Book of the photographs of Guy Gillette captures decades of ranch life in small-town East Texas

Via Cowboys and Indians magazine

Guy Gillette

A new book of the photographs of Guy Gillette captures decades of ranch life in small-town East Texas.

by Dana Joseph

Photos from A Family of the Land: The Texas Photography of Guy Gillette, University of Oklahoma Press.

Guy Gillette liked to tell a good story, whether it was on stage in his younger days as an actor or behind the camera during his long career as a famed photojournalist. By the time Gillette died last August at age 90, his images had appeared in high-profile magazines, books, and exhibitions. He had covered the Korean War, the civil rights movement, and Vietnam War protests. And he had photographed countless celebrities, including Elvis Presley, Audrey Hepburn, Queen Elizabeth II, and President Dwight D. Eisenhower.

But it was in ordinary country living in rural Houston County, Texas, that Gillette found some of the best stories through his viewfinder. Decades of photographs he took there dating from the 1940s are the subject of the new book A Family of the Land: The Texas Photography of Guy Gillette.

Arnolds, Cafe, Lovelady, Texas, 1956



Click here for slide show.

Gillette came to know the Piney Woods of Southeast Texas by way of New York. Born in Minneapolis, he initially wanted to become an actor and moved to New York to pursue the stage. While a student at the Michael Chekhov Acting Studio, he got work as a busboy at a vegetarian diner, where he met Doris Porter, an aspiring fashion designer from Texas supporting herself waiting tables. The two fell in love, married, and soon began a long series of summer trips from their home in New York to Doris’ family ranch in Houston County.

Gillette had taken up photography as a hobby, and he found the Porter Place — the ranch Doris’ father, Hoyt Porter, had assembled as a young man — and the neighboring small towns of Crockett and Lovelady great ground for practicing the kind of unassuming picture-taking that would become the hallmark of his work. Seeing those early images, a friend in New York encouraged Gillette to follow photography.
    
“In a good photograph, something happens,” Gillette once said, and in Houston County, there was always something happening to train his lens on. On Saturdays, folks turned out to walk around town. There were domino games at the garage. Church homecomings and Bible school. Boot shining and porch conversations. Potlucks and hymn sings. And there was all that went with ranch work and the schooling of Gillette’s two young sons — Guy Porter and Pipp (they would grow up to make award-winning cowboy music as the Gillette Brothers) — in working cattle and riding horses. There were quiet times of cooking breakfast on the range and of cooling off at the water hole. And every now and then there was an emergency, like a tense trip to the vet when a favorite cow dog got its leg broken.
Edward Steichen, who was reportedly moved to tears by an image of a young Guy Jr. looking into the eyes of his injured dog on the vet’s table, chose two of Gillette’s images for the famous Family of Man exhibition. But if some saw art in his photographs, Gillette saw simple, true stories. “Though photography is often called art,” he said, “I have wanted to be artless: to be a documentarian, not an artist.”

Asked to describe what photography meant to him, Gillette struggled for a pithy explanation. If he had a philosophy, he held with the French photographer Brassaï: “I do not look for exceptional subjects. I avoid them,” Gillette said. “I think it is daily life that is the great event, the true reality.”
Telling the simple truth of those stories occupied Gillette his entire life. “It is why I have enjoyed watching the people of Houston County, seeing them through a camera’s viewfinder.”

A Family of the Land: The Texas Photography of Guy Gillette (University of Oklahoma Press, 2013) by Andy Wilkinson is available at www.oupress.com.

http://www.cowboysindians.com/Cowboys-Indians/April-2014/Guy-Gillette/

Finding Vivian Maier screening at Cinematheque in Santa Fe

Finding Vivian Maier

“Compelling … haunting … captivating.”–Variety

John Maloof discovered the work of an amazing photographer—a nanny whom, over the course of 40 years, took more than 100,000 photographs. As Vivian Maier’s work is discovered, in storage lockers and thrift stores, she is being recognized as one of the 20th century’s most prolific and gifted street photographers. Using her unseen photographs and 8mm films, and interviews with dozens who thought they knew her, Maloof tells the story of an unsung master of 20th century expression. (U.S., 2013, 83m, DCP, IFC Films)

Synopsis: Who is Vivian Maier? Now considered one of the 20th century's greatest street photographers, Vivian Maier was a mysterious nanny who secretly took over 100,000 photographs that went unseen during her lifetime. Since buying her work by chance at auction, amateur historian John Maloof has crusaded to put this prolific photographer in the history books. Maier's strange and riveting life and art are revealed through never-before-seen photographs, films, and interviews with dozens who thought they knew her.

Starts April 25 at CCA
Showtimes:Fri-Thurs April 25-May 1: 2:15p, 5:15p*


*After the 5:15pm show on Sunday, April 27 there will be a skype Q&A with co-director, Charlie Siskel, moderated by Michelle Monroe of Monroe Gallery of Photography.

"a celebration of the LIFE magazine photographer who famously shadowed an unknown act in the US on February 1964, The Beatles"



 Screaming Girls, JFK Airport, NY, Febraury 7, 1964.

Copyright Bill Eppridge

“Ladies and Gentlemen The Beatles!”

The Santa Fe Reporter

April 22, 2014

By Enrique Limón

 

Hot off the heels of When Cool Was King, Monroe Gallery of Photography unveils their latest, Bill Eppridge: 1964, a celebration of the LIFE magazine photographer who famously shadowed an unknown act in the US on February 1964, The Beatles.

 

Eppridge was at John F Kennedy airport on assignment for the mag. After consulting with John Lennon, Ringo Starr gave the OK to Eppridge to shadow the group for the next few days and exposed American masses to the British sensation.

 

“Bill never set pictures up; he liked to find pictures and make pictures that way,” Eppridge’s widow Adrienne Aurichio tells SFR.

 

Eppridge’s assignment was just to capture the Fab Four’s arrival. “But nobody expected what happened out there,” she says of the group of rabid fans, some 3,000 strong. 

 

“Bill was somebody who actually did a lot of photo essays,” Aurichio continues. “He liked to do stories in-depth, which is why he stayed with The Beatles for six days.” 

 

The photographer’s gumption paid off and resulted in iconic shots like the group hanging out inside their room at the Plaza Hotel, practicing for their career-making debut on The Ed Sullivan Show and later performing at Carnegie Hall.

 

Those shots are now immortalized in the book The Beatles: Six Days that Changed the World, which Aurichio edited before her husband’s untimely death in October of last year.

 

Aurichio presents and signs the book at the art opening this Friday.

 

“When he saw things happening, he would just follow the story,” she says of her late husband’s approach. “He would try and tell the story as if he were describing it to you and you as a writer would write it. He wanted to show you the story in his pictures, so he would methodically go about it.”

 

Bill Eppridge: 1964

5-7 pm Friday, April 25

Monroe Gallery of Photography

112 Don Gaspar Ave.,

992-08

AIPAD: The Weekend

 

 

 The AIPAD Photography Show continues today, 11  - 7, and tomorrow, Sunday, 11 - 6.

We hope to see you in booth #421!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

More:

Collector Daily: Every Booth at the 2014 AIPAD Photography Show, Part 1 of 4

Wall Street Journal : It's a Photo, A Video, A Painting

Gallerist: At the AIPAD Photography Show, Bits of Museum Shows, Past and Present

Must-See Booths at the AIPAD Photography Show (featuring Steve Schapiro)
Video: 60 Works in 60 Seconds at AIPAD 2014 (featuring Stephen Wilkes)
via BLOUIN ARTINFO

The New York Times: Experimental Strategies at Aipad’s Photography Show

L'Oeil de la Photographie: Video - New York Apaid 2014: Opening night Gala

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

AIPAD Day 2

© Bill Eppridge

Bobby Kennedy campaigns in Indiana 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 at Monroe gallery, booth #421

Via The Epoch Times

NEW YORK—The city’s most important photography show is back at the Park Avenue Armory.

Slideshow here.

The AIPAD Photography Show takes place at the Park Avenue Armory April 10–13. Admission is $30 daily or $50 for the run of the show. Students pay $10. aipad.com/photoshow

More:

Must-See Booths at the AIPAD Photography Show  (featuring Steve Schapiro)
Video: 60 Works in 60 Seconds at AIPAD 2014   (featuring Stephen Wilkes)
 via BLOUIN ARTINFO

The New York Times: Experimental Strategies at Aipad’s Photography Show

L'Oeil de la Photographie: Video - New York Apaid 2014: Opening night Gala

AIPAD Phorography Show Day 1: Book signing for "The Beatles: Six Day That Changed the World"

Bill Eppridge

John Lennon on the train to New York after the Beatles' concert at

Washington Coliseum, Feb. 11, 1964

 

 

Astonishing, richly spontaneous, and almost entirely unpublished images of the Beatles’ historic first trip to the United States, as chronicled by  award-winning LIFE photographer Bill Eppridge  given unique access to their tour. Published to coincide with the fiftieth anniversary of the Beatles’ first visit to the United States, this rare and mostly unseen collection of photographs marks the beginning of the British Invasion. In February 1964, photographer Bill Eppridge was on assignment for Life magazine to cover the band’s arrival at JFK airport. He was then invited to continue shooting in their room at the Plaza Hotel and during the days that followed, notably at the Ed Sullivan Show rehearsal and historic performance; in Central Park; on a train ride to Washington, D.C., for the concert at the Washington Coliseum; at the British embassy; and at their renowned performance at Carnegie Hall. The book is an intimate fly-on-the-wall account of a visit that introduced the Beatles to America and changed the course of music, internationalizing the industry and opening the door for other artists to achieve global success.

 

On Thursday, April 10, there will be a special book signing with Bill Eppridge's wife and editor, Adrienne Aurichio, of Six Days that Changed the World. The book was created before Mr. Eppridge died in 2013, and was published posthumously. Please join us in Booth #421, Monroe Gallery of Photography, from 4 - 6 PM.

 

From April 25 through June 22, the exhibition Bill Eppridge: 1964 will be on view at Monroe Gallery of Photography.
 

More information about the photographs may be seen on the New York Times' LENS blog.

 

 

Helen Klisser During for WestportNow.com

The 2014 AIPAD Photography Show

Steve Schapiro

 

 

 

Stephen Wilkes: Day To Night

 

 

Stephen Wilkes: Bethlehem Steel

 

 

Bill Eppridge

 

 

Stephen Wilkes: Ellis Island

 

 

Art Shay

 

 

Sid Avery

 

 

 

 

And more.

Booth #421. Wednesday through Sunday,April 9 - 13, 2014.

The AIPAD Photography Show 2014.

 

 

 

The Beatles photographs of Bill Eppridge at the Museum at Bethel Woods Center For the Arts, AIPAD, and Monroe Gallery

The Beatles wait to disembark, Pennsylvania Staion, NY, 1964

Copyright Bill Eppridge

 

Photos of the Fab Four's First U.S. Visit by LIFE photographer Bill Eppridge & Beatlemania Memorabilia from the Rod Mandeville Collection

The Museum at Bethel Woods                   

Saturday, April 5 - Sunday, August 17, 2014
Open during regular museum hours

Included in regular museum admision; $5.00 for Special Exhibit ONLY

ON SALE: Tickets by phone: 1-800-745-3000
4/5/2014 10:00 AM

Never-seen photographs shot by LIFE photographer Bill Eppridge as he spent six days photographing the young pop stars during their first visit to the U.S., and their performances on the Ed Sullivan Show. The exhibit will also feature an amazing collection of albums, posters, figurines, pins, fan club ephemera, and collectibles as it explores the idea of fan devotion and Beatlemania.

 

Many of Eppridge's Beatles photographs will be on exhibit during The AIPAD Photography Show April 10 -13 in Booth #421, Monroe Gallery of Photography. On Thursday, April 10, there will be a special book signing with Bill Eppridge's wife and editor, Adrienne Aurichio, of Six Days that Changed the World. The book was created before Mr. Eppridge died in 2013, and was published posthumously.

 

From April 25 through June 22, the exhibition Bill Eppridge: 1964 will be on view at Monroe Gallery of Photography.

More information about the photographs may be seen on the New York Times' LENS blog.

The gelatin silver prints for the exhibition were printed by Catherine Vanaria of Connecticut Photographics.

 

                                     

View: Teens capture world with film, photography

 Via The Santa Fe New Mexican
March 30, 2014


Anyone curious about the minds of teenagers should take time to visit the Future Voices of New Mexico website. There, you can see the short videos and photographs made by young people from New Mexico — the 2014 winners were announced last week and should be up early in April.

The project — to give young people the tools to tell their stories — brings together filmmakers, teachers and different cultural groups. Marcella Ernest and Christopher Michael Roybal are in charge of filmmaking, and Santa Fe Photo Workshops is the photography partner, along with director Reid Callanan. These professionals and others they recruit go out into the schools, meeting with teachers and students to enable them to tell stories.

For students, in addition to monthly and then year-end recognition, their work is shown at the Lensic Performing Arts Center in an awards ceremony packed with emotion, creativity and joy. At 12 or 15 or 17, a student gets to look up on the big screen and see his or her work displayed proudly, on the same stage where Ralph Stanley has played music or Jeremy Irons interpreted Alfred Stieglitz to Joan Allen’s Georgia O’Keeffe.
 

The winners, announced last week, featured work from creative young minds at the top of their games. Winners came from a broad variety of schools — Capital High School, Española Valley High School, Pojoaque Valley High, Santa Fe School for the Arts and Sciences and Desert Academy. Students from Albuquerque won prizes as well, with students from the state-chartered New Mexico School for the Arts, located in Santa Fe but with students from all over the state, taking home honors. The winners represented public, private and charter schools, but all shared a common bond, the ability — even the need — to tell stories. That shone through in both single images or three-minute shorts.
 

Judge for yourselves, and visit www.futurevoicesof newmexico.org. Winners from past years remain up, and organizers of the contest expected the 2014 batch to be posted this week. With all the wringing of hands over the state of teenagers, do yourself a favor. Take time to watch and see. You’ll feel better about the future.

.

When Cool Was King

 

John Dominis/©Time Inc

Steve McQueen After Motorcycle Race, Mojave Desert, 1963

 gelatin silver print

 



THE Magazine
April, 2014

A smokey barroom is filled with dancing couples, but Johnny Strabler stands alone, leaned against the jukebox and tapping his fingers to the music. A laughing blond sashays past him to ask “What are you rebelling against, Johnny?” Pausing, Johnny studies the floor before responding, “Whaddya got?” —from The Wild One

 

IN THE WILD ONE, MARLON BRANDO PLAYS THE CHAIN-SMOKING, down-on-his-luck Johnny Strabler, who drawls his way through the movie with a nonchalance that occurs as both practiced and organic. Brando’s 1953 portrayal of Johnny was in many ways a wholly American testament to the era’s mood of glamorous unease, collectively funneled into the films, music, and cultural ephemera of a nation. If Johnny Strabler is one of Brando’s most memorable characters, he’s also one of his quintessentially coolest. Its been said that America’s most valuable cultural contribution is the concept of coolness—that intangible slick something that separates the Millhouses from the Bart Simpsons of the world. Before the middle of the twentieth century, teenagers weren’t thought of as tastemakers, but several factors—most famously, of course, the hip-swiveling music of Elvis and the raw gospel funk of James Brown—changed all that, and suddenly young people became arbiters of the trends that mattered. This represented a major separation between the hip and the square, and nobody had more influence than movie stars and musicians. Monroe Gallery’s fantastic exhibition When Cool Was King consolidates the look and feel of “cool” into a tautly grouped showcase of some of its most notable harbingers. Dean Martin, Lou Reed, and John Lennon are joined by a handful of others whose effortless style and nonchalant attitudes constituted a veritable cultural takeover, impacting tastemakers for generations to come.

What makes a person hip? It certainly doesn’t hurt to look like Paul Newman, represented here in a 1956 photo taken while he was playing hard-scrabble criminal-turned­boxer Rocky Graziano in Somebody Up There Likes Me. A cigarette dangles haphazardly from the actor’s smirking lips, and his heavy coat’s upturned collar frames the preternaturally handsome features of his face. Strolling down a busy city street, Newman looks unfettered and indifferent: consummately carefree and hopelessly, heartbreakingly cool.

In many ways, James Dean still sets the gold standard for cool. Who cares if a rebel has a cause or not when he looks that good in blue jeans and a white T-shirt? Richard Miller’s 1955 snap of the actor feels both intimate and fantastically detached. He’s leaning against a gleaming hot rod to light a cigarette, his famous hair is thick and tousled, his eyes shaded by aviator sunglasses. Dean wears a snap-buttoned cowboy shirt tucked into his jeans, and though the photo’s caption indicates that it was taken on the set of the epic nouveau-Western Giant, the viewer can easily imagine that this is James Dean being James Dean, on set or off: ethereally, effortlessly, impossibly cool.

We might think of cool as shorthand for rebellion, whether conferred or assumed. Fittingly then, leather, cigarettes, and copious amounts of sex appeal figure prominently in this exhibition. Steve McQueen is emblematic of mid-century cool, a status heartily bolstered by several photos on display. John Dominis’s 1963 shot of McQueen presents him as equal parts actor and sex symbol. His right arm reaches upward into the sleeve of his leather bomber jacket. His hair is wet, slicked to his forehead with sweat, and if we look closely—don’t blush, dear reader—we can see the undone top button of his dungarees.

It makes sense that a standout of the show, a picture of Frank Sinatra, comes from the great photographer Sid Avery. One of the only color snapshots on view, it depicts the most famous crooner of all time in a moment of meditative repose, handsomely garbed in a light gray suit with matching fedora. His head is cocked thoughtfully upward and his arms are crossed closely against his chest. It’s a photo that flawlessly shows us what we already know: that for some people, cool isn’t a feeling or even a mood, but a complete persona.

With the exception of a smattering of shots of Edie Sedgwick and Jane Fonda, there’s a paucity of hip ladies in When Cool Was King. Nevertheless, the exhibit is a finger­snappingly swell good time. Images taken over half a century ago look hipper than ever, proving that true glamour never really goes out of style.

 

—IrIs McLIster