dedication To Standing Rock

©Ryan Vizzions

Protesters face off with police and the National Guard on February 1, 2017, 

near Cannon Ball, North Dakota

Santa Fe--Monroe Gallery of Photography is pleased to announce the release of an important photobook by independent photojournalist Ryan Vizzions documenting the Standing Rock movement. “No Spiritual Surrender: A Dedication to Standing Rock” will be first released at a special book signing during the AIPAD Photography Show in New York at Pier 94. Ryan Vizzions will be signing copies in the Monroe Gallery of Photography booth #706, on Friday, April 5. A second book signing will take place Friday, April 12 in Santa Fe, New Mexico at the Monroe Gallery. (Books are only available for in-person sales at these event, no orders or reserves.) Monroe Gallery of Photography is the exclusive representative for Vizzions’ fine art photography. 

The 11” x 8.5” hardcover bound book comprises 5 visual chapters with 117 photographs across 166 full color pages. Vizzions’ takes the viewer inside the resistance camps, both showing frontline resistance to the pipeline and conflict with the over 50 law enforcement agencies from over 10 states, as well as the spirit and life of the camp itself. Featured in the book are writings by Joye Braun, Paula Antoine, Bobby Jean Three Legs, Waniya Locke, Jennifer Weston, and Morgan Brings Plenty, -   Oceti Sakowin women -  to provide context and history of the Standing Rock reservation.

Between April of 2016 and March of 2017 one of the largest social justice movements in American history took place in the plains of North Dakota on the Standing Rock reservation. With an oil pipeline threatening the drinking water of the Standing Rock Sioux and 17 million people downstream on the Missouri River, thousands of people ascended upon the resistance camps to stand in solidarity with the Lakota Sioux and oppose the construction of the pipeline. From early spring of 2016 to late winter of 2017, over 15,000 people camped in tipis, army tents and vehicles without the use of electricity in an attempt to raise awareness and prevent the possible contamination of Lake Oahe, the source of drinking water for the reservation. Over 300 tribes and indigenous communities traveled to the camps, as well as nearly 4000 veterans and 500 clergy, to stand in solidarity with the NODAPL movement. 

In September of 2016, Ryan Vizzions traveled from Atlanta, Georgia to stand in solidarity with the movement. Bringing his camera with him, but not intending to be a media source, Vizzions soon found himself using social media to reach over half a billion people with his photographic documentation of events unfolding over the months. With viral reach of one photograph in particular, "Defend The Sacred", Vizzions’ photography helped bring awareness around the world to the movement. Vizzions documentation of his 6 months at Oceti Sakowin camp was selected for the "Photos of the Year" by People Magazine, ABC News, The Guardian, Artsy.net; and as well his work has been featured in the Nobel Peace Prize forums, Adbusters, Huffington Post, Mother Jones, Amnesty International and many more publications as well as books such as "The Militarization of Indian Country" by Winona LaDuke & "An Indigenous Peoples History of The United States" by Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz. 

100 advance copies are being made available exclusively through the Monroe Gallery book signing events, and proceeds from these releases will be given to the Water Protectors to help against KXL Pipeline, another oil pipeline threatening the same indigenous lands as DAPL. From the total edition of 2,000 500 books are being donated to Water Protector families across the nation as a thank you for standing in support of the water. On April 1st pre-orders will open to allow the public to access the book.

Signed copies are available from Monroe Gallery of Photography.

Atlanta based photographer Ryan Vizzions first discovered his love for exploration and photography in 2010 while on a self discovery trip around the world. In Atlanta, Vizzions has been named Creative Loafing 2014 "Best Fine Art Photographer" (readers choice), 2015 Creative Loafing "Best Cityscape Photographer" (critics pick), worked alongside international brands such as Adidas and Pharrell Williams, along with local companies such as #WeLoveATL, The Atlanta Opera, Van Michael Salon, and covered many music festivals including Outkast's long awaited reunion series "Outkast ATLast". Hosting his own photo exhibition yearly entitled "Wander Never Wonder", Vizzions connects local photographers, and helps provide a platform for local artists to make money off of their craft. Ryan is also involved with the Atlanta community, often donating portions of his art sales to various local charities and foundations. 

New Chicago Work: Photographs by Steve Schapiro

Via Gage Gallery at Roosevelt University


Opening Reception and Q & A with Steve Schapiro and WBEZ’s Jason Marck, Thursday, February 21st, 5-7pm. (Q & A begins at 5:30). Exhibition continues through May 9, 2019

Free and open to the public

This is the second of two exhibitions showcasing the historical and contemporary work of internationally acclaimed photographer Steve Schapiro. The first exhibition that closed on December 22, 2018, was devoted to his contact sheets from the civil rights era. This second exhibition highlights his current photographs from the Black Lives Matter and anti-violence protest movements in Chicago. A smaller exhibition featuring his photographs from Chicago’s Misericordia Heart of Mercy home will also be on display.

American photojournalist Steve Schapiro has documented six decades of American culture, from the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr. and the presidential campaign of Robert F. Kennedy to Andy Warhol’s Factory and the filming of The Godfather trilogy. He has published a dozen books of his photographs, has exhibited his work in shows from Los Angeles to Moscow, and is represented in the permanent collections of the Smithsonian Institution, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and the J. Paul Getty Museum, among others.

Sponsored by The College of Arts and Sciences, Roosevelt University with generous financial support from Susan B. Rubnitz, and Elyse Koren-Camarra, along with a donor who wishes to remain anonymous.

A companion exhibition, “Activists and Icons: The Photographs of Steve Schapiro”, is on display at the Illinois Holocaust Museum & Education Center in Skokie through June 23, 2019.

The exhibition features iconic as well as never-before-seen photos of the Civil Rights Movement and cultural and political change-agents of recent history. For more information, visit ilholocaustmuseum.org.

View more of Steve Schapiro's work here.

PHOTO LA FAIR 2019

Monroe Gallery of Photography is very pleased to exhibit at the Photo LA Fair January 31st - February 3rd, 2019, in The Historic Barker Hangar, Santa Monica, CA.

Monroe Gallery will be located near the front entrance of the fair in Booth #A01.

We are especially excited that Tony Vaccaro will be in attendance during the Fair January  in the gallery’s booth. On Friday, February 1, Photo LA will screen the HBO documentary “Under Fire: The Untold Story of Private First Class Tony Vaccaro”. The film tells the story of how Tony survived the war, fighting the enemy while also documenting his experience at great risk, developing his photos in combat helmets at night and hanging the negatives from tree branches. The screening will be followed by a Q & A with Tony Vaccaro. (Seating is limited, tickets required from the Photo LA Fair). Also in attendance will be Ryan Vizzions, and we will be exhibiting his photographs from the forthcoming book “No Spiritual Surrender: A Dedication to Standing Rock”, in addition to selections of his other work.

Rounding out our exhibit will be important civil rights photographs and historic examples of photojournalism.

Photo LA 2019


Opening Night to Benefit Venice Arts
Thursday, January 31 (6pm - 9pm)

Public Hours
Friday, February 1 (11am - 8pm)
Saturday, February 2 (11am - 8pm)
Sunday, February 3 (11am - 4pm)

 Tickets available here

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Ted Landsmark: Unsung Champion for Social Justice in Boston

"The Soiling of Old Glory" - Anti-Busing demonstration, Boston, April 5, 1976
© Stanley Forman


Via NBC 10 Boston

By Ronnie Forchheimer
Published Nov 27, 2018 

"Millions of people have seen the iconic 1976 photograph of Ted Landsmark being attacked by anti-busing protesters on Boston City Hall Plaza, but few know him by name and most are unaware of his life as an educator and proponent of equal rights in Boston and beyond.

While Landsmark concedes he will be forever associated with the Pulitzer Prize-winning photo, he prefers to be recognized for his accomplishments as a community leader in Boston. In an odd twist, being at the center of one of the most significant civil rights photographs in history elevated Landsmark’s profile and gave him the chance to pursue social justice on behalf of many Bostonians."

--click for full article

"On the way to the hospital, I had a few minutes to gather my thoughts to think, ‘something weird has just happened to me and I think it was an anti-busing demonstration and I think somebody just tried to kill me with the American flag’." --Ted Landsmark

New book from Steve Schapiro: ALI

Via PDN News

In June, 1963, on assignment for Sports Illustrated, photographer Steve Schapiro traveled to Louisville, Kentucky to spend time with the young Olympic champion boxer Cassius Clay, and accompany him on a road trip to New York City. At 21 years old, Clay was yet to adopt the mantle of Muhammad Ali, but his boastful persona, intelligence, black pride, and sharp tongue were already fully formed.

Over the course of their five days together, Schapiro revealed both sides of the young Ali: the one side posing and preening for the camera, ever conscious of his image; the other, unguarded and unselfconscious, in candid images of the young fighter at home with his family and immersed in his community and neighborhood.

Ali collects the best of Schapiro’s images of the late fighter; many in print for the very first time. They offer a glimpse of a star on the rise. “It is an indelible portrait of the early life of one of the most talented, graceful, controversial, athletic, and influential American figures of the 20th century,” writes the publisher, powerHouse Books, in the press release.

Steve Schapiro is a distinguished photographer whose pictures have graced the covers of Vanity Fair, Time, Sports Illustrated, Life, Look, Paris Match, and People, and are found in many museum collections. He has published seven books of his work: American Edge, Schapiro’s Heroes, The Godfather Family Album, Taxi Driver, Then and Now, Bliss, Bowie, and The Fire Next Time

Gallery Discussion on March 23 in conjunction with 1968 exhibit

Art Shay: Honor King, End Racism, march after assassination of Martin Luther King,  1968

Don E. Carleton: The Press and Photojournalism in 1968

Coincides with exhibition of photographs of historic events of 1968

 

Santa Fe--Monroe Gallery of Photography, 112 Don Gaspar, is pleased to present a special Gallery discussion with Don E. Carleton: “The Press and Photojournalism in 1968” on Friday, March 23, from 5-7 PM. The talk will start promptly at 5:30 PM in the gallery, seating is limited and is first come, first seated.

The gallery discussion coincides with the exhibition “1968: It Was Fifty Years Ago Today” . The year 1968 marked many changes for the United States. It signaled the end of the Kennedy-Johnson presidencies, the pinnacle of the civil rights movement, the beginning of Women’s rights and Gay rights, and the beginning of the end of the war in Vietnam. More than that, it meant a change in public attitudes and beliefs. Photojournalism had a dominating role in the shaping of public attitudes at the time.

One of the consequences of the reporting in Vietnam was to make military leaders determined never to give journalists such free rein; the Nixon Presidency ushered in an era of press secrecy; photographs capturing anti-war protests, chaos outside the Democratic National Convention in Chicago, and of the campaigns and assassinations of Martin Luther King and Robert F. Kennedy became iconic markers of the year. Dr. Carleton will discuss these topics and explore the importance of news and documentary photography in general as sources for historical research and for giving us a window into the past unequalled by other sources.

Dr. Don Carleton has been executive director of The University of Texas at Austin's Dolph Briscoe Center for American History since its creation in 1991. Dr. Carleton has published and lectured extensively in the fields of historical research, the history of broadcast journalism, and Twentieth Century U.S. political history.

The exhibition continues through April 15, 2018. Gallery hours are 10 to 5 daily. Admission is free. 

NM PBS SCREENING OF "I AM NOT YOUR NEGRO" TO FEATURE CIVIL RIGHTS ERA PHOTO COLLECTION

Art Shay: James Baldwin, Chicago, 1962

NEW MEXICO PBS AND SANTA FE ART INSTITUTE PRESENT A SPECIAL

PREVIEW SCREENING OF ACADEMY AWARD NOMINATED

DOCUMENTARY I AM NOT YOUR NEGRO

SCREENING TO FEATURE CIVIL RIGHTS ERA PHOTO COLLECTION INCLUDING PORTRAITS OF JAMES BALDWIN AND DISCUSSION LED BY SFAI WORKS MANAGER KOURTNEY ANDAR

(Santa Fe, New Mexico) — New Mexico PBS and Santa Fe Art Institute are excited to present an Indie Lens Pop-Up screening of Raoul Peck’s I Am Not Your Negro, one of the most acclaimed films of the year and a 2017 Academy Award nominee for Best Documentary.

In 1979, James Baldwin wrote a letter to his literary agent describing his next project, to be called Remember This House. The book was to be a revolutionary, personal account of the lives and successive assassinations of three of his close friends — Medgar Evers, Malcolm X and Martin Luther King, Jr. But at the time of Baldwin’s death in 1987, he left behind only 30 completed pages of his manuscript.

Now, in this incendiary documentary, which premieres on New Mexico PBS Monday, January 15, 2018, 8:00 - 9:30 PM, filmmaker Peck envisions the book James Baldwin never finished. The result is a radical, up-to-the-minute examination of race in America, using Baldwin’s original words, spoken by Samuel L. Jackson, and a flood of rich archival material. I Am Not Your Negro is a journey into black history that connects the past of the Civil Rights movement to the present of #BlackLivesMatter. It is a film that questions black representation in Hollywood and beyond. And, ultimately, by confronting the deeper connections between the lives and assassination of these three leaders, Baldwin and Peck have produced a work that challenges the very definition of what America stands for.

"The Long Road: From Selma To Ferguson" an exhibition of photographs documenting the Civil Rights movement in America from the 1950's to the present day, curated by The Monroe Gallery of Photography, will be on view January 8 through January 19 at the Santa Fe Art Institute.

The exhibition comes at a time of heightened awareness, from political and social tensions in the aftermath of President Trump’s election, threats of “investigation for voter fraud“, the just concluded special election in Alabama, and conflicts across the racial divide in Charlottesville and other American Cities.

In 1963, photographers captured dramatic images of dogs and fire hoses turned on protesters that transformed national public opinion towards support of civil rights. At the time, there was a feeling in the movement that it took journalists, and especially photojournalists, covering the struggles to tell their story as history and visual evidence and shock the world.

Recently, documentary evidence has been denied or disputed by those in power, and coupled with the new administrations attacks on the press, the exhibit is a reminder that photojournalism is a vital and necessary component of a free society.

The exhibition features iconic photographs from the historic 1965 march from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama to demand free-and-clear voting rights for African Americans. Other powerful photographs capture the heroes of the Civil Rights movement--Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Rosa Parks, James Baldwin, and John Lewis--but also the countless grass-roots organizers and anonymous marchers who risked everything to trudge a long, dusty, and violent path to equality. Also included in the exhibition are images from more recent keystones of the modern civil rights movement, including the Eric Garner killing in New York, modern KKK protests, and the unrest following the death of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri.

WHAT: FREE preview screening of I Am Not Your Negro followed by a community discussion.
"The Long Road: From Selma To Ferguson" An exhibition from The Monroe Gallery of Photography, will be on view January 8 through January 19

WHERE: Santa Fe Art Institute, 1600 St. Michael’s Drive, Santa Fe

WHO: Presenters: Indie Lens Pop-Up, New Mexico PBS, Santa Fe Art Institute, Monroe Gallery of Photography

WHEN: Thursday, January 11, 2018 at 6 PM

## For more information, visit: http://www.pbs.org/independentlens/films/i-am-not-your-negro/

Congratulations to Gallery photographers Steve Schapiro and Art Shay

Steve Schapiro speaking after receiving the 2017 Lucie Award for Achievement in Photojournalism. Earlier this year the Gallery presented the exhibition "EYEWITNESS" to celebrate the completion of a project based on James Baldwin’s 1963 book, “The Fire Next Time”. Steve Schapiro’s photographs documenting the civil rights movement from 1963 – 1968 are paired with essays from “The Fire Next Time” by James Baldwin in a major book published by Taschen in March. The book won the 2017 Lucie Award for Book Publisher of the Year (Limited).

Art Shay, now 95, speaking after being honored with the Lucie statue for Lifetime Achievement during the Lucie Awards gala ceremony at Carnegie Hall in New York October 29, 2017. “Art Shay: A Tribute” is currently on view at Monroe Gallery of Photography through November 19, 2017.

Art Shay brought the crowd to its feet with a rousing harmonica solo to conclude the evening.

Watch the video introduction of Art Shay, featuring Michelle Monroe of Monroe Gallery of Photography

2017 Lucie Awards Honoree: Art Shay, Lifetime Achievement from Lucie Foundation on Vimeo.

Congratulations to Gallery photographers Steve Schapiro and Art Shay!

James Arthur "Jimmy" Baldwin (August 2, 1924 – December 1, 1987)

Steve Schapiro: James Baldwin, Harlem, New York, 1963

“How can one respect, let alone adopt, the values of a people who do not, on any level whatever, live the way they say they do, or the way they say they should?”
― James Baldwin, The Fire Next Time

Monroe Gallery of Photography recently featured the exhibition “EYEWITNESS”, which celebrated photojournalist Steve Schapiro's completion of a project based on James Baldwin’s 1963 book, “The Fire Next Time”. Steve Schapiro’s photographs documenting the civil rights movement from 1963 – 1968 are paired with essays from “The Fire Next Time” by James Baldwin in a major book recently in a limited edition by Tashen. Signed copies of the book are available from the gallery.

GREY VILLET: A Portrait of LIFE in America

Farm Collapse: Sarah Vogel, leader of class-action case on behalf of 240,000 farmers to stop USDA from seizing family farms, visiting neighbors who are facing foreclosure, North Dakota, 1982

Santa Fe--Monroe Gallery of Photography, 112 Don Gaspar, is honored to announce an extensive exhibition of compelling photography of LIFE magazine photographer Grey Villet. The exhibition runs from May 5 through June 30.

Born in South Africa, Grey Villet traveled America and the world for LIFE magazine like an observant explorer, mapping its emotional contours in the faces and lives of its people. His in-depth, personal studies of the American scene of the 1950s through the 1970’s illuminated the complex reality of those years with a truth that, in his own words, were "as real as real could get." His images of presidents and revolutionaries, sports heroes, and everyday people struggling for their rights tell an emotional and compelling story of an era that shaped the present.

Fidel Castro, Hometown Greetings, 1959

Grey Villet was born in a sheep herding center called Beaufort West in the Karoo desert of South Africa in 1927. His father expected him to follow him into medicine and Grey was duly enrolled in the pre-med program at Cape Town University.  It didn't take; he spent most of his time at a cafe downtown where there was music and a lot of smoke...At about this time his sister's fiancé gave him a camera and that did take...It was the excitement of seeing his own pictures emerge in a friend's   dark room that set the course of his life.  By the late 1940's, his despairing father sent him to London to study photography---but after a few months Grey left school to earn a meager living doing wedding snaps while living in a trucker's stop hostel. At 20 he landed a job on the Bristol Evening News--and within 2 years had moved up to Reuters International in London on the strength of his newspaper work. At 24 he returned to South Africa and a job at the country's leading newspaper, the Johannesburg Star--but the pomposity of management's objection to his disheveled look after a night of chasing a rough news story decided his future. Already determined to become a "magazine photographer" he quit the Star on the spot and soon set off for New York hoping to land a chance at LIFE. So it was that Grey's Villet’s career with LIFE magazine began in April of 1954. Within a year of being added to LIFE’s legendary roster of photographers in 1955, he won photojournalism’s most prestigious award when he was named Magazine Photographer of the Year. Other honors followed, including multiple firsts from NPPA and Gold from World Press Photo.

Villet excelled at LIFE’s acclaimed essay format, which exemplified his mastery of the medium, attesting to his credo that every story be, in his words, "as real as real could get". To achieve this, he generally used only available light and while shooting became as unobtrusive as a "fly on the wall" to allow meaningful moments to emerge naturally from a fluid reality.  

Featured in the exhibition are excerpts from Villet's intimate images of the interracial couple, Richard and Mildred Loving, who married and then spent the next nine years fighting for the right to live as a family in their hometown. Their civil rights case, Loving v. Virginia, went all the way to the Supreme Court, which in 1967 reaffirmed the very foundation of the right to marry. The 2016 film “Loving” Loving”, from acclaimed writer/director Jeff Nichols starred Joel Edgerton and Ruth Negga in the roles of Richard and Mildred Loving. 

“Unwilling to promote himself, Grey Villet modestly rejected the idea of organizing his own retrospective only months before his sudden death in 2000. “The work will tell” he told me then, “the work will tell.” Self effacing, quiet, Grey was truly a quintessential photojournalist in the service of truth.” -- Barbara Villet

In an era before any digital tinkering with results was possible, Grey Villet’s technique was one that required intense concentration, patience and understanding of his subjects joined with a technical mastery that allowed rapid use of differing cameras and lenses to capture and compose the "right stuff" on film as it happened. “RIGHTS, RACE & REVOLUTIONS:A Portrait of LIFE in 1960s America by Grey Villet” was exhibited at the Museum at Bethel Woods April 2 – December 31, 2016. 

THE LOVINGS: AN INTIMATE PORTRAIT, a new book that documents the extraordinary love story of Mildred and Richard Loving, was published in April by Princeton Architectural Press and is available in the gallery.

STEVE SCHAPIRO: EYEWITNESS CONTINUES THROUGH APRIL 30

Steve Schapiro

On the road, Selma March, 1965

The current exhibition Steve Schapiro: Eyewitness continues through April 30 in the gallery.

The Guardian newspaper featured Schapiro's forthcoming book today in a feature article, link here.

"But before mobile phone videos and Twitter allowed black Americans to directly telegraph their plight to the world, it was up to photojournalism to visualise the message, as Schapiro’s images did in Life magazine."

And the New York Times featured the cover photograph, "CORE Stall In, 1964" from the exhibition announcement in their review of the AIPAD Photography Show last week.

"Steve Schapiro’s astounding “CORE ‘Stall In,’ New York World’s Fair 1964,” at the Monroe Gallery of Photography, which documents a vehicular protest of racism.”

New York Times review of the 2017 AIPAD Photography Show

Extremely honored to have the lead photograph in Friday’s New York Times review of the AIPAD2017 Photography Show: “Aipad’s Photography Show Grows Up”.

“Steve Schapiro’s astounding “CORE ‘Stall In,’ New York World’s Fair 1964,” at the Monroe Gallery of Photography, which documents a vehicular protest of racism.”

Hope you can visit us at Pier 94 through Sunday, booth #534. The exhibit Steve Schapiro:Eyewitness continues through April 30 at Monroe Gallery in Santa Fe.

Monroe Gallery at AIPAD: Photography as history and photography as visual evidence

Irving Haberman

Holocaust Survivors arrive in New York City, 1947

Vintage gelatin silver print

 Santa Fe--Monroe Gallery of Photography, Santa Fe, NM, will dedicate much of its exhibit at the 2017 AIPAD Photography Show to images that exemplify photography as history and photography as visual evidence . Recently, documentary evidence has been denied or disputed by those in power, and coupled with the new administrations attacks on the press, the exhibit is a reminder that photojournalism is a vital and necessary component of a free society.

Steve Schapiro, along with many other photographers of the civil rights era, not only brought awareness to the injustice of racial discrimination; they made people feel the injustice. The Gallery will exhibit several of Schapiro’s iconic civil rights era photographs, including James Baldwin in Harlem (1963), Martin Luther King marching for voting rights with John Lewis, Reverend Jesse Douglas, James Forman and Ralph Abernathy, Selma, (1965), and John Lewis in Clarksdale, Mississippi (1963) alongside several photographs of the 2015 refugee crisis in Greece, the Balkans and Germany by Ashley Gilbertson, VII photographer and author of the book Bedrooms of The Fallen. There will also be vintage photographs of refugee immigrants to the United States by Irving Haberman and Eddie Adams, as well as a large format color print of the abandoned Ellis Island Tuberculosis Ward by Stephen Wilkes.

Ashley Gilbertson

Refugees, primarily from Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan, disembark on the island of Lesvos, Greece, 2015

Archival Pigment print

Another featured photograph is one Ashley Gilbertson made earlier this year of Trump Tower in response  to President Trump’s attacks on the press: “I want the president to know we will not cease in our attempts to provide transparency, hold those in power accountable, and report on issues that affect us as a global community. As always, our armor is honesty, hardened and honed by our fact checkers and editors. Our mission as the fourth estate didn't change on Friday–it remains the same as it always has. Truth to power.”

Ashley Gilbertson: Trump Tower, New York, 2017

Archival pigment print

Rounding out our exhibit are significant prints from two 94-year old master photojournalists, Art Shay and Tony Vaccaro.

Rounding out our exhibit are significant prints from two 94-year old master photojournalists, Art Shay and Tony Vaccaro.

At the age of 21, Tony Vaccaro was drafted into World War II, and by the spring of 1944 he was photographing war games in Wales. By June, 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, Tony fought on the front lines of the war. He entered Germany in December 1944, a private in the Intelligence Platoon, tasked with going behind enemy lines at night. The HBO documentary film “Under Fire: The Untold Story of Private First Class Tony Vaccaro” tells the story of how Tony survived the war, fighting the enemy while also documenting his experience at great risk, developing his photos in combat helmets at night and hanging the negatives from tree branches. The film also encompasses a wide range of contemporary issues regarding combat photography such as the ethical challenges of witnessing and recording conflict, the ways in which combat photography helps to define how wars are perceived by the public, and the sheer difficulty of staying alive while taking photos in a war zone.

 After the war, Tony remained in Germany to photograph the rebuilding of the country for Stars And Stripes magazine. Returning to the US in 1950, 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, photographing everyone from Marilyn Monroe and Sophia Loren to Pablo Picasso and Frank Lloyd Wright. Now 94, Tony still carries a camera and will be present in our booth #534 on Friday afternoon, March 30 during the AIPAD Photography Show.

Monroe Gallery of Photography will exhibit in booth #534 during the AIPAD Photography Show March 30 - April 2, 2017.

NEW BOOK DOCUMENTS THE LOVE STORY OF MILDRED AND RICHARD LOVING

The Lovings
An Intimate Portrait
Grey Villet, Barbara Villet, Stephen Crowley
Princeton Architectural Press
10 × 8 inches, Hardcover, 128 pages, 82 duotones
Now available from the Gallery $24.95

The Lovings: An Intimate Portrait documents the extraordinary love story of Mildred and Richard Loving. The Lovings presents Grey Villet's stunning photo-essay in its entirety for the first time and reveals with striking intensity and clarity the powerful bond of a couple that helped change history. Mildred, a woman of African American and Native American descent and Richard, a white man, were arrested in July 1958 for the crime of interracial marriage, prohibited under Virginia state law. Exiled to Washington, DC, they fought to bring their case to the US Supreme Court. Knowledge of their struggle spread across the nation, and in the spring of 1965, the Life magazine photojournalist Villet spent a few weeks documenting the Lovings and their family and friends as they went about their lives in the midst of their trial. Loving v. Virginia was the landmark US civil rights case that, in a unanimous decision, ultimately ended the prohibition of interracial marriage in 1967.

Grey Villet (1927--2000) was an award winning photographer and photojournalist who worked at Life magazine for more than thirty years.

Barbara Villet is an author and journalist who was a photo editor at Life and collaborated on many of Mr. Villet's projects.

One of photojournalism's most distinguished practitioners, Pulitzer Prize winner Stephen Crowley of the New York Times credits the influence of a Grey Villet Life essay with his decision, at age nine, to become a photographer.

Monroe Gallery will exhibit rare vintage prints from GreyVillet's Loving's photo essay on our booth #53 4during the AIPAD Photography Show in New York March 30 - April 2. A special book signing of The Lovings with Barbara Villet will take place in our booth # 534 on Saturday, April 1, from 3 - 4 PM.

"the exhibit is a reminder that photojournalism is a vital and necessary component of a free society"

L'Oeil de la Photographie

"Schapiro’s historic photographs are made more timely with the recent Presidential campaign and election. President Trump’s recent criticisms of civil-rights leader John Lewis drew widespread criticism and have done little to reassure those uneasy about the transition from the nation’s first black president to a president still struggling to connect with most nonwhite voters. This was the first presidential election since the gutting of the Voting Rights Act., and in recent days President Trump has promised a “major investigation of voter fraud” that he says cost him the popular vote, despite bipartisan condemnation of his allegations and the conclusion of Mr. Trump’s own lawyers that the election was not tainted. There are concerns Attorney General Nominee Jeff Sessions may further roll-back civil-rights protections.

Steve Schapiro’s photographs of the civil rights era not only brought awareness to the injustice of it all; they made people feel the injustice. Coupled with the new administrations attacks on the press, the exhibit is a reminder that photojournalism is a vital and necessary component of a free society."

--Sidney and Michelle Monroe

Sidney and Michelle Monroe are the directors of the eponymous gallery in Santa Fe, USA.

Steve Schapiro, Eyewitness

February 10 through April 23; 2017.
Monroe Gallery
112 Don Gaspar Ave
Santa Fe, NM 87501
USA

February 10 in Santa Fe: Steve Schapiro, "Eyewitness"

Steve Schapiro: CORE "Stall-In", 1964 World's Fair, New York

STEVE SCHAPIRO: EYEWITNESS

Santa Fe--Monroe Gallery of Photography, 112 Don Gaspar, is honored to announce an extensive exhibition of photographs from key moments in the Civil Rights movement by one of the most respected American documentary photographers, Steve Schapiro. The exhibition opens with a reception for Steve Schapiro on Friday, February 10, from 5 to 7 PM, and will continue through April 23.

Schapiro’s photographs are made more timely with the recent Presidential campaign and election. President Trump’s recent criticisms of civil-rights leader John Lewis drew widespread criticism and have done little to reassure those uneasy about the transition from the nation’s first black president to a president still struggling to connect with most nonwhite voters. This was the first presidential election since the gutting of the Voting Rights Act and there are lingering concerns Attorney General Nominee Jeff Sessions may further roll-back civil-rights protections.

“EYEWITNESS” celebrates the completion of a project based on James Baldwin’s 1963 book, “The Fire Next Time”. Steve Schapiro’s photographs documenting the civil rights movement from 1963 – 1968 are paired with essays from “The Fire Next Time” by James Baldwin in a major book to be published in March.

Schapiro covered many stories related the Civil Rights movement, including the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, the push for voter registration and the Selma to Montgomery march. Called by Life to Memphis after Martin Luther King Jr.'s assassination, Schapiro produced some of the most iconic images of that tragic event. When the civil rights movement came to a crossroads during the Selma-to-Montgomery march of 1965, photographer Steve Schapiro captured an iconic moment from the march in an image of Dr. Martin Luther King linking arms with fellow civil rights activists John Lewis, the Rev. Jesse Douglas, James Forman and Ralph Abernathy. The image captures the leadership, the unity, and the strength of the civil rights leaders, who faced violence from law enforcement as well as death threats during their fight for voting rights for African Americans.

Steve Schapiro: Martin Luther King Marching for Voting Rights with John Lewis, Reverend Jesse Douglas, James Forman and Ralph Abernathy, Selma, 1965

Schapiro discovered photography at age of nine at a summer camp. Excited by the camera's potential, he would spend the next decades prowling the streets of his native New York trying to emulate the work of the great French photographer Henri Cartier-Bresson. His first formal education in photography came when he studied under the photojournalist W. Eugene Smith, and shared Smith's passion for black and white documentary work. From the beginning of Schapiro’s career, he had already set a mission for himself: to chronicle the “American Life”. 

Schapiro spent several weeks in the South with James Baldwin and became involved in many civil rights stories; he traveled with Bobby Kennedy on his Senate campaign and Presidential campaign; and did photo essays on Haight Ashbury, the Pine Ridge Sioux Indian Reservation, and Protest in America. He photographed Andy Warhol and the New York art scene, John and Jacqueline Kennedy, poodles, beauty parlors, and performances at the famous Apollo Theater in New York. He also collaborated on projects for record covers and related art. As picture magazines declined in the 1970's and 80's he continued documentary work but also produced advertising material, publicity stills and posters for films, including, The Godfather, Rambo, The Way We Were, Risky Business, Taxi Driver, and Midnight Cowboy. From 2000 through 2003 he was a contributing photographer for American Radio Works (Minneapolis Public Radio) producing on-line documentary projects. Schapiro has photographed major stories for most of the world’s most prominent magazines, including Life, Look, Time, Newsweek, Sports Illustrated, Rolling Stone, People, and Paris Match.

Since the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s seminal 1969 exhibition, Harlem on my Mind, which included a number of his images, Schapiro’s photographs have appeared in museum and gallery exhibitions world-wide. The High Museum of Art’s Road to Freedom, which traveled widely in the United States, includes numerous of his photographs from the civil rights movement and Martin Luther King Jr. Recent one-man shows have been mounted in Los Angeles, London, Santa Fe, Amsterdam, Paris, and Berlin. Steve has had large museum retrospective exhibitions in the United States, Spain, Russia, and Germany.

Schapiro continues to work in a documentary vein. His recent series’ of photographs have been about India, Music Festivals, Mercicordia, and Black Lives Matter. Schapiro’s work is represented in many private and public collections, including the Smithsonian Museum, the High Museum of Art, the New York Metropolitan Museum and the Getty Museum. He has recently received the James Joyce Award and a fellowship to University College in Dublin.

 

Gallery hours are 10 to 5 daily.. Admission is free. For further information, please call: 505.992.0800; E-mail: info@monroegallery.com.

Monroe Gallery of Photography at photo la 2017

Monroe Gallery of Photography is proud to exhibit at the 26th edition of photo la, held at The REEF, located in the historic LA Mart building in Downtown Los Angeles January 12-15, 2017. Monroe Gallery will occupy two large adjoining booths, #205/302, just to the right of the main fair entrance.

Among the many significant photographs being exhibited in our booth are Life Magazine photographer Grey Villet's intimate images of Richard and Mildred Loving, an interracial couple who married and then spent the next nine years fighting for the right to live as a family in their hometown, will be on exhibit. Their civil rights case, Loving v. Virginia, went all the way to the Supreme Court, which in 1967 reaffirmed the very foundation of the right to marry. On November 4, the feature film “Loving” opened, from acclaimed writer/director Jeff Nichols and starring Joel Edgerton and Ruth Negga in the roles of Richard and Mildred Loving.

Monroe Gallery of Photography will also feature Tony Vaccaro's incredible images..  In November, HBO films premiered the documentary film “Under Fire: The Untold Story of Private First Class Tony Vaccaro”. The film tells the story of how Tony survived the war, fighting the enemy while also documenting his experience at great risk, developing his photos in combat helmets at night and hanging the negatives from tree branches. The film also encompasses a wide range of contemporary issues regarding combat photography such as the ethical challenges of witnessing and recording conflict, the ways in which combat photography helps to define how wars are perceived by the public, and the sheer difficulty of staying alive while taking photos in a war zone. It is now available for viewing on-demand from HBO.

Already these two specially curated exhibits have generated excitement from the LA Times and Los Angeles Magazine.

Rounding out the exhibition in our booth will be historic examples of civil rights photojournalism, 1960's  cultural icons, and several of Stephen Wilkes' Day To Nigh and China photographs.

Fair hours are  Friday, January 13, 11am - 7pm, Saturday, January 14, 11am - 7pm, Sunday, January 15, 11am - 6pm; with a special VIP preview on Thursday, January 12 from 7 - 10. Ticket information here.

We look forward to welcoming you to our booth during photo la 2017.

Join Us Friday, November 25 to Welcome Art Shay

Art Shay: Chili Con Carne, Chicago, 1949

A major exhibition of photographs from one of America’s most accomplished photographers, Art Shay, November 25 through January 22, 2017. Opening reception with Art Shay Friday, November 25, 5-7 PM.

For over 70 years, Art Shay has documented life, combining his gifts of storytelling, humor and empathy. Born in 1922, he grew up in the Bronx and then served as a navigator in the U.S. Army Air Forces in World War II, during which he flew 52 bomber missions and a series of pictures he took of a collision between two B-24s above his air base in East Anglia was published in Look magazine. Shay joined the staff of Life magazine as a writer, and quickly became a Chicago-based freelance photographer for Life, Time, Sports Illustrated and other national publications. He has photographed nine US Presidents and many major figures of the 20th century. Shay also wrote weekly columns for various newspapers, several plays, children's books, sports instruction books, many photo essay books and authored several pays. Shay's photography is in the permanent collections of major museums including the National Portrait Gallery, the Museum of Contemporary Photography, Chicago, and The Art Institute of Chicago. Although his last formal assignment was in 1988, when he shot the night the lights went on at Wrigley Field for Time Magazine, Shay has continued actively photographing in his later years.

View the exhibition on-line here.

Also on exhibit: Tony Vaccaro: War, Peace, Beauty

Monroe Gallery Announces Three Exhibitions For November

Monroe Gallery of Photography announces three timely exhibits for November, two of which coincide with major film releases.

Beginning November 1, LIFE magazine photographer Grey Villet's intimate images of Richard and Mildred Loving, an interracial couple who married and then spent the next nine years fighting for the right to live as a family in their hometown, will be on exhibit.

Their civil rights case, Loving v. Virginia, went all the way to the Supreme Court, which in 1967 reaffirmed the very foundation of the right to marry. On November 4, the feature film “Loving” opens, from acclaimed writer/director Jeff Nichols and starring Joel Edgerton and Ruth Negga in the roles of Richard and Mildred Loving. Grey Villet’s photographs are on exhibit November 1 – December 31, 2016, and will then be exhibited at Photo LA, January 12 – 17, 2017.

Monroe Gallery of Photography will present a pop-up gallery exhibition in collaboration with veteran curator and art critic Peter Frank: “Tony Vaccaro: War, Peace, Beauty”, November 11 to 21, 2016, at 508 West 26th Street, 5th floor, in the West Chelsea Arts Building in New York City. The exhibit opens with a reception for Tony Vaccaro, Friday, November 11, 6 – 8 pm. Sidney and Michelle Monroe will be in attendance. Tony Vaccaro’s photographs will be on exhibit concurrently at Monroe Gallery in Santa Fe, NM, through December 31, 2016.

The Vaccaro exhibits coincide with the HBO premiere on Monday, November 14, of the documentary film “Under Fire: The Untold Story of Private First Class Tony Vaccaro”. The film tells the story of how Tony survived the war, fighting the enemy while also documenting his experience at great risk, developing his photos in combat helmets at night and hanging the negatives from tree branches. The film also encompasses a wide range of contemporary issues regarding combat photography such as the ethical challenges of witnessing and recording conflict, the ways in which combat photography helps to define how wars are perceived by the public, and the sheer difficulty of staying alive while taking photos in a war zone.

Finally, on November 25 Monroe Gallery presents a major exhibition of photographs from one of America’s most accomplished photographers, Art Shay. The exhibit of 50 photographs opens Friday, November 25 with a reception for the 94-year old photographer from 5 – 7 PM, and continues through January 22, 2017.

Gallery hours are 10 to 5 Daily, admission is free. For further information, please contact the Gallery.

Hikaru “Carl” Iwasaki, famed Japanese-American photographer, dies at 93 in Denver

Brown Sisters Walk to School, Topeka, Kansas, 1953 Photograph by Carl Iwasaki

Via The Denver Post


Hikaru “Carl” Iwasaki, an American of Japanese heritage who was relocated to a World War II internment camp as a teen and went on to become a renowned photojournalist, died last week in his Denver home. He was 93.

As a contributor to Time, Life and Sports Illustrated magazines, among other publications, Iwasaki photographed several presidents and multiple sport stars. His work also included many everyday Japanese-Americans settling throughout the country in the aftermath of World War II internment as well as documenting the civil rights movement, including Brown vs. the Board of Education of Topeka, Kan., in the 1950s.

“He was a real old-timer, well-known in this community among other (photographers) and journalists,” said Dick Woodbury, a colleague and long-time friend.

Woodbury, who met Iwasaki at an Air Force Academy home football game in 1962, described his friend as “a kind, gracious, unassuming person, a very hard worker.”

Born Oct. 18, 1923, in San Jose, Calif., Iwasaki became interested in photography through his high school yearbook and newspaper. At age 19, Iwasaki and his family were sent to an internment camp in Heart Mountain, Wyo.

Iwasaki’s photo skills led him to a position with the War Relocation Authority photo unit in Denver, where he worked in a darkroom. He soon became a WRA photographer, documenting Japanese-Americans released from camps as they resettled throughout the country.

Over the course of his journalism career, Iwasaki photographed Presidents Ford, Nixon, Truman and Eisenhower.

Eisenhower’s connections to Denver — he recovered from a heart attack here — helped Iwasaki form a special bond with Ike.

“Not many people know about this, but (Eisenhower) loved to paint,” Iwasaki told the Monroe Gallery of Photography in 2010. “I photographed him painting, and he autographed it for me. … I got to know him very well.”

Monroe featured Iwasaki’s work in a Santa Fe gallery.

“Everyone recognizes his work as a photographer,” said Dean Iwasaki, his son. “It was real art. He had an eye for that.”

Iwasaki had been a member of the Denver Press Club since the 1950s.

He was preceded in death by his wife, Beatrice, in 2005. He is survived by two sons, Dean, of Denver, and John, of Connecticut; a daughter, Janice, of California; two stepsons, Tom and Ed; and numerous grandchildren.

Private family services are pending.

Carl Iwasaki's photograph of the Brown Sisters in featured in the current exhibition "History in a Moment" through November 20, 2016.