NEIL LEIFER: RELENTLESS

Neil Leifer

Muhammad Ali Training, Fifth Street Gym, Miami, October, 1970

Monroe Gallery of Photography, 112 Don Gaspar, Santa Fe, NM, in conjunction with the Briscoe Center for American History, is pleased to host a special exhibition and book signing celebrating Neil Leifer's most recent book, "Relentless”. The exhibition opens with a reception and book signing with the photographer on Friday, July 29, 5 – 7:30 PM.

Neil Leifer is the best-known sports photographer of the past half century.  Now, in Relentless, a collaborative publication of the Dolph Briscoe Center and the University of Texas Press, Leifer takes us behind the scenes of some fifty of his most iconic pictures. Starting with his shot of Baltimore Colt Alan Ameche scoring the game-winning touchdown against the New York Giants during sudden death overtime in the 1958 NFL Championship game at Yankee Stadium—taken on Leifer’s sixteenth birthday—he tells enthralling, often hilarious stories of getting to the right place at the right time to capture many of the legendary athletes of the twentieth century, including Mickey Mantle, Arthur Ashe, Willie Mays, Sugar Ray Robinson, Joe Namath, and Arnold Palmer, as well as shooting presidential and celebrity portraits and covering a variety of subjects for Time. Recapping both an incredibly successful career and the transformation of photojournalism since the era of the great photo magazines, Relentless effectively chronicles fifty years of American popular culture

Relentless:  400 pages with 276 black & white and color photos, $45, is available from the Gallery.

Neil Leifer's photograph are included in the exhibition: Who Shot Sports: A Photographic History, 1843 to the Present at the Brooklyn Museum through January 8, 2017.

Neil Leifer: 1963 World Series Final Game - Sandy Koufax celebrating with Maury Wills, Dodger Stadium, Los Angeles, CA

Brooklyn Museum: Who Shot Sports: A Photographic History, 1843 to the Present

George Silk

Kathy Flicker's perfect 10 point dive at Princeton University's Dillon Gym Pool

©Time Inc.

Via The Brooklyn Museum

July 15, 2016–January 8, 2017
Morris A. and Meyer Schapiro Wing, 4th Floor

Who Shot Sports: A Photographic History, 1843 to the Present is one of the first museum exhibitions to put sports photographers in the forefront and is the most comprehensive presentation of sports photography ever organized. It encompasses approximately 230 works—from daguerreotypes and salted paper prints to digital images—that capture the universal appeal of sports, highlighting unforgettable moments of drama and excitement from around the globe.

The 170 photographers represented in Who Shot Sports include Richard Avedon, Al Bello, David Burnett, Rich Clarkson, Georges Demeny, John Dominis, Dr. Harold Edgerton, Rineke Dijkstra, Brian Finke, Toni Frissell, Ken Geiger, LeRoy Grannis, David Guttenfelder, Ernst Haas, Charles "Teenie" Harris, Walter Iooss, Jr., Heinz Kleutmeier, Stanley Kubrick, Jacques Henri Lartigue, Neil Leifer, Étienne-Jules Marey, Bob Martin, Martin Munkacsi, Edward Muybridge, Catherine Opie, Leni Reifenstahl, Robert Riger, Alexander Rodchenko, Howard Schatz, Flip Schulke, George Silk, Barton Silverman,  Andy Warhol, and Stephen Wilkes.

"Today, it is the photographers who give sports its indelible image," says Gail Buckland, who returns as guest curator after the 2009 exhibition Who Shot Rock & Roll: A Photographic History, 1955 to the Present. "Seeing athletic greatness, we both recognize our personal physical limitations and delight in bodies and minds taken to new heights. To play and to watch sports is to be in the moment. Still photographers are masters of moments."

Who Shot Sports: A Photographic History, 1843 to the Present is organized by guest curator Gail Buckland. The Brooklyn presentation is coordinated by Lisa Small, Curator of Exhibitions, Brooklyn Museum.
A companion book of the same title, published by Alfred A. Knopf, accompanies the exhibition.

Monroe Gallery of Photography, in conjunction with the Briscoe Center for American History, is pleased to host a special exhibition and book signing celebrating Neil Leifer's most recent book, "Relentless”. The exhibition opens with a reception and book signing with the photographer on Friday, July 29, 5 – 7:30 PM.

Muhammad Ali, Titan of Boxing and the 20th Century, Dies at 74

Bob Gomel: Cassius Clay, Miami, 1964

The New York Times:  Muhammad Ali, Titan of Boxing and the 20th Century, Dies at 74

Neil Leifer:  Muhammad Ali Knocks Out Sonny Liston, Lewiston, Maine, May 25, 1965                                

A look back at selected Muhammad Ali posts from our blog:

Sonny Liston landed on canvas below Muhammad Ali’s feet on May 25, 1965, and Neil Leifer snapped a photo

On Friday, March 6, 1964, Cassius Clay became Muhammad Ali

Cassius Clay couldn’t sleep in Miami Beach after beating Sonny Liston there in the legendary 1964 bout

March 8: Today In History: 'The Fight Of The Century'

Steve Schapiro: Muhammad Ali (Cassius Clay - Monopoly), Louisville, Kentucky, 1963

Visit our Pop-Up Tribute exhibition now on view in the gallery.
Neil Leifer will be signing copies of his new book Relentless: The Stories behind the Photographs 

 in the gallery July 29, 2016
Pre-orders available

Sonny Liston landed on canvas below Muhammad Ali’s feet on May 25, 1965, and Neil Leifer snapped a photo

Neil Leifer: Muhammad Ali Knocks Out Sonny Liston, Lewiston, Maine, May 25, 1965

Via Slate

The photo languished unlauded—before it was (much later) recognized as one of the greatest sports photos of all time; Ali became the most hated figure in American sports—before he was (much later) named “The Sportsman of the Century”; and Liston was subjected to intense scrutiny—before (not much later) he fizzled into a mostly forgotten footnote.

Like many sports fans, I’d glimpsed this picture for years—in random Ali articles, atop “best of” lists, even on T-shirts—but it wasn’t until doing my own research, excavating layers, that I discovered its most astounding attribute:
 

Everything you’d initially imagine about the image is wrong.
 

But first, just look at that photo! It instantly hits your eyes haloed in a corona of potency—structured so soundly as to seem staged, this forceful frieze of physical dominance. The Victor yells, the Loser displays himself vanquished, and the Watchers are all caught in that moment. The kinetic poetry of moving bodies, momentarily frozen, such is the stuff of the best sports photos—this has that.

There are also the incongruities! The Victor, appearing to proclaim dominance, is in fact pleading for the bested man to rise; and, for that matter, there is secretly a second bested rival below Ali; and though this looks like the moment after a vicious put-down punch, the photo was actually preceded by the puniest of blows, a “phantom punch,” as it would later be known—a wispy, theoretical mini-hook that none in attendance even observed. That Crowd so multitudinous that it stretches beyond the horizon line? They were actually the smallest assembled crowd in heavyweight championship history—there to witness a bumbling conclusion, filled with calls that the fix was in. This bout: still boxing’s biggest unsolved mystery. This image: still iconic, even (especially) with the controversy, for a sport as mythologized as it is crooked. Click for full article.

Sports photography legend Neil Leifer talks about life’s work at retrospective show

Via The Baltimore Sun

Famed photographer Neil Leifer – whose iconic photography is currently on exhibit at the  Sports Legends Museum, – will tell you without hesitation, which of his many photographs is his favorite picture taken during his illustrious career. And it’s not one you might expect.

 

Full article with slideshow here.

 

 

The 54-picture photography exhibit “Images We Remember-The World of Neil Leifer continues through October 2014 at Sports Legends Museum. The museum will host a Behind the Lens event with Leifer September 28, where he will discuss his photography career, the transition to producing directing films and answer audience questions.

...AND THEY'RE OFF!

Neil Leifer: The 1965 Kentucky Derby, with Lucky Debonaire and Bill Shoemaker, Churchill Downs, May 1, 1965.

Neil Leifer: The First Turn,  1965 Kentucky Derby

 

It’s really easy to name the most incredible athlete I’ve ever seen, and I always say it was Muhammad Ali, but when you really sit down to think about it, I’m not so sure that the most incredible performance I’ve ever seen was at an Ali fight. I’ve never photographed Tiger Woods, but watching Tiger on television in 2000 gave you the same feeling as watching Secretariat run away with the Triple Crown races in 1973. This picture was taken at the finish line of the Kentucky Derby. Look closely at it: have you ever seen a more powerful-looking athlete, or should I say a horse? It also clearly shows how convincing Secretariat’s Derby victory was, and this victory wasn’t nearly as convincing as the one he would pull off at the Belmont Stakes five weeks later. The picture is also very different from the traditional under-the-rail finish line shot. I forgot about the famed spires for this picture and isolated Secretariat. It was a gamble, but it worked out beautifully. I had no idea how great Secretariat was, and what a legend he would become. Five weeks later everyone knew. People had always talked about a Triple Crown winner when I was growing up, but it seemed like it would never happen again. Then along came Secretariat, and not only did it happen, but in a style so convincing that it was hard to believe that any single athlete/horse could be so better than his competition.
 -- Neil Leifer

Neil Leifer: Secretariat, The Kentucky Derby, Churchill Downs, Louisville, KY, May 5, 1973

The Kentucky Derby Website

Elvis Presley and Muhammad Ali Photographs Tell Stories of Two American Icons

Andrew Berg, 12, of Souderton, Pa., views photographs of Muhammad Ali by Neil Leifer, right, and an anonymous photographer, left, at the James A. Michener Museum in Doylestown, Pa. Two American superstars have crossed paths in suburban Philadelphia at the museum, where a pair of photography exhibits called American Icons offers a peek into the lives of Elvis Presley and Muhammad Ali. AP Photo/Matt Rourke.

Via artdaily.org

By: Kathy Matheson, Associated Press


DOYLESTOWN, PA (AP).- In a culture saturated with celebrity magazines, paparazzi and red carpets, it's hard to imagine capturing an image of a young Elvis Presley alone on the sidewalk in New York. Or a picture of Muhammad Ali at play with neighborhood kids in a parking lot.

No screaming fans, no camera flashes, no entourages.

These unguarded moments are among dozens featured in "Ali and Elvis: American Icons," a pair of photography exhibits sharing gallery space through May 15 at the James A. Michener Museum in Doylestown, Pa., about 25 miles north of Philadelphia. This is the first time the exhibits have been displayed together.

The Smithsonian-curated "Elvis at 21" show offers a glimpse into Presley's life just as his star begins to rise. Needing publicity photos, Presley's record company hired photographer Alfred Wertheimer in 1956 to shadow the rock-n-roll prince who would become The King.

Wertheimer had extraordinary access, said Smithsonian project director Marquette Folley.

"After this year, 1956, no one can ever get this close again," Folley said. "The walls go up."

The images of Ali, taken by multiple photographers, chronicle his years from teen boxer to his reign as The Greatest to a beloved figure battling Parkinson's disease. They were first displayed at a Hofstra University symposium on Ali in 2008.

Putting the exhibits together was simply an effort to take a broader look at the concepts of fame and the making of icons, said Brian Peterson, chief curator at the Michener Museum.

Certainly the two superstars had similarities. Both sons of the South, Presley and Ali enjoyed worldwide popularity but also alarmed some people with their swagger and attitude — Elvis with his thrusting pelvis and use of African-American rhythms in his music, Ali with his braggadocio and conversion to Islam.

Wertheimer's 56 images — most enlarged to 3-by-4-foot prints — capture Presley's electrifying stage persona but also his more intimate moments: standing in solitude in front of New York's Warwick Hotel; sprawling on a couch reading fan mail; and interacting with his family.

Wertheimer also chronicles one summer week that found the American idol rehearsing alone at a piano for an appearance on Steve Allen's show in New York, kissing a giddy fan backstage in Richmond, Va., and splashing in his swimming pool at home in Memphis, Tenn.

"I was basically putting Elvis under my microscope," Wertheimer, now 81, told The Associated Press. "He permitted closeness."

The bulk of "Muhammad Ali: The Making of an Icon" features shots of the heavyweight champ in and around the ring: training in Miami; absorbing blows from George Foreman in Zaire; and looming over a floored Sonny Liston in Neil Leifer's famous frame from 1965.

But the exhibit starts with less familiar and more personal images from when Ali was known as Cassius Clay — shadowboxing with his family, preening in front of a mirror and riding a bike with adoring local children. It ends with pictures of Ali the celebrity and humanitarian, lighting the Olympic torch in Atlanta and receiving the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

Curator Hava Gurevich said the power of the 50-image show lies in its combination of fine art, documentary and news photography.

"It's like a kaleidoscopic view of Muhammad Ali's life," Gurevich said.

Peterson, the Michener curator, said he didn't find out until after booking them that Presley and Ali had actually crossed paths. Elvis visited Ali's training camp in Pennsylvania's Pocono Mountains and gave him a rhinestone cape; Ali gave The King an autographed pair of gold boxing gloves.

"I can't say it was part of our grand plan," Peterson said. "(But) it made us feel we were kind of on the right track."

The next stop for "Elvis at 21" is the William J. Clinton museum in Little Rock, Ark. The next stop for "Muhammad Ali: The Making of an Icon" is the Historic City Hall Arts & Cultural Center in Lake Charles, La.

Copyright 2011 The Associated Press