World Heritage Site debuts an exclusive 'American Icons: Wright and O'Keeffe'

 Via Art Daily

October 21, 2023

Tony Vaccaro: Georgia O'Keeffe, Taos, New Mexico, 1960

SCOTTSDALE, AZ.- 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 debuts 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 Gallery in Santa Fe, N.M, renowned for its unrivaled vault of historic photography, presents 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 - offers 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.

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 are 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 can 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.

Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation

The Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation, established by Wright in 1940, is dedicated to preserving Taliesin and Taliesin West, both on the UNESCO World Heritage List, for future generations, and inspiring people to discover and embrace an architecture for better living through meaningful connections to nature, the arts, and each other. The Foundation continues the Frank Lloyd Wright legacy by broadening access to his ideas, works, and organic design principles — considered just as relevant today as in his own time — and provides new pathways for audiences to create beauty and connectedness in their own lives. Conveniently located 20 minutes north of historic Old Town Scottsdale, Taliesin West was recently named among the top 10% of attractions worldwide by TripAdvisor. Visit FrankLloydWright.org for more information on tour schedules, cultural and educational experiences, and events.

Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation
“American Icons: Wright and O’Keeffe”
October 20th, 2023 - June 3, 2024

Anna Boyiazis Featured in The Guardian's "The Big Bicture"

 Via The Guardian

October 15, 2023

The big picture: Zanzibari schoolgirls enjoy the liberation of floating

Anna Boyiazis: Kijini primary school students learn to float, swim and perform rescues in the Indian Ocean off Mnyuni, Zanzibar, 2016

Anna Boyiazis’s tranquil image captures a group of Muslim girls, previously not allowed to swim, during a lesson

Tim Adams

Sun 15 Oct 2023 

Life on the island of Zanzibar is intimate with the surrounding ocean, but for many years women in the majority Muslim population were prohibited from learning to swim. Two things changed that. The first was the advent of the full-body swimsuit, or burkini. The second was a project called Panje (a Swahili word that translates as “big fish”), which was established by an NGO in 2011 to support young people in Nungwi village find employment. Panje taught women in the village to swim for the first time and encouraged them in turn to become swimming teachers, challenging entrenched patriarchal models of learning.

The photographer Anna Boyiazis also had the sea in her bones. She grew up in California; the origins of her family were on the Aegean Islands of Greece. In 2017, as part of a project called Finding Freedom in the Water, Boyiazis spent a long time persuading the Islamic authorities in Nungwi to allow her to photograph the women involved in the Panje initiative, so that the idea could be promoted as an example to other communities – not least because the east coast of Africa has some of the highest rates of drowning in the world.

Boyiazis’s “Burkini Island” series featured in National Geographic and won numerous prizes, including a World Press award and a Unicef photo of the year award. This picture – which captures all of the simple liberation of floating; the women, eyes closed, seem transported far beyond the mundane reality of their water-carrier buoyancy aids.

Speaking of her series, Boyiazis has said: “It would have been torture for me as a woman to grow up in Zanzibar and not be allowed to swim. This project was the definite merging of two of my favourite worlds, being in the water and taking pictures.”

View more from the series here.

Never-Before-Seen Photos of Frank Lloyd Wright & Georgia O’Keeffe to Debut at Taliesin West This Friday, October 20

 

Via The Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation


Never-Before-Seen Photos of Frank Lloyd Wright & Georgia O’Keeffe to Debut at Taliesin West’s “American Icons: Wright and O’Keeffe” Exhibition Starting Friday, October 20, 2023

Curated by the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation, the Exhibition Will Treat Guests to an Intimate, Behind-The-Scenes Look Into the Lives & Similarities of Two Artistic, American Legends



SCOTTSDALE, Ariz.  – 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.

The exhibition, curated by the Foundation in partnership with the Tony Vaccaro Studio in Long Island City, N.Y., and the Monroe Gallery in 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.



For the most up-to-date information on the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation, to donate or to become a member, visit FrankLloydWright.org.

About the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation

The Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation, established by Wright in 1940, is dedicated to preserving Taliesin and Taliesin West, both on the UNESCO World Heritage List, for future generations, and inspiring people to discover and embrace an architecture for better living through meaningful connections to nature, the arts, and each other. The Foundation continues the Frank Lloyd Wright legacy by broadening access to his ideas, works, and organic design principles — considered just as relevant today as in his own time — and provides new pathways for audiences to create beauty and connectedness in their own lives. Conveniently located 20 minutes north of historic Old Town Scottsdale, Taliesin West was recently named among the top 10% of attractions worldwide by TripAdvisor. Visit FrankLloydWright.org for more information on tour schedules, cultural and educational experiences, and events. To shop the latest Wright-inspired home, design, and lifestyle products, visit FrankLloydWrightStore.com.

MEDIA CONTACTS:

Savannah Kirmis / 480-626-1671 / Savannah@JLaurenPR.com

Rachel Eroh / 928-231-0112 / Rachel@JLaurenPR.com

 

Gallery Photographer Gabriela E. Campos Photographs Artist Judy Chicago For The New York Times

 Via The New York Times

October 12, 2023

The artist Judy Chicago in her studio in Belen, N.M., with her minimalist sculptures, “Moving Parts.” The anatomical shapes echo a feminist theme that still informs her practice today.

Credit: Gabriela Campos for The New York Times

Chicago with her piece “Grand Bronze Head with Golden Tongue” in her gallery and studio in Belen, N.M.

Credit: Gabriela Campos for The New York Times

Full article here.

Barbara Mullen, Model whose versatility enabled her to sustain a career across three decades

Tony Vaccaro: Barbara Mullen, New York, 1951

Via The Guardian

October 10, 2020

The 1950s, a golden period for fashion photography, introduced the world to names such as Richard Avedon, Lillian Bassman and William Klein. On the other side of the camera, a generation of models was emerging – women who were well-paid and continually photographed, and yet (unlike their counterparts of later decades) remained largely anonymous outside fashion circles. None perhaps more so than the American Barbara Mullen, who has died aged 96.

Update: Marion police chief resigns after body cam footage shows him rifling through records about himself

 Via The Kansas City Reflector

October 3, 2023

Update to earlier report

TOPEKA — Marion Police Chief Gideon Cody has resigned, less than two months after he instigated a widely covered raid on a local newspaper that culminated in a federal lawsuit and one woman’s death.

Marion Mayor David Mayfield announced Cody’s departure during a Monday city council meeting, following the previous week’s announcement that Cody was suspended. Mayfield said the resignation was “effective immediately,” according to Marion County Record reporting.

Zach Hudlin, an officer who was present during the raid, has been appointed as Marion’s acting police chief by Mayfield’s suggestion. Hudlin was involved in the raid of the Marion County Record and seized items from the newspaper. He is the only remaining Marion police force member fully certified as a law enforcement officer, the Record reported.

Cody’s resignation is one of several developments in the unprecedented rural newspaper raid. Cody initiated the Aug. 11 search under the pretense that reporter Phyllis Zorn committed identity theft when she accessed public records on a public website.

In an affidavit, Cody wrote that Zorn had illicitly accessed local restaurateur Kari Newell’s driver’s license history. Newell lost her license following a 2008 drunken driving conviction, but had been accused of driving without a license for years. A confidential source gave the reporter Newell’s driver’s license record, and Zorn verified the information through a Kansas Department of Revenue database — a legal way for reporters to access information.

Magistrate Judge Laura Viar signed off on the search warrant.

During the raid, Cody, along with four police officers and two sheriff’s deputies, took cell phones and other electronic devices from the newsroom. According to details from a federal lawsuit filed by Deb Gruver, a veteran Record reporter, law enforcement read reporters their Miranda warnings, then left them to wait outside in 100-degree heat for three hours.

Officers also searched Marion County Record publisher Eric Meyer’s home, along with the residence of a county councilwoman. Meyer’s 98-year-old mother, Joan, the newspaper’s co-owner, died a day after the raid.

Meyer believed the stress of the raid contributed to his mother’s death. Newsroom equipment was returned five days after the raid, after the county attorney determined there wasn’t sufficient evidence to support the search warrants.

Body camera footage

Gruver — who is suing Cody individually for “emotional distress, mental anguish and physical injury” — had previously questioned him about alleged misconduct.

Recent reporting from the Record describes officers searching records about Cody during the raid, ignoring the drivers’ license document for which they had purportedly raided the office. The Record also reported Cody had been in contact with Newell during the raid, telling her he had information he wanted to share.

Other portions of the body camera footage obtained by the paper showed Hudlin rummaging through Gruver’s desk during the raid and alerting Cody to the reporter’s files about him.

“You want to look through this desk?” Hudlin asks Cody in the Record’s account of the incident.

Cody’s reply, after reading the files: “Keeping a personal file on me. I don’t care.”

Though the Record hadn’t published the information, Gruver had compiled allegations made against Cody by his former colleagues with the Kansas City, Missouri, Police Department. According to Record reporting, Cody left Kansas City under the threat of demotion, following accusations of creating a hostile work environment.

Before he was sworn in as Marion’s police chief, Cody denied he was facing demotion and threatened Gruver with a lawsuit if she reported anything about his Kansas City history, the Record said. At the time, the newspaper provided a summary of the allegations against Cody to city council member Zach Collett, who allegedly asked the newspaper why they were “digging into this.”

The last Facebook post from the Marion Police Department, left Aug. 12, maintains the officers’ belief in ensuring “safety and security.”

“The Marion Kansas Police Department believes it is the fundamental duty of the police to ensure the safety, security, and well-being of all members of the public,” the comment read. “This commitment must remain steadfast and unbiased, unaffected by political or media influences, in order to uphold the principles of justice, equal protection, and the rule of law for everyone in the community.”

Newsroom fallout

In the weeks since the raid, Record reporters have expressed anxiety and concern. Meyer buried his mother. Zorn has faced worsening health, with her seizure disorder exacerbated by stress.

Gruver has announced her resignation from the newspaper, saying she no longer felt comfortable in the Marion community, the Record reported.

“I’ve been having — whether anyone understands it or not — a lot of anxiety about being in Marion. …” Gruver wrote in a resignation letter to the Record. “I feel bad about this, but I need to do what’s best for my mental health, which isn’t the greatest at the moment.”

Puppies Behind Bars at Yale University With Ashley Gilbertson

The Story Behind Heidi: Yale Public Safety Service/Facility Dog

CONTACT:  Yale University Library
203-432-1072

TIME:
Wednesday, October 4, 2023 - 12:00pm to 2:00pm
LOCATION:
Sterling Memorial Library, Lecture Hall
120 High Street New Haven, CT 06511

OPEN TO:
Undergraduate, Faculty, Alumni, Yale Postdoctoral Trainees, Graduate And Professional, Spouses And Partners, Staff

DESCRIPTION:

Heidi brings comfort, joy, and smiles to so many Yale campus and throughout the state of Connecticut.

Hear about the rigorous training that Heidi and other service and facility dogs received from incarcerated individuals who raise service dogs for wounded war veterans and first responders, facility dogs police dept and explosive explosive- section canines for law enforcement.

Join Officer Rich Simons , handler for Heidi; Gloria Gilbert Soga , President & Founder, Puppies Behind Bars; and Ashley Gilbertson, Pulitzer Prize - finalist and acclaimed war photographer for a behind-the- bars peek into how facility dogs are trained.

You don’t want to miss the rare opportunity!

New Exhibit and Gallery Conversation: Bob Gomel - Classics

 BOB GOMEL: CLASSICS

Santa Fe--Monroe Gallery of Photography, 112 Don Gaspar, is pleased to announce a special exhibition of photographs celebrating Bob Gomel’s recent 90th birthday with several never-before-see photographs from three of his most iconic assignments for LIFE magazine: photographs of The Beatles, Muhammad Ali, and President John F. Kennedy.

The exhibition opens with a Gallery conversation with Bob Gomel on Friday, October 6. Talk begins promptly at 5:30, seated is limited and RSVP is essential; contact the Gallery for live Zoom registration. The exhibition continues through November 19, 2023.

The photographs of Bob Gomel put you in a diner with Muhammad Ali and Malcolm X after Ali’s defeat of Sonny Liston, poolside with the Beatles, and in the audience at Rice University as President John F. Kennedy delivered his historic “We choose to go to the Moon” speech. This exhibit explores three classic assignments for LIFE magazine with many never-before-seen photographs of The Beatles, Muhammad Ali, and President John F. Kennedy.

 “I had no idea the 60s would be so iconic. It seemed quite ordinary at the time, but looking back on it now, I realize how fortunate I was.”

From the tumult of battle to the glamour of movie stars, from the wonders of nature to the coronation of kings, queens, and presidents, the work of LIFE photographers is as much a history of American photojournalism as it is a history of the changing face of the latter part of the Twentieth Century. On the pages of LIFE, through the images captured by these masters, the eyes of a nation were opened as never before to a changing world. 

The triumphs and tragedies of the 1960s provided photographer Bob Gomel and his LIFE magazine colleague’s extraordinary opportunities to advance American photojournalism. "LIFE was the world's best forum for photojournalists. We were encouraged to push creative and technical boundaries. There was no better place to work in that extraordinary decade." 

Bob Gomel was born (1933) and raised in New York City. After serving four years in the U.S. Navy, he was promptly offered a job at the Associated Press. But by then, he had changed his mind about what he wanted to do. “I just felt one picture wasn’t sufficient to tell a story,” he explains. “I was interested in exploring something in depth. And, of course, the mecca was Life magazine.”He turned down the offer from AP, and began working for LIFE in 1959, producing many memorable images. When LIFE ceased being a weekly in the early 1970s, he began making photographs for other major magazines. Also in the 1970s, he branched out into advertising photography. Among other accounts, he helped introduce Merrill Lynch’s Bullish on America campaign.

Bob says, “Each time I raised a camera to my eye I wondered how to make a viewer say, “wow.” What followed were the use of double exposures to tell a more complete story; placing remote cameras where no human being could be; adapting equipment to reveal what could not ordinarily be captured on film. My goal with people was to penetrate the veneer, to reveal the true personality or character. The ideal was sometimes mitigated by circumstances, a lack of time or access. But more often than not what the mind conceived could be translated into successful photographic images. Life Magazine in the 60s sold 8,000,000 copies a week. It was a great honor to be a part of that information highway.” 

New Book on The Photo League: “Walkers in the City: Jewish Street Photographers of Midcentury New York”

Via NY Jewish Week

September 27, 2023

A multi-generational group of people congregate on a building stoop on Hester Street; an African-American man leans on a lamppost; a gaggle of teenagers pile on top of each other at the beach in Coney Island; a hoard of children — in various states of undress — play with a broken mirror in the street. 

These are only a few examples of the 150 black-and-white snapshots of New York City street life in the 1930s and ’40s that appear in the new book “Walkers in the City: Jewish Street Photographers of Midcentury New York” by historian and scholar Deborah Dash Moore. The photos are the work of the New York Photo League, a group of socially conscious street photographers whose aim was to showcase the living conditions of the city’s working class, as well as spotlight their everyday lives and relationships.  (click for full article)

Dash Moore will be in conversation with Manhattan Borough Historian Robert W. Snyder at the Center for Jewish History on Thursday, Sept. 28.

Related: SONIA HANDELMAN MEYER & IDA WYMAN: TWO PIONEERING WOMEN PHOTOGRAPHERS OF THE PHOTO LEAGUE

IN CONVERSATION ONLINE – Frank Vaccaro on Tony Vaccaro

 Via Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation

 Taliesin West

October 5, 2023

Explore the Life and Lens of Legendary Photographer Tony Vaccaro!

Michael A. “Tony” Vaccaro (1922 – 2022), was an American photographer perhaps best known for his World War II photos. After the war, he became a fashion and lifestyle photographer for American magazines, capturing the joys and beauties of the world we live in. He lived to be 100 years old.

Join us on October 5, 2023, for an exclusive online conversation with Tony Vaccaro’s son, Frank. He will share invaluable insights into his father’s remarkable legacy and unveil his father’s captivating story. We’ll delve deep into Tony’s early career, the different chapters of his life, and get unique insights into his time with O’Keeffe and Wright ahead of the debut of American Icons: Wright & O’Keeffe at Taliesin West opening on October 20.

Details:

Links for virtual programs will be sent via email in advance.
If you have any questions about Cultural Programs at Taliesin West, please refer to our FAQ.  

Time:
10:00 a.m. – 11:00 a.m.
Online

Price:
Adults $25
Students (13-25 with student ID) $17
Members $22.50

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

BUY TICKETS

Frank Vaccaro is the eldest child of photographer Michael A. “Tony” Vaccaro and Marimekko model Anja Kyllikki Lehto. He was born in Rome, Italy, in 1965 while his father was on assignment. Frank came of age surrounded by the stories and images that make up the Tony Vaccaro collection of photographs. After graduating Stony Brook University in 1988, Frank managed bars and restaurants in New York City before joining Pepsi Cola in 1994. For the last eighteen years, Frank has been the elected representative for over 150 unionized workers there.

At his father’s request, Frank and his wife Maria created and launched the Tony Vaccaro Studio in 2015. The studio organizes over 800,000 images, and partners with the Monroe Gallery of Photography in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Upon Tony Vaccaro’s passing last year, Frank and his wife created the Tony Vaccaro Archive in Long Island City, Queens.