THE AIPAD PHOTOGRAPHY SHOW: "Where photojournalism is exhibited alongside artier and more experimental work"

Friday, March 18, 2011

The AIPAD Photography Show is in full swing as we head into the weekend. The New York Times writes: "Art fairs can seem as if they were outside of history, congested labyrinths that confuse time and place. That’s not often the case with the annual Association of International Photography Art Dealers show, where photojournalism is exhibited alongside artier and more experimental work...the real reason to visit this fair is for its wealth of older material, going back to 19th-century photographs by William Henry Fox Talbot and Eugène Atget and including classic 20th-century images by the likes of Ansel Adams, Edward Weston, Berenice Abbott and Andre Kertesz."

This juxtaposition was emphasized in yesterday's visits to our booth by Bill Eppridge (R) and Stephen Wilkes (L):

We are showing a selection of Wilkes' photography from his China and America in Detail series; and debuting the newest photograph from his stunning "Day into Night" collection:

Times Square, Day Into Night, 2010

Also featured at Monroe Gallery are several examples of Bill Eppridges's historic images of 20th Century photojournalism:

Bill Eppridge: Bobby Kennedy campaigns in IN during May of 1968, with various aides and friends: former prizefighter Tony Zale and (right of Kennedy) N.F.L. stars Lamar Lundy, Rosey Grier, and Deacon Jones

Bill Eppridge: Mrs. Chaney and young Ben, James Chaney funeral, Meridian, Mississippi, 1964

Please join us at Booth #417 through Sunday!



AIPAD: DAY ONE


 After last night's benefit opening, today the AIPAD Photography Show opens today for regular hours:

Thursday 11 - 7
Friday 11 - 7
Saturday 11 - 7
Sunday 11 - 6

Visiting our booth (#417) today will be Stephen Wilkes and   Bill Eppridge. We hope to see you!

THE AIPAD PHOTOGRAPHY SHOW OPENS TONIGHT

The sun has broken through the clouds, just in time for this evening's 2011 AIPAD Photography Show. Exhibitors started setting up yesterday.

Monroe Gallery of Photography is located in booth #417. This is how it looked yesterday:

And, with some work, this afternoon:



The AIPAD Photography Show runs through Sunday, March 20. We hope to see you!

PHOTO DISTRICT NEWS PHOTO OF THE DAY: GREY VILLET - LITTLE ROCK NINE

© Grey Villet. Above: The Little Rock Nine enter a classroom to register after escort from Army’s 101st Airborne Division, September 25, 1957.

March 15, 2011
A daily selection by the editors of Photo District News
Posted on Tuesday, March 15th, 2011 at 11:00 am ET by Amber Terranova

Grey Villet was a master of the classic “fly on the wall” style of photojournalism and he was the absolute master of the 180mm f/2.8 Sonnar. In addition to covering the news in Little Rock, Arkansas, in 1957 — when a group of high school students attempted to enroll in Little Rock Central High School and were initially prevented by Governor Orval Faubus who called on the National Guard to stop the school’s integration, his assignments included the 1958 arrest of Martin Luther King Jr, Fidel Castro’s triumphant drive into Havana, Jackie Robinson’s daring steal of home base in the 1955 World Series, and the now classic LIFE photo essay “Going Under” about farm foreclosures in the 1980s. Villet’s work will be on display with the Monroe Gallery at the AIPAD Photography Show New York, March 17-20, 2011, at the Park Avenue Armory.- AIPAD. To see more of Villet’s work click here.

Previous post: E-Photo Newsletter Names its List of The Most Influential Photography Sources In 2010-2011

Monroe Gallery of Photography is located at Booth #417 during the AIPAD Photography Show

E-PHOTO NEWSLETTER NAMES ITS LIST OF THE MOST INFLUENTIAL PHOTOGRAPHY SOURCES IN 2010-2011

We have previously recommended the E-Photo Newsletter as a regular must-read source for news related to photography. The just-released edition gives us another reason to recommend this informative source as it names Monroe Gallery of Photography "the most influential gallery devoted to photojournalism".

 By Alex Novak


These are mostly my personal choices for this past year, although I have been asking others for their choices/feedback by email and on the Vintage Photography group on LinkedIn, etc. By the way, please feel free to join this group and its active discussions here, although you will have to join LinkedIn first.

Undoubtedly there will be disagreements with many of my choices (after all, these are admittedly very subjective), but I sincerely think that these are some of the most influential in their given category. "Best" is a more difficult and
subjective decision and is also very situational; in other words, for example, many dealers could have wonderful pieces in these categories but are not listed as most influential in them. Other galleries and dealers may also be excellent sources, but because their inventory and interests are more evenly spread out, they did not make our more specific lists. Finally, other factors besides the quality of work offered were factored into the decision, including publications, lectures, leadership, availability/activity for this period, programs, etc.

Many named for their category are clearly the cream of the crop in a general way--at least over the last 12 months. Some other sources that are not cited may have had stronger records in the past, or may have stronger ones in the future. One editorial disclosure: I own Vintage Works, Ltd., which I have named--legitimately, I feel--below in three categories. We list at most shows as Contemporary Works/Vintage Works.

I was tempted to do a "worst" list, considering some of the photography shows, etc. that I've seen recently, but decided to spare the offenders. But just an aside to certain French curators: don't hang lots of tiny photos right next to each other and then give visitors a plastic sheet as a magnifying glass so that they can block other viewers from seeing the work--if that were even possible in the near pitch blackness and overcrowded conditions.

I'm sure I will get a lot of additions, opinions, ideas, critiques and responses to this list--both negative and positive. Consider that I am stirring the pot, so to speak, to get people and institutions thinking about striving to get better, including those both on and off the list. Certainly send me your email feedback to info@iphotocentral.com , and I will add it to the article. Please check those responses/discussions out at the I Photo Central news and archives section at:

http://www.iphotocentral.com/news/article_view.php/190/180/1123 .
 
International locations are noted. Other sources are based in the United States unless otherwise noted. I skipped a European/International curator selectiononly because my knowledge is somewhat limited in this area, although I know some very good ones. I expect we'll restructure this list and add that category nextyear, as well as changing up the selection process a bit.

PHOTOGRAPHY DEALERS/GALLERIES:

19th-Century Gallery/Dealer
Hans P. Kraus, Jr., Inc.
Also Robert Hershkowitz, Ltd. (London and Sussex), Daniel Blau Photography (Berlin and London), Alain Paviot (Paris), Charles Isaacs, Serge Plantureux (Paris), Vintage Works, Ltd., Lee Gallery and Marc Pagneux (Chanteloup, France)

Surrealism and Experimental Photography
Galerie 1900-2000 (Paris) and Ubu Gallery (New York and Berlin)

American 20th-Century Modernism and Between-the-Wars Photography
Howard Greenberg Gallery and Stephen Daiter Gallery
Also Paul Hertzmann, Inc., Lee Gallery and Weston Gallery

American Mid-Century (1940s-1970s) Photography
Etherton Gallery, Fraenkel Gallery, Pace/MacGill and Stephen Daiter Gallery
Also Silverstein Gallery, Robert Mann Gallery, Robert Koch Gallery and Howard Greenberg Gallery

European 20th-Century Photography
Howard Greenberg Gallery, Kicken Berlin, Galerie Johannes Faber and Vintage Works, Ltd.
Also Alain Paviot (Paris), Robert Koch Gallery, Gitterman Gallery, Edwynn Houk, Michael Hoppen (London) and Galerie Priska Pasquer (Cologne)

Contemporary Photography Gallery
Fraenkel Gallery, Pace/MacGill and Weinstein Gallery
Also Rose Gallery, Bonni Benrubi, Nicholas Metivier Gallery (Toronto), Camera Work (Berlin), HackelBury Fine Art Ltd. (London), Hamiltons Gallery (London), Flowers (New York and London) and Edwynn Houk (New York and Zurich)

Cutting-Edge Contemporary Photography Gallery
Bryce Wolkowitz Gallery
Also Catherine Edelman Gallery

Photojournalism
Monroe Gallery

American Western Photography
Andrew Smith Gallery

Fashion Photography
Staley+Wise Gallery and Camera Work (Berlin)

Daguerreotypes
William L. Schaeffer
Also Dennis Waters, Mark Koenigsberg, Vintage Works, Ltd., Charles Isaacs, Michael Lehr, Serge Plantureux (Paris), Frederic Hoch (Offwiller, France), Greg French and Bruno Tartarin (Paris)

Vernacular/Snap Shots
Barbara Levine, Richard Hart and Stacy Waldman
Also Fabien Breuvart (Paris), Gargantua Photos/Steve Bannos, Joel Rotenberg, Wolfram Harmuth (Berlin) and Pixidiom/Norm Kulkin

The next two categories have changed incredibly over the last few years, with many physical bookstores going private or retiring, such as Dawson Books (now a private dealer), and other photography dealers and galleries dabbling in high-end photography books.

Photo Bookstore
Arcana Books, Harper's Books/Harper Levine, Schaden.com (Cologne) and Chambre Claire (Paris)
Also Photo-Eye, Tristan Schwilden (Brussels) and Lead Apron

Photo Book Private Dealer
Dawson Books, Jeff Hersch, Andrew Cahen, and Charles Woods III
Also Steven Daiter Gallery, Paul Hertzmann, Inc. and Fred Pajerski

MULTI-DEALER PHOTOGRAPHY SHOW:
AIPAD's New York Photography Show
Neither Paris Photo nor Photo LA are currently even close in top galleries/dealers and important material on offer. Both have faded considerably  in quality over the last few years, while AIPAD has come back from its financial problems very successfully. We will have to see if the other shows can come back, especially with Paris Photo getting new top management and a new venue recently (see the last newsletter). While not strictly speaking photography shows, watch out for the Armory Show in NYC (March), Art Week in Miami (December), Art Basel (June) and TEFAF at Maastricht (March), especially if you are interested in better contemporary and 20th-century modernism. These events often have as many dealers in photography and at a higher level than many
photography-specific fairs, although you have to go to many more locations to see the dealers and their work.

MOST INTRIGUING AUCTION:
Binoche Auctions, Paris, June 2010

MOST INTERESTING (ON PHOTOGRAPHY) SMALLER MUSEUM:
Antwerp Museum of Photography, Antwerp, Belgium

MOST INTERESTING (ON PHOTOGRAPHY) LARGE MUSEUMS:
New York Metropolitan Museum of Art and the J. Paul Getty Museum

MOST INTERESTING (ON PHOTOGRAPHY) NEW MUSEUM:
Fotografiska, Stockholm, Sweden

MOST INFLUENTIAL AMERICAN CURATORS, 2010:
Sarah Greenough, National Gallery of Art; Malcolm Daniels, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; Anne Tucker, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston; Keith Davis, Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art; and Sandra Phillips, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art

MOST IMPORTANT MUSEUM PHOTOGRAPHY SHOW OF THE YEAR:
Bibliotheque Nationale, Paris: Primitifs de la photographie: Le calotype en France, 1843-1860

MOST INTERESTING PHOTO EXHIBIT AT A MULTI-DEALER FAIR:
Hans P. Kraus, Jr., Inc. for its William Henry Fox Talbot exhibition at the 2010 Winter Antiques Fair

MOST IMPORTANT NEW PHOTO BOOKS OF THE YEAR:
--"Czech Photography of the 20th Century" by Vladimir Birgus and Jan Mlcoch
--"Primitifs de la photographie: Le calotype en France, 1843-1860" by Sylvie Aubenas and Paul-Louis Roubert

MOST INFLUENTIAL DEALER CATALOGUES OF THE YEAR:
--"About Sixty French Calotypes" by Robert Hershkowitz, Ltd.
-- Hippolyte Bayard: Photography and the Spirit--A Collection of Photographs from 1839-1849 by Daniel Blau Photography
--Teachers of the New Bauhaus by Stephen Daiter Gallery

BEST DEALER-SENT PHOTOGRAPHY CALENDAR:
Hans P. Kraus, Jr., Inc.

CAPTURING HISTORY- A Conversation with Chief White House Photographers

 

A panel discussion with former Chief White House Photographers



Date: Wednesday, March 23 2011

Time: 06:00 PM
Location: JFK Jr. Forum


Event Speakers: ERIC DRAPER, George W. Bush; DAVID KENNERLY, Gerald R. Ford; BOB McNEELY, William J. Clinton; DAVID VALDEZ, George H. W. Bush

Event Moderators: DAVID GERGEN, Director, Harvard Kennedy School's Center for Public Leadership Senior Political Analyst, CNN

Watch the conversation live here.

The John F. Kennedy Jr. Forum is one of the world's premier arenas for political speech, discussion and debate. More information here.


Related: White House Photographer Eric Draper's photographs to be exhibited at the AIPAD Photography Show, New York, March 16 - 20.

ON THE ROAD...TO AIPAD

Bob Gomel: Planes stacked up at JFK airport, New York, 1968


We are heading out to the AIPAD Photography Show. We will post regular updates here and on our Twitter feed. We sincerely hope to see you next week at Booth #417.

Picasso: Drawing With Light

Artist Pablo Picasso "painting" with light at the Madoura Pottery, Vallauris, France, 1949


Pablo Picasso's Flashlight Centaur
Via Life.com

Renowned LIFE photographer Gjon Mili, a technical genius and lighting innovator extraordinaire, visited Pablo Picasso in the South of France in 1949. Mili showed the artist some of his photographs of ice skaters with tiny lights affixed to their skates, jumping in the dark -- and Picasso's lively mind began to race. This series of photographs, since known as Picasso's "light drawings," were made with a small flashlight or "light pencil" in a dark room; the images vanished almost as soon as they were created. However, while the "Picasso draws a centaur in the air" photo is rightly celebrated and famous, many of the images in this gallery are far less well-known -- and equally thrilling.



More: The following text is adapted from "Picasso’s Third Dimension" by Gjon Mili, published by Triton Press; 1970.

"Mili visited Picasso twice – eighteen years apart – and on both occasions, while assigned to photograph the artist, he found himself involved in totally unforeseen creative experiences. One result of the first meeting, at Vallauris in 1949, is the photograph (above) of Picasso drawing the Centaur with a “light pencil.” This spectacular “space drawing” is a momentary happening inscribed in thin air with a flashlight in the dark – an illumination of Picasso’s brilliance set off by the spur of the moment. It was during this first visit in 1949 that Mili showed Picasso some of his photographs of light patterns formed by a skater’s leaps – obtained by affixing tiny lights on the points of the skates. Picasso reacted instantly. Before Mili could utter a word of explanation, Picasso, sparkling with excitement, started tracing through the air one intriguing shape after another with his bare finger. It is interesting to note the affinity between Picasso’s first light image, the Centaur, and the shape of his own crouched body as he starts to draw. Significant, too, is the course of his action as the image progresses from beginning to end. He first describes a small hook and swings upward to delineate the left arm, then the head and horns, the right arm and then the spine; at frantic speed – which is shown by the thinness of the line – he scribbles two wavering hind legs before he slows down, almost to a stop, while drawing the soft curve of the underbelly. As if he suddenly remembers there is more to do, he swiftly shoots straight up to fill in the facial structures and without breaking the flow, signs off with a flourish. The photographic effect was created by opening the camera’s shutter while Picasso was in the dark, crouched over to begin his instant masterpiece – this static pose captured by a momentary flash. Again in darkness after this instantaneous flash of light, Picasso quickly draws his signature image in the air with a “light pencil.” This light drawing is an “instant Picasso” – vanishing no sooner than born, except for what the camera captures. Not unlike a doodle in appearance, this rendering is an unimpeded expression of the artist’s inner vision, and as instinctive as one’s gesticulations in trying to make a point. This “space drawing” highlights better than anything in clay, wood, metal, or paint the automatic link between hand and brain which is basic to Picasso’s creative thrust."

Related: "Light Painting"

Forthcoming exhibition: Composing the Artist
Exhibition of classic photographs portraying iconic Artists and Writers
Monroe Gallery of Photography May 6 - June 25, 2011

Today In History: 'The Fight Of The Century'

John Shearer/LIFE

Muhammad Ali dodges a hook thrown by Joe Frazier. Although Ali lost the match, he proved his stamina by standing through 15 rounds.

Via NPR Picture Show
by Claire O'Neill
March 8, 2011


Today, 40 years ago, there was a big event. The media called it "The Fight of the Century." In Life magazine, it was "The Battle Of Undefeated Champs."


After more than three years in forced retirement for refusing to fight in Vietnam, Muhammad Ali was back to contend in the world heavyweight championship. He was pitted against the reigning champ, Joe Frazier. And they were each, no matter what, to receive an unprecedented $2.5 million for entering the ring.


To honor the momentous fight, Life has published a gallery of photos, many never before seen, taken by John Shearer, who at the time was merely in his 20s. (Joining Shearer as a Life photographer at the fight was amateur photographer Frank Sinatra.)

In addition to shooting the fight, though, Shearer documented the two contenders in the time leading up to the fight: the media circus that surrounded them both; the outspoken — and sometimes unsportsmanlike — antipathy between them; even Ali's small gut (three years is a long time to go without a fight).

Those three years caught up with Ali in the last round, when Frazier received the title by a unanimous decision. Another three years later, though, Ali won the title back.

John Shearer/LIFE

Muhammad Ali taunts Joe Frazier in Pennsylvania at Frazier's training headquarters. Both Shearer's photos and the 1971 Life article portray the outspoken aggression between the fighters.

John Shearer

Ali, along with Puerto Rican light heavyweight Jose Torres (in suit) and others, gather at legendary boxing promoter Chris Dundee's gym in Miami Beach, Fla., in February 1971.

March 7: The 46th Anniversary of Bloody Sunday

Steve Schapiro: On the road, the Selma March, 1965

Civil rights organizations launched a registration drive in Selma, Alabama, a small city about 50 miles west of Montgomery. There were about 15,000 blacks residing in Selma, but only 350 had successfully registered to vote. At a February 1965 voting rights rally in nearby Marion, police shot and killed a young black man named Jimmie Lee Jackson.

In response, activists called a March 7 march from Selma to the Alabama state capitol at Montgomery. Led by John Lewis of SNCC and Martin Luther King’s aide, the Reverend Hosea Williams, some 525 marchers were met on the Pettus Bridge over the Alabama River by Alabama state troopers and local lawmen. They had gas masks at hand and nightsticks at the ready. The trooper leader (Major John Cloud) ordered the marchers to return to their church. Reverend Williams answered: “May we have a word with the major?” “There is no word to be had,” came the reply.

The suppression of the march, the New York Times reported, “was swift and thorough.” The paper described a flying wedge of troopers and recounted how “the first 10 or 20 Negroes were swept to the ground screaming, arms and legs flying.” With the news media on hand and recording their actions for a horrified national audience, the troopers fired tear gas canisters. Local law enforcement pursued the retreating protesters with whips and nightsticks. “I was hit in the head by a state trooper with a nightstick ... I thought I saw death,” said Lewis, hospitalized with a concussion.

For millions of Americans, March 7, 1965, would be known simply as Bloody Sunday. Typical was the reaction of U.S. Representative James G. O’Hara of Michigan, who called the day’s events “a savage action, storm-trooper style, under direction of a reckless demagogue [a reference to Alabama’s governor, George Wallace].”

From Atlanta, Martin Luther King Jr. announced that he and Ralph Abernathy would lead a second Selma to-Montgomery march that Tuesday. He called on “religious leaders from all over the nation to join us on Tuesday in our peaceful, nonviolent march for freedom.” Before the march could occur, a federal judge, not unfriendly to the activists but determined to hold hearings before acting, issued a court order temporarily forbidding the march.

King was under intense political pressure from every corner. Federal officials urged him to delay the march. With the judge’s injunction now in place, King and his followers would be the lawbreakers should the march proceed. But younger activists, many affiliated with SNCC, wanted to move faster. King risked losing his place at the head of the movement were he unable to satisfy their demands.

On March 9, King and Abernathy led some 3,000 peaceful protesters — their black followers joined by hundreds of white religious leaders — on the second Selma-to-Montgomery march. Troopers again met them at the Pettus Bridge. The marchers stopped, then sang the movement’s anthem: “We Shall Overcome.” The group then prayed, and Abernathy thanked God for the marchers who “came to present their bodies as a living sacrifice.” King then directed his followers to turn back. “As a nonviolent, I couldn’t move people into a potentially violent situation,” he told the Washington Post.

King’s decision disappointed some of the more zealous activists. But King had been conferring quietly with federal officials. The events of Bloody Sunday also had exerted great pressure on an already sympathetic President Johnson. Too many Americans at long last had seen enough. From religious groups and state legislatures, youthful protesters and members of Congress, the demand for federal action was growing. The two leaders appear to have struck a tacit bargain: King would not violate the injunction, and the Johnson administration quietly suggested it would soon be lifted.

On March 15, Johnson introduced the legislation that would become the Voting Rights Act. Addressing the nation that night, President Johnson employed the plainest of language in the service of a basic American value — the right to vote:

"There is no Negro problem. There is no southern problem. There is no northern problem. There is only an American problem.

And we are met here tonight as Americans … to solve that problem.

The Constitution says that no person shall be kept from voting because of his race or his color. We have all sworn an oath before God to support and to defend that Constitution.

We must now act in obedience to that oath. …

There is no constitutional issue here. The command of the Constitution is plain. There is no moral issue. It is wrong — deadly wrong — to deny any of your fellow Americans the right to vote in this country. There is no issue of States rights or National rights. There is only the struggle for human rights. …

What happened in Selma is part of a far larger movement which reaches into every section and State of America. It is the effort of American Negroes to secure for themselves the full blessings of American life.

Their cause must be our cause too, because it is not just Negroes but really it is all of us who must overcome the crippling legacy of bigotry and injustice. And we shall overcome.

Two days later, the federal court lifted the injunction against the marchers. U.S. District Judge Frank M. Johnson Jr. further ordered that state and county authorities not interfere and indeed take affirmative measures to protect the activists. “The law is clear,” the judge wrote, “that the right to petition one’s government for the redress of grievances may be exercised in large groups … and these rights may be exercised by marching, even along public highways.”  --Via America.gov

In 1966 the Selma-to-Montgomery National Historic Trail was created by Congress under the National Trails System Act of 1968.

Steve Schapiro: Entering Montgomery, 1965

Marchers cross the Alabama river on the Edmund Pettus Bridge at Selma on March 21, 1965. The civil rights marchers, eight abreast, were led by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

The msnbc Photoblog has more then and now photographs.


Related: Imprisoned in a Luminous Glare: Photography and the African American Freedom Struggle