The Battle of The Bulge: December 16, 1944 to January 25, 1945

 December 16, 2024

Tony Vaccaro: Moving up in the  Ardennes, 1944

#onthisday, December 16, in 1944, The Battle of the Bulge, also known as the Ardennes Offensive, the last major German offensive campaign of WWII began. With the onset of winter, the German army launched a counteroffensive that was intended to cut through the Allied forces in a manner that would turn the tide of the war in Hitler's favor. 

The "Bulge" was the largest and bloodiest single battle fought by the United States in World War II.

“I never wanted to be a fighter, but I always wanted to be a photographer. I decided to photograph portraits of the people in my unit, because they were the people I lived with. We slept together, we risked together. We did so much together. I never saw soldiers. I saw human beings. I saw red blood, human blood. The battlefield, in a way, helped me, because when the war is on, that’s all that it is, fighting all the time. You know that it can happen to you. What do you do about it? I took pictures.” –Tony Vaccaro

Tony Vaccaro: Battle of Ardennes, Near Ottre, Belgium., January,1945

In the spring of 2025, Monroe Gallery of Photography will present a major exhibition commemorating the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II. Details to be announced soon.

Tony Vaccaro: Firing Line, Battle of Hurtgen Forest, Germany, 1944

Santa Fe’s Monroe Gallery of Photography is exhibiting more than 50 photographs by the acclaimed photographer Tony Vaccaro

Photographer follows resurgent career back to Santa Fe with exhibit

The Albuquerque Journal

By Kathaleen Roberts / Journal Staff Writer

Sunday, November 18th, 2018

Georgia O'Keeffe with Cheese, New Mexico, 1960

©Tony Vaccaro

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — When photographer Tony Vaccaro first met Georgia O’Keeffe in 1960, the great artist refused to speak to him for five days.

On assignment from LOOK magazine, Vaccaro had traveled to New Mexico by train with art editor Charlotte Willard.

O’Keeffe had been expecting a different photographer, one of her favorites, such as Ansel Adams, Todd Webb or Richard Avedon.

Trying his best to charm her, Vaccaro cooked O’Keeffe a steak and fixed her broken washing machine, to no avail.

Suddenly, the topic turned to bullfighting. Vaccaro mentioned he had met the great Spanish matador Manolette.

The artist pivoted in her seat to face him. She never looked at Willard again.

“When O’Keeffe found out, she kind of embraced me and that’s when we became the greatest friends,” the 95-year-old Vaccaro said in a telephone interview from his home in Long Island City, N.Y.

Givenchy by the Pool, South of Paris, France, 1961 

©Tony Vaccaro

Santa Fe’s Monroe Gallery of Photography is exhibiting more than 50 photographs by the acclaimed photographer in “Tony Vaccaro: Renaissance,” opening Friday, Nov. 23. The gallery will offer a free screening of the 2016 HBO documentary “Under Fire: The Private Untold Story of Private First Class Tony Vaccaro” at 2:30 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 24, followed by a question-and-answer session with the photographer. The show will hang through Jan. 27, 2019.

After that initially frosty meeting, Vaccaro spent a month in Abiquiú photographing O’Keeffe, producing some of her most iconic portraits.

The photographer captured “Georgia O’Keeffe with cheese” while they were traveling. The artist looks playfully at the camera through a hole in a piece of Swiss cheese.

“We had decided to go to the desert for a picnic,” Vaccaro said. “The desert she liked was White Sands. I arranged the catering, the salad, everything, but it began to rain, so we moved into the car. So we had the picnic sitting in the car. I was driving; I looked back and I saw her looking at me through a hole in the cheese.”

Vaccaro kept in touch with O’Keeffe over the years.

“She had an opening in 1971 at the Whitney Museum,” he said. “We were talking. She pulled me away and said, ‘Tony, let’s go see our picture,’ which is the famous one where she holds a famous painting she had made.”

Georgia O’Keeffe with painting, New Mexico, for LOOK, 1960  ©Tony Vaccaro

Vaccaro’s career across the decades included war photography, fashion photography and celebrity portraiture.

ne fashion assignment featured a collection of hats. Vaccaro spotted a spiral-shaped hat resembling a certain building. He asked the slinky model Isabella Albonico to pose in the chapeau in front of the Guggenheim Museum.

He said Albonico sported the longest neck he had ever seen.

“You look at Isabella’s face and you know she thinks it’s funny,” he added.

“I saw Frank Lloyd Wright design the Guggenheim from scratch,” Vaccaro continued. “I photographed it as it went along.”

Guggenheim Hat, New York, 1960

©Tony Vaccaro

The HBO documentary about Vaccaro’s war photography has kindled a career resurgence. He will turn 96 on Dec. 20.

Vaccaro was drafted into World War II at the age of 21. By the summer of 1944 he was on a boat heading toward Omaha Beach six days after the first landings at Normandy. Vaccaro was determined to photograph the war and brought his portable 35mm Argus C-3. He fought on the front lines, developing his photos in combat helmets at night and hanging the negatives from tree branches.

The result was “White Death, Pvt. Henry Irving Tannebaum, Ottre, Belgium,” 1945, one of the most famous photographs of the war.

“I took that picture and at that time this man had a son who was 1 year old,” Vaccaro said. “Fifty years later I got a phone call saying, ‘I am the son of Mr. Tannebaum.’ He said, ‘Would you take me where you took the picture of my father dead in the snow?'”

He did, only to find the spot had disappeared.

“It was a field of Christmas trees the owner was selling to Portugal,” Vaccaro said. “Fifty years later, it was growing Christmas trees. And it so happens Tannebaum means Christmas tree.”

If you go

WHAT: “Tony Vaccaro: Renaissance”

WHEN: Public reception 5-7 p.m. Friday, Nov. 23. 10 a.m.-5 p.m. daily through Jan. 27, 2019.

WHERE: Monroe Gallery of Photography, 112 Don Gaspar, Santa Fe

HOW MUCH: Free at monroegallery.com, 505-992-0800

Tony Vaccaro - A Life For Moments

"Tony Vaccaro - A Life For Moments" is now on exhibit in Potsdam, Germany:

August 9 – September 9, 2018
Villa Schoningen, Tony Vaccaro: A life for Moments
Berline Strabe 86, Potsdam , Germany

View the full Tony Vaccaro collection available from Monroe Gallery of Photography here.

Monroe Gallery of Photography at the 2018 AIPAD Photography Show

Monroe Gallery of Photography is very pleased to again be exhibiting at The Photography Show, presented by AIPAD. One of the world's most prestigious annual photography events, The Photography Show is the longest-running and foremost exhibition dedicated to the photographic medium, offering a wide range of museum-quality work, including contemporary, modern, and 19th-century photographs as well as photo-based art, video, and new media. We will be exhibiting important selections from 20th and 21st Century photojournalists and documentary photographers in our booth #413.

Recently, documentary evidence has been denied or disputed by those in power, and coupled with the US administration's attacks on the press, the exhibit is a reminder that photojournalism is a vital and necessary component of a free society. View selections from our AIPAD Photograph Show 2018 exhibit here.

Highlights include Ryan Vizzions dramatic photographs from the Dakota Access Pipeline protests at Standing Rock in 2016-7; a selection of images depicting the tumult of the year 1968; photographs portraying the immigrant experience of contemporary Syrian refugees alongside an image of  migrant laborers and one of immigrant workers detained for deportation during “Operation Wetback” in 1955;  a magnificent large-format color photograph documenting the detail of bales of recycled wire by Stephen Wilkes; and historic work by Art Shay and Tony Vaccaro, both now 95 years old.

We are especially excited to have Tony Vaccaro present in our booth for most days of the Show. During World War II, although he was denied access to the Signal Corps, Tony was determined to photograph the war and had his portable 35mm Argus C-3 with him as he fought on the front lines of the war in Europe.  Tony went on to become one the most sought after photographers of his day, working for LIFE, LOOK, and numerous fashion and advertising campaigns.

During the Show, The Screening Room will show "Underfire: The Untold Story of PFC Tony Vaccaro". An Emmy-award nominated HBO documentary, the film tells the story of how Tony Vaccaro, a 21-year old WWII infantryman, smuggled his $47.00 portable camera into battle to create one of the most comprehensive and intimate records of the war. The Screening Room is one of many special projects being produced for the 38th edition of The Photography Show and is curated by award-winning filmmaker Mary Engel (Director, Orkin/Engel Film and Photo Archive

We are very honored to have two photographs selected by Sir Elton John for his curated AIPAD member exhibition "A Time for Reflection". A Time for Reflection seeks to inspire, comfort, challenge and ultimately show the strength of photography and its ability to be literal and metaphorical.

We hope you may be able to visit us during the show!

Underfire: The Untold Story of PFC Tony Vaccaro nominated for Outstanding Historical Documentary Emmy

Underfire: the Untold Story of PFC Tony Vaccaro

is available on demand from HBO here.

Tony Vaccaro: War and Peace is on exhibit at Monroe Gallery of Photography through September 17, 2017. M

Monroe Gallery will sponsor a special free encore screening of "Underfire" in Santa Fe on Saturday, August 26 at 3:45 pm at the Center For Contemporary Arts  Cinematheque. Please call the CCA box office for tickets; seating is limited.

NOMINEES FOR THE 38th ANNUAL NEWS & DOCUMENTARY EMMY® AWARDS ANNOUNCED

Outstanding Historical Documentary

 HBO Documentary Films        

HBO UNDERFIRE: The Untold Story of Pfc. Tony Vaccaro 

Director/Producer Max Lewkowicz
Executive Producers Gianna  Cerbone –Teoli, Sheila Nevins, Ann  Oster, Tim  Van Patten
Senior Producer Jacqueline Glover
Producer Valerie  Thomas

NOMINEES FOR THE 38th ANNUAL NEWS & DOCUMENTARY EMMY® AWARDS ANNOUNCED  
Charles Osgood to be honored with Lifetime Achievement Award

October 5th Award Presentation at Jazz at Lincoln Center’s Frederick P. Rose Hall in NYC
 New York, N.Y. – July 25, 2017 – Nominations for the 38th Annual News and Documentary Emmy® Awards were announced today by The National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences (NATAS).  The News & Documentary Emmy Awards will be presented on Thursday, October 5th, 2017, at a ceremony at Jazz at Lincoln Center’s Frederick P. Rose Hall in the Time Warner Complex at Columbus Circle in New York City. The event will be attended by more than 1,000 television and news media industry executives, news and documentary producers and journalists. Awards will be presented in 49 categories.

 “Many say we’re in a ‘golden age’ of television and I would argue that the incredible growth of quality, in-depth reporting in broadcast journalism and documentary filmmaking has helped drive that change,” said Bob Mauro, President, NATAS. “We live in a continually-connected world where a tweet can set off a firestorm that travels around the world in seconds. These awards are a tribute to the outstanding work being done by these nominees who provide the viewer with thorough, fact-checked reporting, examining the stories of the day from multiple perspectives while never wavering in their quest to provide us with the truth about world events. It is with great pleasure that The National Academy honors the achievements of these many organizations and individuals.  It is an added delight to honor the one-of-a-kind broadcasting career of Charles Osgood, who through his decades as host of the ‘Osgood File’ and as the anchor of ‘CBS Sunday Morning,’ has graced many a news story with his innate ability to engage his audience with humor, warmth and credibility.”  

The 38th Annual News & Documentary Emmy® Awards honors programming distributed during the calendar year 2016. 

The list of nominees is also available on the National Television Academy's website: www.emmyonline.tv

Via Emmyonline.com

HAPPY 94TH BIRTHDAY TONY VACCARO!

Newly liberated women in Nante, along the North bank of the Loire River, celebrate their freedom, Nante, France, July, 1944

We are very proud to wish Tony Vaccaro the happiest of birthdays on the 94th anniversary of his birth!

Born in Greensburg, Pennsylvania on December 20, 1922, Tony Vaccaro spent the first years of his life in the village of Bonefro, Italy after his family left America under threat from the Mafia. Both of his parents had died by the time he was eight years old and he was raised by an uncaring aunt. When World War II broke out, the American Ambassador in Rome ordered Tony to return to the States. He settled in with his sisters in New Rochelle, NY where he joined his high school camera club.

A year later, at the age of 21, Tony was drafted into the war, 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. In the years after the war, Tony remained in Germany to photograph the rebuilding of the country for Stars And Stripes magazine. Returning to the States in 1950, Tony started his career as a commercial photographer, eventually working for virtually every major publication: Flair, Look, Life, Venture, Harper’s Bazaar, Town and Country, Quick, Newsweek, and many more. Tony went on to become one the most sought after photographers of his day.

On November 14. 2016 HBO Films premiered “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. The film is available on demand from HBO.

Tony's remarkable oeuvre was exhibited in the Pop Up "War, Peace, Beauty" exhibit in New York November 14 - 21. Watch the official video of Tony's retrospective (courtesy of Astfilm.de).

Monroe Gallery will feature a selection of Tony Vaccaro's  photographs at the 26th annual Photo LA Fair, January 12 - 15, at the Reef/LA Mart. The Gallery will also exhibit Tony's photographs, including rare vintage prints, at the AIPAD Photography Show March 30 - April 2 at Pier 94 in New York.

View the Tony Vaccaro collection here.