EDDIE ADAMS EXHIBIT CONCURRENT WITH SCREENING OF "AN UNLIKELY WEAPON" IN DENVER

The documentary film about the renowned photojournalist Eddie Adams, "An Unlikey Weapon: The Eddie Adams Story", is screening through July . Showtimes and information here.

Concurrently, and special exhibition of 16 of Adams' photographs is on view at the Denver Press Club, call 303-571-5260 for information. The exhibition is sponsored by Monroe Gallery of Photography, representative of the estate.

The Denver Post has this review in today's edition:

Through the lens, he captured the sublime and the horrific
"An Unlikely Weapon: The Eddie Adams Story"
By Lisa KennedyDenver Post Film Critic

It makes elegant sense: At the end of "An Unlikely Weapon: The Eddie Adams Story," it is the photos that continue to exert tremendous power.

As chock-full of insights — from Peter Jennings, Peter Arnett, Gordon Parks among others — it is the famed war photojournalist's works that still create space to be startled, to be rewired.
The late Susan Sontag wrote in her extended essay on war photography "Regarding the Pain of Others," that "when it comes to memory, the photograph has the deeper bite."
When one watches "An Unlikely Weapon," directed by Susan Morgan Cooper, it is easy to concur.

Adams' photos, often in black-and-white, have a stronger hold on us than other modes of representation that are truer to how we physically perceive the world.
Time and again, Adams' shots trump video images of the same situations. A pan of the faces of Vietnamese "boat people" doesn't stir the woeful information of Adams' photos of children and parents hunkered down in boats refused entry into Thailand.

Adams called that series "The Boat of No Smiles." And it compelled Congress to grant entry to 250,000 Vietnamese refugees. "It was the only good thing I did in my life, but I'm not a good guy," Adams said.

His declaration is remarkable in part because nine years before he jumped onto that drifting boat, he shot one of the most famous photographs of all time.

In 1968, in Saigon, Gen. Nguyen Nygoc Loan marched a Viet Cong prisoner into the street, put his pistol to the man's head and pulled the trigger. Adams took one frame, 1/500th of a second, to record that man's death.

The photo won the Pulitzer Prize. It appears in the documentary in disparate quarters.
It's used in agit-prop cartoons. A movie clip shows it looming over Woody Allen in "Stardust Memories," a symbol of the character's dark moods.

Bad boy rocker Dave Navarro shows off a mural of it in his apartment. Adams' son August is terrifically thoughtful on just how strange a choice this is.

Indeed, the documentary makes a smart argument about the burden of that shot on the executioner and on Adams.

The photograph was credited with changing hearts and minds back home. It is as indelible an image of warfare as Robert Capa's photo of a militiaman during the Spanish Civil War. Or closer to home: Adams' Associated Press colleague Nick Út's 1972 photo of 9-year-old Kim Phuc running naked after a napalm attack.

Now a human rights activist, Kim Phuc talks in the film about that photo's power in helping her "work for peace."

Yet, says Adams of his own acclaimed photo, "When I see the picture, I wasn't impressed. And I'm still not impressed."

Wearing a black fedora, walking the streets of New York City, Adams is a short-on-bull interviewee.

"An Unlikely Weapon" also covers well Adams' powerful, later work with performers (Louis Armstrong and Clint Eastwood) and other luminaries (Bill and Hillary Clinton).
In 2004, Adams died from complications from ALS.

Fortunately for us, Morgan got some quality time with Adams, and we get a provocative dose of the photographer's deep drive and perhaps deeper ambivalence about his craft.
Thankfully, there is no shortage of folk to attest to Adams' gifts.

And there is another lasting legacy, the Eddie Adams Workshop. The annual four-day gathering of the aspiring and the accomplished surely makes for another great thing the not-so "good guy" did.

Tonight, the director will be on hand for screening and Q&A, hosted by the Denver Press Club, at the Starz FilmCenter on the Auraria campus. The doc opens Friday for a full run.
Film critic Lisa Kennedy: 303-954-1567 or lkennedy@denverpost.com; also on blogs.denverpostcom/madmoviegoer

AN UNLIKELY WEAPON
Not rated 1 hour, 25 minutes. Directed by Susan Morgan Cooper; written by Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely; photography by Isaac Hagy; narrated by Kiefer Sutherland; featuring Eddie Adams, Tom Brokaw, Peter Jennings, Gordon Parks, Bill Eppridge, President Bill Clinton, David Hume Kennerly, Rod Steiger, Kim Phuc, Morley Safer, Nick Ut, Bob Schieffer, Peter Arnett, Clay Patrick McBride and Kerry Kennedy, among others. Opens today at the Starz FilmCenter

SANTA FE REPORTER ARTICLE ON "A THOUSAND WORDS"

THE SANTA FE REPORTER

July 1, 2009

Monroe Gallery

112 Don Gaspar Ave.Santa Fe, NM87501
Date: Friday, July 3, 2009
Time: 5 P.M. to 7 P.M.
Cost: Free

A Thousand Words…

Everyone has those moments that are remembered with perfect clarity years later. The moments could be melancholy or exquisite or merely capture perfectly a loved one, a relationship, a time of life. Photojournalists seek out and capture these moments. They find the right light, the correct framing, the emotion, the frozen movement and, as they click away, they make the history that will be known by later generations. The Monroe Gallery of Photography presents an allusion to the worth of just one picture, A Thousand Words…. Here, though, there is more than one picture; rather, a vast panoply of American history is available, beginning in 1934—a family peering out of the car they call home, a Beatles pillow fight, Muhammad Ali standing over a prone Sonny Liston, four long-legged beauties lying in the sand, villagers in Vietnam, protesters in China—the list goes on. The photos are iconic and the list of photographers includes masters such as Eddie Adams, Alfred Eisenstaedt, Robert Capa, and many others. The photos are so powerful, so stark (many are in black and white), that looking at so many is dizzying, but also captivating.

(Caroline K Gorman)

A THOUSAND WORDS: MASTERS OF PHOTOJOURNALISM

Monroe Gallery of Photography, Santa Fe, NM, is pleased to announce "A Thousand Words: Masters of Photojournalism", an exhibition of more than 60 great photographs from the field of photojournalism. The exhibition opens with a public reception on July 3 from 5 - 7 pm, and will continue through September 27.


The phrase "A picture is worth a thousand words" emerged in the early part of the 20th century, and is said to have been derived from a faulty translation of a Chinese proverb. However, the way a photograph can capture time, emotions, and feelings has made photography a unique art form. There are certain mysteries about great photographs that captivate viewers and cause us to pause in thought and remembrance. We have often seen these photographs reproduced numerous times in newspapers, magazines, books and documentaries. Universally relevant, they reflect the past, the present, and the changing times. These unforgettable images are embedded in our collective consciousness; they are defining moments chronicling our visual history. They are, indeed, worth a thousand words.

Alfred Eisenstaedt once wrote, “The photographer's job is to find and catch the storytelling moment”.

In today's ocean of bad news for the press--picture editors being laid off, agency, newspapers and magazines closures,--an island of hope, history, and artistic recognition is thriving in the photographs featured in the exhibition. Included are several photographs never before shown at Monroe Gallery, and photographs collectively exhibited together for the first time. The photographers in this exhibition have captured dramatic moments in time and illustrate the power of photography to inform, persuade, enlighten and enrich the viewer's life. These images also embody truth and beauty and represent what can genuinely be called "Masters of Photojournalism".



View the on-line exhibition here.

http://www.monroegallery.com/

MONROE GALLERY BECOMES MEMBER OF AIPAD

Monroe Gallery of Photography, 112 Don Gaspar Avenue, Santa Fe, NM, is pleased to join the membership of The Association of International Photography Art Dealers (AIPAD).

With members in the United States, Australia, Canada, Europe and Japan, the Association has become a unifying force in the field of photography. AIPAD is dedicated to creating and maintaining high standards in the business of exhibiting, buying and selling photographs as art. Acting as the collective voice of the art photography dealers that make up its membership, AIPAD maintains ethical standards, promotes communication within the photographic community, encourages public appreciation of photography as art, concerns itself with the rights of photographers and collectors, and works to enhance the confidence of the public in responsible photography. AIPAD members provide a wide range of services to the public, such as exhibitions, appraisals, expert opinions and consultations.

To qualify for membership in AIPAD, a gallery or dealer must meet a number of criteria. The applicant must demonstrate that a significant portion of his principal business has been and is devoted to the sale and promotion of fine art photographs which meet the Associations high artistic standards. The potential member must have a reputation in his community for honesty and integrity. The potential member must demonstrate that he has made and is making substantial contributions to the field of fine art photography through the quality of photographic art offered for sale, exhibitions mounted or catalogues published.

Visit http://www.monroegallery.com/ .

STEPHEN WILKES FEATURED IN NEW YORK MAGAZINE

Renowned photographer Stephen Wilkes was commissioned for a special photo-shoot assignment for the current issue of New York Magazine. The photograph accompanies an article on the new Highline area in New York City. For this panorama, Stephen Wilkes set up a rotating camera on a cherry picker at Tenth Avenue and shot throughout one day, from noon till 9 p.m.

Stephen Wilkes is one of the leading location photographers in the United States, recognized for his work in the corporate and advertising industries, for his fine art photography, and for his international documentary work. Perhaps Wilkes’ most ambitious project was photographing the south side of Ellis Island (1998 – 2003), other significant bodies of work include America in Detail; Bethlehem Steel; In Katrina's Wake; and China.

Stephen Wilkes' photographs will be exhibited in a special 10-year retrospective at Monroe Gallery this fall.

RARE ORIGINAL PRINT OF ICONIC EINSTEIN PHOTO SETS RECORD

Photo Of Einstein Nets $74K At Auction
NY Man Buys Iconic Photo From NH Auctioneer

BOSTON --

An iconic photograph of Albert Einstein was sold by a New Hampshire auction company Friday for $74,324, making it the most expensive Einstein photograph ever sold at auction, according to the auctioneers.

The photograph was taken in 1951 while Einstein was celebrating his birthday at Princeton University. Photographer Arthur Sasse tried to convince Einstein to pose with a smile for the photo, but Einstein instead stuck out his tongue, producing one of the most recognizable images of the irreverent physicist.

Einstein ordered nine copies of the photograph and signed a print for news anchor Howard K. Smith, writing in German, “This gesture you will like, because it is aimed at all of humanity. A civilian can afford to do what no diplomat would dare. Your loyal and grateful listener, A. Einstein ’53.”

Although Einstein was amused by the photograph, his tongue gesture was more than joke, according to RRAuction.com marketing director Bobby Livingston. McCarthyism was reaching a high point in the United States, and scientists like Einstein were being asked to report on the activities of their colleagues.

“This photo of Einstein is incredibly iconic, and for the first time Einstein explains why he stuck out his tongue,” said Livingston. “You can tell by his inscription that (Einstein) fully understood the power of the image, and that what he was doing was quite dangerous, considering that the government was forcing intellectuals to name names.

The photograph was purchased by David Waxman, the owner of a New York store specializing in scientific books and autographs, Livingston said.

(Monroe Gallery has several other iconic photographs of Albert Einstein.)
Copyright 2009 by TheBostonChannel.com. All rights reserved.

JULY SCREENINGS OF EDDIE ADAMS DOCUMENTARY "AN UNLIKELY WEAPON"

The documentary film on the legendary photojournalist Eddie Adams, "An Unlikely Weapon", will be screened in Denver and Los Angeles in July.

Denver: July 3 - 10, Starz Film Center

A special concurrent exhibit of Eddie Adams' original photographs, curated and organized by Monroe Gallery, will be on view at the Denver Press Club .

Los Angeles: July 10 - 12, Laemmle Theater, times and map here.

VARIETY

April 9, 2009

Eddie Adams' most famous photograph -- of a Vietnamese police chief putting a bullet through the head of his Vietcong prisoner -- was perhaps the most iconic image of that contentious South Asian war. While some of the esteemed talking heads in Susan Morgan Cooper's "An Unlikely Weapon" maintain it changed history, it certainly changed Adams: The curmudgeonly subject of Cooper's affectionate docu is humble to the point of self-loathing, in what will surely be a draw for arthouse auds interested in photography, late 20th-century culture/history and the effects of accidental fame.

Adams is made very much a presence in the film, so it's a constant surprise to have him referred to in the past tense by his colleagues and friends. (He died in 2004.) As Cooper's portrait eloquently displays, the late shutterbug was an artist; even his early combat photography had a compositional elegance. Adams had an eye for the big visual statement: His later work with celebrities included the over-the-shoulder shot of Clint Eastwood that became the poster for "Unforgiven."

But the 1/500th of a second it took to take the picture that changed his life was out of his control: Adams was shooting reflexively when Gen. Ngoc Loan drew his revolver, and the fact that Adams caught the very moment the bullet was still traveling through the victim's head (Adams explains all this with something of a sigh) did not make the photo art. This clearly bugged Adams, as did the fact that he'd always been associated with an image of gruesome immediacy.

There's more to Adams than one Vietnam War shot, and Cooper includes it all, from the photog's coverage of the Beatles' arrival in the U.S. (some of the archival footage seems to have been recorded in Britain) to his work shooting Penthouse Pets, and a lot of stops in between. From Muhammad Ali to Mother Teresa, from a black-veiled Jackie Kennedy to a worn-out Louis Armstrong, few major figures of Adams' times seem to have eluded his lens.

Interviewees in the film range from broadcasters Tom Brokaw and the late Peter Jennings to photographers Bill Eppridge and Nick Ut, who took their own iconic '60s photos -- Eppridge's famous shot is of the just-assassinated Robert F. Kennedy; Ut's was of then-9-year-old Phan Thi Kim Phuc running naked from a napalm attack on her Vietnamese village (Phuc is also in the film). It's their reminiscences that are the most poignant and revealing about a man who seems, in Cooper's interviews, to have done all he could to conceal himself.

Production values are excellent, the editing intelligent and the music by Kyle Eastwood and Michael Stevens unobtrusive but moving.

Monroe Gallery of Photography: ERIC SMITH PHOTOGRAPHY FEATURED ON NPR

Monroe Gallery of Photography: ERIC SMITH PHOTOGRAPHY FEATURED ON NPR

http://www.npr.org/blogs/pictureshow/

ERIC SMITH PHOTOGRAPHY FEATURED ON NPR

June 6, 2009
Michigan Central Station: Eyesore Or Landmark?

By Claire O'Neill

In April, the Detroit City Council voted to have its historic Michigan Central Station demolished. The decision has been met with mixed emotions: Some Detroiters feel attached to the building, viewing it as an integral element of the city skyline. Others see its sad decrepitude as a reminder of the city's decay. Listen to NPR's story here. The slide show is here, and more of Smith's work may be viewed here.

Whether an eyesore or a reminder of the good old days, most can agree on one thing: The train depot is visually striking. Photographers and explorers have been sneaking into the fenced-off station for some time, traversing its cavernous innards -- a vestige of what was once a bustling hub of hellos and goodbyes. Graffiti, rubble and shattered glass have overgrown the building's neoclassical foundation, and yet citizens are still ambivalent about its destruction. The city has postponed the demolition but has not gone so far as to set a date for reconsidering the verdict.
Detroit photographer Eric Smith has documented what remains of Michigan Central Station. He describes his series:

When I heard people were getting into the abandoned shell of Michigan Central Station in Detroit, I was curious, remembering childhood train trips to Chicago. I knew that the digital techniques I have been working with (which include high dynamic range imaging) could dramatically transform this tragic and forgotten building into a "Hyper Real" reminder of its past glory.

Michigan Central Station was Detroit's passenger rail depot from its opening in 1913 until the last Amtrak train pulled away on Jan. 6, 1988. Now abandoned, the building is of the Beaux-Arts classical style of architecture, designed by the Warren & Wetmore and Reed & Stern firms, who also designed New York City's Grand Central Terminal. The main waiting room was modeled after an ancient Roman bathhouse with walls of marble.

This portfolio is one of a series of portfolios from an architectural project on the city of Detroit. The project seeks to use architecture as a metaphor to illustrate the transformation of Detroit in the 21st century.

Smith's series is currently on display at the Museum of Contemporary Photography at Columbia College in Chicago, part of a group exhibition called The Edge of Intent.

JOHN FILO, PHOTOGRAPHED KENT STATE, JOINS MONROE GALLERY

Monroe Gallery of Photography is honored to announce it is now representing John Filo and his Pulitzer-Prize winning photograph of the National Guard shooting at Kent State. This past May 4 was the 39th anniversary of the G company of the Ohio National Guard firing on student protesters.

May 4, 1970 has become a day forever etched into American history. On that day, four Kent State University students were killed and nine students were wounded by National Guardsmen who were called onto the campus in response to protests and demonstrations against the Vietnam War. John Filo was a senior at Kent State working in the student photography lab when the shots rang out just after noon on that day. During the confrontation and ensuing chaos, he photographed a then 14-year-old runaway named Mary Vecchio as she kneeled over the bleeding body of Jeffrey Miller. Filo received the Pulitzer for his photograph while still a student at Kent State.

Filo joined the Associated Press in Chicago in 1971 where he worked as a photographer for 10 years. He has also worked at the Philadelphia Inquirer, the Baltimore Evening Sun, Sports Illustrated, and has served as the National Picture Editor for Newsweek. For the past five years, Filo has held the position of manager of photo operations for CBS.

This photograph will be featured in the important exhibition: "A Thousand Words: Masters of Photojournalism" at Monroe Gallery, Santa Fe, July 3 - September 27.