Eugene Tapahe: Between the Worlds

Via Utah Policy

November 6, 2024 

Celebrated Native American art exhibit comes to UVU’s Museum of Art at Lakemount

In celebration of Native American Heritage Month, the Utah Valley University Museum of Art at Lakemount is pleased to present an art exhibition by Diné (Navajo) artist Eugene Tapahe. “Eugene Tapahe: Between the Worlds” opens with a reception on Tuesday, November 12, from 5-7:30 pm. The exhibition will remain on view through February 15, 2025.

“Eugene Tapahe: Between the Worlds” explores multiple meanings, connecting the contemporary world with tradition while highlighting the relationship between people and the land. Curated by Katherine Jackson, professor of art history at UVU, the exhibition includes a combination of Tapahe’s installations, photography, and performance, engaging people and places while mapping monuments as sacred sites throughout the modern world.

“I draw inspiration from my Diné (Navajo) traditions and modern experiences. My work reflects the fragility and resilience of Native American culture. I strive to unite these two worlds in my concepts while transcending worldly uncertainties. Through various visual mediums, I intend to celebrate and honor the identity and culture of Native Americans. Ultimately, the persona of my work offers unity, hope, and healing,” said Tapahe.

Tapahe is Diné (Navajo) and originally from Window Rock, Arizona. He received his MFA in studio art from Brigham Young University. Tapahe has exhibited his work in prestigious shows at the Santa Fe Indian Market, the Heard Museum Indian Fair & Market, the Cherokee Art Market, and the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian. He has received awards for his photography from the Cherokee Art Market (2018) and the Museum of Northern Arizona (2019), and he was honored with two International Awards of Excellence from “Communication Arts” magazine.

Tapahe’s work is in the permanent collections of numerous museums, including the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian, the Birmingham Museum of Art, the Arizona State Museum, the Minnesota History Center, the College of Wooster Art Museum, the Nora Eccles Harrison Museum of Art at Utah State University, and more.

His art is represented by the Modern West gallery in Salt Lake City, Utah; Monroe Gallery of Photography in Santa Fe, New Mexico; Rainmaker Gallery in Bristol, England; and Four Winds Gallery in Sydney, Australia. Tapahe resides in Provo, Utah, with his wife, Sharon, and their two daughters, Erin and Dion.

“Eugene Tapahe: Between the Worlds” is one of several concurrent exhibitions at the UVU Museum of Art at Lakemount. The annual Faculty Art Exhibition highlighting the work of 41 artists teaching at UVU is on view in the upstairs galleries through November 20, in addition to several exhibits of artwork from the museum’s permanent collection.

At Utah Valley University, we believe everyone deserves the transforming benefits of high-quality education — and it needs to be affordable, accessible, and flexible. With opportunities to earn everything from certificates to master’s degrees, our students succeed by gaining real-world experience and developing career-ready skills. We continue to invite people to come as they are — and leave ready and prepared to make a difference in the world.

For more information, visit UVU’s Newsroom website for fact sheets, maps, leadership bios, history, photos, b-roll, filming policies, and a list of interview-ready faculty experts at https://www.uvu.edu/newsroom/# or scan this QR code.

John Olsen's "Women's March" Photo Featured In NY Times Magazine Essay

 Via The New York Times

November 2, 2024

 John Olson/The LIFE Picture Collection: A 1970 march in New York City on the 50th anniversary of the passage of the 19th Amendment, August 26, 1970

How Will White Women Vote? It’s a Question With a Fraught History.

White and Black women have joined together to power progressive causes — from abolition to civil rights — but it’s a tenuous alliance. --Click for full article

This photograph is featured in the current Monroe Gallery exhibition "The Best of Us".

"As A.I. Becomes Harder to Detect, Photography Is Having a Renaissance"

 Via The New York Times

October 25, 2024

"After at least a decade of focusing almost exclusively on painting, many of the largest and most powerful art dealers are dedicating significant attention and real estate to photography.

It is part of a broader renaissance for the medium that is arriving, perhaps counterintuitively, just as images produced by artificial intelligence become virtually indistinguishable from real documentation."

Click for full article

New Exhibition: The Best Of Us

 Santa Fe, NM

October 2, 2024

“The Best Of Us" is an exhibition of compelling and provocative photographs depicting the ideals and diversity of the human experience which explore the characterization of extraordinary and everyday people who renew our faith that all things are possible and exemplify our ideals.

The phrase “the best of us” is often used idiomatically to refer to brave, courageous, selfless, and audacious people that celebrate the human spirit of drive and determination to make a difference.

“Be certain that you do not die without having done something wonderful for humanity.”

— Maya Angelou

View the exhibition on-line here.

AIPAD Announces Dates of New York Photography Show for 2025

 Via AIPAD

The Association of International Photography Art Dealers (AIPAD) has announced its dates for next year's show, which will be returning to the Park Avenue Armory once again after this year's successful venture at this location.

The fair will be opening on Wednesday afternoon, April 23rd, and closing on Sunday evening, April 27th, 2025.

Visit Monroe Gallery of Photography's exhibit at the 2024 edition here.

THE PHOTOGRAPHY OF TONY VACCARO

 Via Kevin Sessums Sums It Up

July 6, 2024

"I first discovered the extraordinary photographs of Tony Vaccaro a few years ago - and met the man himself - when I was in Santa Fe and Ali MacGraw, one of his subjects, took me to an exhibition of his work at the Monroe Gallery of Photography. I was both impressed by his fashion and celebrity photographs and moved by his WWII ones. I think he was unique in his bestriding both worlds with such grit and grace. There was a kind of wry bemusement to the fashion and celebrity ones but a wrenching intimacy to the war work. Last night the latest show of his photography opened at the Monroe Galley. I felt Tony’s presence in my conversation with his ten-year-old grandson Luke who was there with his family. The show runs until September 15th. If you are in Santa Fe, don’t miss it."

 --more here

Tony Vaccaro American Icons Exhibition Program: In Conversation with Agapita Judy Lopez on Georgia O’Keeffe

 Via Taliesin West

IN CONVERSATION – Agapita Judy Lopez on Georgia O’Keeffe
March 7, 2024

American Icons: Frank Lloyd Wright and Georgia O’Keeffe explores the similarities and differences between two American masters, born in Wisconsin, who found homes in the Desert Southwest, as captured through the lens of photographer Tony Vaccaro. Join us as Agapita “Pita” Judy Lopez discusses her time as working at Georgia O’Keeffe’s home Abiquiú as O’Keeffe’s secretary and companion, and her close relationship with Ms. O’Keeffe.

*Please note that this program grants guests access only to the program location. To see more of our property, please consider adding a tour to your program.

Time:
6:00 p.m. – 7:00 p.m.
Cabaret Theatre

Price:
Adults $35
Students (13-25 with student ID) $24
Members $31.50

Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation Members receive discounts on Cultural Programs, have access to special Member-Only programs, and more. Learn about Membership here.

Tickets here

Meet Our Presenter

Agapita “Pita” Lopez began working with American artist Georgia O’Keeffe in 1974, and became her personal secretary in 1978 until her death on March 6, 1986. A third generation employee, her grandfather and mother also worked for O’Keeffe as has her maternal grandmother, father, brothers, and sister. In 1986, Pita continued working with the O’Keeffe Estate, and then The Georgia O’Keeffe Foundation as Secretary. She served as the Foundation’s Executive Director from 1999 to 2006. Currently, Projects Director of the O’Keeffe properties at Abiquiu and Ghost Ranch, she oversees the maintenance and preservation of both houses and the seasonal tours offered at the Abiquiu home and studio. She co-authored a book on the houses with Barbara Buhler Lynes, Curator of the Georgia O’Keeffe Museum released by Abrams in the fall of 2012. With her brother, Belarmino Lopez, received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the New Mexico Historic Preservation Division.

Tony Vaccaro exhibit "American Icons" in The NY Times 36 Hours in Phoenix

 Via The New York Times

February 15, 2024

36 Hours in Phoenix

To delve deeper into Wright’s local legacy, drive about half an hour into the Scottsdale desert to Taliesin West, his secluded, light-filled winter home and workspace set on almost 500 acres in the foothills of the McDowell Mountains. Snoop around his desk, where casually strewn are his 1956 blueprints for the first floor of the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in that unmistakable nautilus spiral. Also see the onsite “American Icons” exhibition (through June 3) — a look at the parallel and intersecting lives of Wright and the artist Georgia O’Keeffe, who were born 60 miles apart, met once, corresponded for years, and were chronicled separately by the same photographer (Tony Vaccaro). Book an hourlong self-guided audio tour, from $39, (first start time, 11:20 a.m). There are also 90-minute guided tours, from $49 (first start time, 10:40 a.m.).

Ways of Seeing: Four Photographic Collections

 Via The New Mexico Museum of Art

January 18, 2024

Art collectors are often said to have “a good eye” for pictures, but what does that really mean? This selection of photographs from three collections recently donated to the museum and one promised gift illustrates a variety of approaches to choosing works of art and assembling a collection. United by a passion for photography, each collector brings a distinctive sensibility to the undertaking. Artist Jamie Brunson and her former husband Mark Levy gravitated to large color photographs of the 1990s that reflect their interest in social justice and meditation. Photographer and photo dealer Don Moritz amassed a large collection of that included a group of prints by David Michael Kennedy. New Yorker W.M. Hunt was attracted to images of people whose eyes are not readily visible and searched internationally for decades to build a unique holding on that theme. Santa Fe collectors Caroline Burnett and her late husband William chose images that moved them deeply, ultimately creating a collection largely of modernist photographs from the mid-twentieth century. On view will be suites of work from each collector, including photographs by Ruth Bernhard, Edward Burtynsky, Harry Callahan, Adam Fuss, David Michael Kennedy, Minor White, and more.

Opening Saturday, January 20

At the 1917 Plaza Building 

New Mexico Museum of Art

(505) 476-5072
Plaza: 107 West Palace

Santa Fe, NM

 nmartmuseum.org

Related article in the Santa Fe New Mexican Pasatiempo: Photography in NMMoA's new exhibit reflects the eye of the beholder

Santa Fe New Mexican's Pasatiempo: Monroe Gallery of Photography’s This Fragile Earth

 Via Pasatiempo

December 29, 2023

By Brian Sanford

Ed Kashi

A worker subcontracted by Shell Oil Company cleans up an oil spill from a well owned by Shell that had been left abandoned for over 25 years, 2004

PHOTOGRAPHY

Documenting damage

In one of the more disturbing images in Monroe Gallery of Photography’s This Fragile Earth, a subcontractor for Shell Oil Company takes a break from cleaning up an oil spill at an abandoned well owned by Shell, holding out his hand. At first glance, it appears to be covered in human blood. Further examination reveals it’s actually covered in Earth’s blood: oil. The untitled image was captured by photographer Ed Kashi in 2004.

Equally troubling, but perhaps more resonant to New Mexicans, is Aftermath of Calf Creek/Hermits Peak Wildfire, taken near Mora in 2022 by Santa Fe New Mexican photographer Gabriela Campos. It features a panoramic view of the charred landscape left by the most damaging wildfire in the state’s history.

This Fragile Earth, which runs through January 21, juxtaposes images showing human-caused environmental devastation and the effects of climate change with others that highlight nature’s magnificence. Among the latter are Taos Gorge, taken by Henry Monroe in 2018, and an untitled image showing a giraffe beneath flying storks at Shaba Game Reserve in Kenya, taken by Bill Eppridge in 1978.

The exhibition’s goal is to motivate awareness and change, say gallery owners Michelle and Sid Monroe. It’s supplemented by a virtual exhibition, Stephen Wilkes: This Fragile Earth, Day to Night, showing that photographer’s images of nature’s splendor. Wilkes, of Connecticut, used a technique in the pieces that captures the passage of time from day to night.

Many of Wilkes’ images show details of locations relatively few humans have visited: Churchill, Manitoba, near Hudson Bay; Ilulissat, Greenland; and Chilko Lake, British Columbia. While humans are only visible in one of the images, others feature caribou, wood bison, polar and grizzly bears, zebras, and elephants. Wilkes gave a talk about the images, as well as his documentation of the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy, at the gallery on November 30. View it at monroegallery.com.  — Brian Sandford

Creating Culture: An Architect, An Artist

 Via Front Doors

October 25, 2023

Images courtesy of Tony Vaccaro Studios/The Monroe Gallery of Photography

Georgia O’Keeffe once wrote, “Nobody sees a flower — really — it is so small it takes time — we haven’t time — and to see takes time, like to have a friend takes time.” Through the lens of O’Keeffe’s life, this notion is evident when considering her nearly three-decades-long friendship with Frank Lloyd Wright.

The two are champions in their field — O’Keeffe’s paintings earned her the title of “Mother of American Modernism,” and Wright is still one of the most celebrated architects in the world — yet, beneath the surface of their achievements lay similarities that run deeper than their success.

Taliesin West’s newest photography exhibition, “American Icons: Wright & O’Keeffe,” explores the pair in a way that’s never been seen before. Running from Oct. 20 through June 3, the exhibit features portraits of the two shot by Tony Vaccaro for “Life Magazine.” The exhibition explores the similarities between Wright and O’Keeffe not just as artists, but as people — and friends.

“They are people that we look very closely at, not just at the artwork they made, but their life,” said Niki Stewart, Taliesin West’s vice president and chief learning and engagement officer. “We as the public don’t always do that with every artist. We sometimes really just focus on their art, but there is a public fascination with both of these figures.”

Both born in rural Wisconsin, Wright and O’Keeffe were drawn to the American Southwest. Wright sought refuge in Arizona during winters, while O’Keeffe found her artistic sanctuary in the heart of New Mexico. The pair were fans of each other’s work, and as Stewart notes, “It’s no overstatement to call them friends.”

One of many similarities was that nature inspired much of their work. O’Keeffe famously painted flowers, landscapes and animal skulls, drawing inspiration from the environment around her. Wright had the same respect for nature, once stating, “No house should ever be on a hill or on anything. It should be of the hill. Belonging to it. Hill and house should live together, each the happier for the other.”

From the 1930s until Wright’s death in 1959, the pair wrote back and forth, sent books, pamphlets and artwork, and shared ideas with each other. Notably, they only met in person once in 1942 at Taliesin, Wright’s Wisconsin home.

“I feel like that’s a story that people can really relate to today with technology,” said Stewart. “We get so close to people who don’t live where we live. We use instant messaging, FaceTime and all these other tools to get close to folks, some of whom we’ve never met.”

In 2021, Taliesin West hosted an exhibit called “Chihuly in the Desert.” The exhibit paired works of glass artist Dale Chihuly with Wright’s architecture. Following the exhibition’s success, Taliesin West knew they wanted to pair Wright’s work with another artist, this time on a smaller, more intimate scale.

While looking for photos of Wright, Stewart discovered that Tony Vaccaro had photographed Wright and O’Keeffe for “Life Magazine” years apart, and that’s when the exhibit came to life.

Michael A. “Tony” Vaccaro rose to popularity through photos he took while fighting on the front lines of World War II. Vaccaro’s post-military career focused on fashion and celebrity photography for various magazines. Vaccaro would go on to photograph Wright and O’Keeffe, among other celebrities like Sophia Loren, John F. Kennedy and Eartha Kitt. He passed away in 2022, eight days after his 100th birthday.

“After the war, he came home to the United States and started working for magazines like ‘Look’ and ‘Life’ and other magazines that were celebrating what’s good and beautiful about life,” Stewart said. “Because after the war, he decided that’s what he wanted to focus on — what makes life wonderful.”

Visitors of the exhibit can select between an audio or an in-depth guided tour. The audio tour offers a unique experience by featuring recordings of Wright himself, accompanied by some of his favorite music. The in-depth guided tour provides visitors with a more interactive experience, allowing them to engage directly with tour guides who can offer deeper insights and answer questions about the exhibit and its subjects.

“I hope visitors walk out feeling interested in connecting with others and being with other people and being inspired by the people in their lives,” Stewart said. “I think we all run into people who inspire us every day, but what we do with that is up to us. So I hope this inspires you to get connected with others and do great things together.”

The exhibition is included in paid tour admission. To learn more, visit franklloydwright.org.

Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation Taliesin West | Tony Vaccaro: American Icons: Wright & O’Keeffe, October 20, 2023 – June 3, 2024

 Via Musee Art Out

October 20, 2023

Tony Vaccaro

 Frank Lloyd Wright, Wisconsin, 1957/Georgia O'Keeffe, Taos Pueblo, New Mexico, 1960

Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation Taliesin West | Tony Vaccaro: American Icons: Wright & O’Keeffe, October 20, 2023 – June 3, 2024

Following the massive success of the “Chihuly In The Desert” exhibition in 2022, the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation continues to explore the ways that Wright connects with other iconic artists of his time through unique exhibitions at Taliesin West. As the latest iteration, the World Heritage Site will debut an exclusive “American Icons: Wright and O’Keeffe” exhibition this fall, offering guests the opportunity to view photographs of Frank Lloyd Wright and Georgia O’Keeffe – two legends of American art and architecture – taken by Michael A. “Tony” Vaccaro while on assignment for LOOK Magazine from 1957 to 1960, including some never-before-seen images.

“Wright and O’Keeffe are seen as giants in their fields but are rarely connected. Many are unaware that the pair met in 1942 and had a mutual admiration for one another’s work for many years, whilst sharing other similarities including their birthplace of rural Wisconsin; careers that took them to New York, Chicago and Japan; dwellings in the Southwest; and finding inspiration in nature for their creations of abstract versions of the world in their art. By sharing stories around their connections, the Foundation aims to contribute to a larger narrative about artists in America – they do not all work in isolation; rather, they inspire one another and find ways to connect through friendship.”




For more information visit Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation

American Icons: Wright & O’Keeffe, a new photography exhibition spotlighting Frank Lloyd Wright and Georgia O’Keeffe as photographed by Tony Vaccaro

 

Via Experience Scottsdale

The Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation continues to explore the ways that Wright connects with other iconic artists of his time through unique exhibitions at Taliesin West. As the latest iteration, the World Heritage Site will debut an exclusive “American Icons: Wright and O’Keeffe” exhibition this fall, offering guests the opportunity to view photographs of Frank Lloyd Wright and Georgia O’Keeffe – two legends of American art and architecture – taken by Michael A. “Tony” Vaccaro while on assignment for LOOK Magazine from 1957 to 1960, including some never-before-seen images.

The exhibition, curated by the Foundation in partnership with the Tony Vaccaro Studio in Long Island City, N.Y., and the Monroe Galleryin Santa Fe, N.M, renowned for its unrivaled vault of historic photography, will present a behind-the-scenes, intimate visual pairing of Wright and O’Keeffe in their homes and studios. Through Vaccaro’s images and excerpts from LOOK, the exhibition - on display in the Dining Room at Taliesin West - will offer a closer look into the similar lives of the two American geniuses, how they inspired one another and how their Modernist principles continue to inspire the public today. Tickets for the exhibition, which will run from Oct. 20, 2023, to June 3, 2024, will be included with an audio or guided tour purchase.

Wright and O’Keeffe are seen as giants in their fields but are rarely connected. Many are unaware that the pair met in 1942 and had a mutual admiration for one another’s work for many years, whilst sharing other similarities including their birthplace of rural Wisconsin; careers that took them to New York, Chicago and Japan; dwellings in the Southwest; and finding inspiration in nature for their creations of abstract versions of the world in their art. By sharing stories around their connections, the Foundation aims to contribute to a larger narrative about artists in America – they do not all work in isolation; rather, they inspire one another and find ways to connect through friendship.

“Frank Lloyd Wright and Georgia O’Keeffe are American Icons. Their legacies are larger-than-life, and their names are known worldwide. What’s lesser known is their connection; they met in person in the 1940s and corresponded over the years, sharing ideas, and exchanging gifts,” said Niki Stewart, exhibition curator and vice president and chief learning & engagement officer for the Foundation. “In this exhibition, we explore that connection through the intimate photographs of Tony Vaccaro, from their shared start in Wisconsin to the homes and studios they built in the American Southwest. I’m excited to bring Wright and O’Keeffe together again through these beautiful photographs.”

Vaccaro’s photos of Wright and O’Keeffe have visual symmetry, which is why they will be displayed in pairs. By partnering with the Monroe Gallery – Tony Vaccaro’s exclusive representation – the Foundation has access to many photographs not shown to the public previously. Through the exhibition, guests will not only learn about the relationship between Wright and O’Keeffe, but also about Vaccaro’s long and impressive career.

“Working with the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation affords Monroe Gallery the opportunity to place Tony Vaccaro’s iconic portraits of American Modernist Masters, Frank Lloyd Wright and Georgia O’Keeffe, together in conversation with the visitors to Taliesin West. Surrounded by the grace of Wright’s architecture, O’Keeffe and Wright as Tony Vaccaro understood them are reunited within their century’s glorious creative context,” said Monroe Gallery owners Michelle and Sid Monroe.

A Pop Up selection of Tony's photographs is also on view at The Monroe Gallery of Photography in Santa Fe, NM, through December 31, 2023.

Santa Fe's Monroe Gallery presents 'Good Trouble' taking a look at the impact of activists

 Via The Albuquerque Journal

Kathaleen Roberts

August 6, 2023

Carl Mydans/Life Picture Collection

A Pioneer Organizer Of The Office Workers' Union, Wall Street and Broad Street, NYC, 1936

Many of America’s most cherished rights materialized because someone took action.

“Good Trouble,” an exhibition of more than 50 photographs documents the power of the individual to inspire movements at Santa Fe’s Monroe Gallery of Photography.

Photographs can propel passion and inspire change, from the images of a spinning Gandhi to the Standing Rock protests.

The photographs document Civil Rights leaders as well as other lesser-known and everyday people who champion freedom across the globe, from labor to social to environmental issues.

“It’s showing the courage and the necessity for the everyday person to stand up for what’s right,” said Sidney Monroe, gallery co-owner.

The images extend from the 1930s to the present.

Life magazine photographer Carl Mydans captured an office workers’ union protest in 1936. An unidentified woman leads the group cradling an American flag. Mydans was known for his World War II photographs.

“Obviously, she is a young leader of a union,” Monroe said. “For a woman at that time, that’s pretty remarkable.”

The photographer Bill Eppridge, best known for his photographs of the late Sen. Robert Kennedy, took a portrait of the labor leader César Chávez working in a field in 1974.

Chávez was an American labor leader and Civil Rights activist. He co-founded the National Farm Workers Association, which later became the United Farm Workers labor union. Ideologically, his world-view combined leftist politics with Catholic social teachings.

“It’s presented as an everyman, a worker, which of course, he was,” Monroe said.

The collection also encompasses contemporary risk-takers, such as Swedish climate change activist Greta Thunberg, pictured sitting alone, dwarfed by the shadow of the Swedish Parliament building. Her sign reads “School Strike for Climate.” She was 15 years old.

“It’s become a worldwide movement,” Monroe said. “Apparently, they had some lessons in school, and she said if these parents and adults aren’t going to do anything, I’ll sit outside Parliament.”

Ryan Vizzions’ photograph of the Tennessee Three documents the three state representatives who were expelled from the legislature for protesting Republican inaction on gun violence. The shot captures a press conference after they were reinstated.

Gandhi, perhaps more than any other person, embodies the exhibition’s theme of a long-term commitment to a cause. His spinning in the face of provocations during India’s anti-colonial movement was symbolic of self-sufficiency. He spun daily for one hour beginning at 4 a.m. Famed photojournalist Margaret Bourke-White shot the portrait shortly before Gandhi was assassinated.

“Gandhi was very particular about having an audience with him,” Monroe said. “He insisted she learn how to use a spinning wheel. She wrote Gandhi called her his personal tormentor because she was using this large flash. It was disruptive to his meditation.”

The exhibition will hang through Sept. 17.

'GOOD TROUBLE'

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

WHEN: Runs through Sept. 17

INFORMATION: 505-992-0800; monroegallery.com.

THE 2023 AIPAD PHOTOGRAPHY SHOW

 

We are pleased to exhibit once again at the AIPAD Photography Show which brings together exceptional photography from the world’s top fine art photography galleries. Monroe Gallery of Photography will be located on the main floor in booth #114 and will feature three distinct exhibits.

The first feature will showcase the work of independent photojournalists covering contemporary events with a focus on global displacement and American social issues.

The second feature will showcase photographs by Sonia Handelman Meyer (1920-2022) and Ida Wyman (1926–2019), two pioneering women photographers of the Photo League, a collective of photographers active between 1936-1951 who believed their work could change poor social conditions and champion photography as an art form in the process. Both photographer’s work went unrecognized for decades. In recent years, there has been a revived interest in the radical collective that contributed incomparably towards promoting early street photography as an art form. 

The final feature will highlight work by Tony Vaccaro, who passed away in December, 2022 at the age of 100 and who was a frequent fixture in the Monroe Gallery booth through past AIPAD Shows.

Booth #114

Center415 

415 5th Avenue

(between 37th and 38th streets)

New York, NY 10016    Tickets here

Thursday, March 30 | 12:00pm - 8:00pm (VIP Opening Preview)

 Friday, March 31 | 12:00pm - 7:00pm

 Saturday, April 1 | 12:00pm - 7:00pm

 Sunday, April 2 | 12:00pm - 5:00pm

Poor People’s Art: A (Short) Visual History of Poverty in the United States; Artist's talk with Nina Berman January 12

 

January 13 – March 4, 2023

University of South Florida Contemporary Art Museum

Nina Berman: John Bonner and Richard Huntly, from the series The Black Boys of Dozier, 2013 

Thousands of boys, mainly black, passed through Dozier since it opened in 1901 as a reform school for wayward boys. But allegations over the years suggest it functioned more like a slave labor camp, with verified reports of children being hog tied and shackled. The name of the institution changed as each successive administration installed its own brand of punishment and forced labor, finally closing in 2011, not because of allegations, but according to the State, because of budget issues.

Panel discussion Thursday, January 12 with artists featured in Poor People’s Art: A (Short) Visual History of Poverty in the United States, including Nina Berman, Rico Gatson, and Jason Lazarus. Curator Christian Viveros-Fauné will lead the conversation exploring issues and topics addressed in the exhibition. This event is free and open to the public, Facebook live link here.

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. is well known for his “I Have a Dream” speech, yet much less emphasis is placed on his campaign to seek justice for America’s poor, “The Poor People’s Campaign.” This was a multi-cultural, multi-faith, multi-racial movement aimed at uniting poor people and their allies to demand an end to poverty and inequality. Fifty-three years after Dr. King’s death, the Reverend William Barber II launched a contemporary push to fulfill MLK’s ambitious brief — one that calls for a “revolution of values” that unites poor and impacted communities across the country. The exhibition Poor People’s Art: A (Short) Visual History of Poverty in the United States represents a visual response to Dr. King’s “last great dream” as well as Reverend Barber’s recent “National Call for Moral Revival.”

With artworks spanning more than 50 years, the exhibition is divided into two parts: Resurrection (1968-1994) and Revival (1995-2022). Resurrection includes photographs, paintings, prints, videos, sculptures, books, and ephemera made by a radically inclusive company of American artists, from Jill Freedman's photographs of Resurrection City, the tent enclave that King's followers erected on the National Mall in 1968, to John Ahearns' plaster cast sculpture Luis Fuentes, South Bronx (1979). Revival offers contemporary engagement across a range of approaches, materials, and points of view. Conceived in a declared opposition to poverty, racism, militarism, environmental destruction, health inequities, and other interlocking injustices, this exhibition shows how artists in the US have visualized poverty and its myriad knock-on effects since 1968. Participating artists include John Ahearn, Nina Berman, Martha De la Cruz, Jill Freedman, Rico Gatson, Mark Thomas Gibson, Corita Kent, Jason Lazarus, Miguel Luciano, Hiram Maristany, Narsiso Martinez, Adrian Piper, Robert Rauschenberg, Rodrigo Valenzuela, William Villalongo & Shraddha Ramani.

Poor People’s Art is curated by Christian Viveros-Fauné, CAM Curator-at-Large and organized by the USF Contemporary Art Museum.   Exhibition Press Release

Tony Vaccaro Centennial Events

Tony Vaccaro at LOOK magazine Studio, NY, 1957

 

Saturday, December 10 2:00 - 3:00 p.m. EST: Tony Vaccaro: A Centennial Tribute With The Pollock-Krasner House and Study Center

This special Zoom event celebrates the birthday of acclaimed photographer Tony Vaccaro, who will turn 100 on December 20. Best known for his images of Europe immediately after World War II, Tony later became a fashion and lifestyle photographer. He photographed Jackson Pollock and Lee Krasner in their home and studio in 1953. Family members will present a selection of Tony’s iconic photos, and Joyce will lead a virtual tour of the barn studio where his photos of Jackson and Lee are displayed. Participants are invited to pay tribute to Tony during open sharing.

Zoom registration here

Through Saturday, December 10: Tony Vaccaro 100: A Life of a Photographer from War to Culture at the Museum für Photographie Braunschweig, Germany. Finissage on Sunday, Dec. 10, 2022.

Two new exhibitions will celebrate the 100th birthday of acclaimed photographer Tony Vaccaro in New York City and Santa Fe

December 13 - 18: The Tony Vaccaro Centennial Exhibition NYC Pop Up

21 Spring Street, New York City; open daily 10-5

Ongoing through January 15, 2023: The Tony Vaccaro Centennial Exhibition, Monroe Gallery of Photography, Santa Fe, NM

Please contact the Gallery for further information.

Tony Vaccaro: A Centennial Tribute With The Pollock-Krasner House and Study Center

 

Via Pollock-Krasner House and Study Center

Tony Vaccaro: A Centennial Tribute

 

Saturday, December 10 

2:00 - 3:00 p.m. EST

This special Zoom event celebrates the birthday of acclaimed photographer Tony Vaccaro, who will turn 100 on December 20. Best known for his images of Europe immediately after World War II, Tony later became a fashion and lifestyle photographer. He photographed Jackson Pollock and Lee Krasner in their home and studio in 1953.

Family members will present a selection of Tony’s iconic photos, and Joyce will lead a virtual tour of the barn studio where his photos of Jackson and Lee are displayed. Participants are invited to pay tribute to Tony during open sharing.

Zoom registration here

Related: The Tony Vaccaro Centennial Exhibitions in Santa Fe and New York

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. 

Tony Vaccaro photography exhibits celebrate his 100th birthday

 

Via See Great Art

November 17, 2022

Tony Vaccaro, The Guggenheim Hat, New York, 1960. © ALL PHOTOGRAPHS TONY VACCARO / ALL PHOTOGRAPHS COURTESY MONROE GALLERY OF PHOTOGRAPHY.

Monroe Gallery of Photography will present two major exhibitions celebrating Tony Vaccaro’s 100th birthday. “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 Tony Vaccaro photography exhibit presented by Monroe Gallery will be on view at 21 Spring Street in New York, December 13 – 18. Tony Vaccaro will be in attendance for a private reception Thursday, December 15, from 5-7 pm.; RSVP mandatory, please contact the Gallery if you’re interested in attending (505.992.0800; E-mail: info@monroegallery.com).

The exhibits span Tony Vaccaro photography 80-year career and feature several never-before-exhibited photographs.

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. His mother died during childbirth a few years before tuberculosis claimed his father. By age 5, he was an orphan in Italy, raised by an uncaring aunt and enduring beatings from an uncle. By World War II he was an American G.I., drafted into the war, and 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 he photographed his personal witness to the brutality of war.

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.

As an antidote to man’s inhumanity, Tony Vaccaro photography focused his lens on those who gave of themselves: artists, writers, movie stars, and the beauty of fashion. By focusing on the splendor of life, Tony replaced the images of horror embedded in his eyes from war. This exhibition illustrates his will to live and advance the power of beauty in the life we all share.

As Tony nears his 100th birthday, he has survived two bouts with COVID-19, and is one of the few people alive who can claim to have survived the Battle of Normandy and COVID-19. He attributes his longevity to “blind luck, red wine” and determination.

“To me, the greatest thing that you can do is challenge the world,” he has said. “And most of these challenges I win. That’s what keeps me going.”

On December 20, Tony Vaccaro celebrates his 100th birthday, an inspiration to us all.

Tony Vaccaro with Test Strip NYC, 1960. Copyright Tony Vaccaro, courtesy Monroe Gallery.