Via The Intercept
December 17, 2021
THE SOUND of the U.S. military’s latest generation of warplanes is quite literally deafening. The vibration shakes your insides. Conversation stops. Stress floods your body. And just when you think it’s over, another jet, and another and another, roars above rooftops, until it feels as though the sky is going to crack open. (click for full article with video - by Nina Berman)
December 15, 2021
While many people, fearing the virus, continued to stay close to home, photographers traveled the world, documenting turmoil and triumphs.
"For Ashley Gilbertson, this photograph captured the intensity of the moment when a single man stood firm against a massive mob overrunning the United States Capitol."
"As they turned a corner, the mob paused. A lone policeman was shouting at them to stop and turn back. Men in QAnon shirts shouted back, and another waved a Confederate flag in front of the officer. He drew his baton to fight them back, but it fell to the ground in the chaos. He unclipped the holster of his pistol and put his hand on the grip, and I put a rioter between me and him as a shield. But the officer never drew his sidearm.
His name, I would later learn, was Eugene Goodman. He acted as a diversion to draw rioters away from the Senate chamber. There weren’t many moments that we can be proud of as a nation from Jan. 6, 2021, but this is one of them."
Santa Fe, NM – On December 20, 2021, Tony Vaccaro celebrates his 99th birthday, an inspiration to us all.
December 9, 2021
98-year-old photographer Tony Vaccaro was a simple infantryman, but he unofficially photographed World War II for 272 days. Anna Nelson met with Vaccaro to talk about his role in documenting the war. Anna Rice narrates her story.
Never before exhibited photographs of Muhammed Ali on display in Austin
December 9, 2021
The Dolph Briscoe Center for American History at The University of Texas at Austin and the LBJ Presidential Library presents the exhibition “One Night in Miami”: From Photo to Film.
#TBT: Never before exhibited photographs of Muhammed Ali on display in Austin
Located in the LBJ Library’s Great Hall, the exhibit showcases iconic photos from the Briscoe Center’s collections that inspired key moments in the 2020 film.
It features a selection of images from Bob Gomel and Flip Schulke, famed photojournalists whose archives are housed at the Briscoe Center. The photos, many of which have never before been exhibited, depict a young Muhammed Ali (then known by his birth name, Cassius Clay) during the early years of his boxing career.
After his victory over Sonny Liston for the heavyweight championship in Feb. 1964, Ali celebrated with friends and supporters at the Hampton House, a motel in Miami that served as a gathering place for Black entertainers and celebrities.
There, Ali was joined by his friends Malcolm X, singer Sam Cooke, and football player Jim Brown, among others. The gathering inspired Kemp Powers’s 2013 play, “One Night in Miami,” which was adapted into Regina King’s award-winning 2020 movie.
Malcolm X photographs Muhammad Ali at the victory party after Ali’s defeat of Sonny Liston, February 25, 1964. Photograph by Bob Gomel, Bob Gomel Photographic Archive.
A key scene in the movie recreates Gomel’s photograph of Malcolm X and Ali in the Hampton House diner.
One of the opening scenes of the film was inspired by Flip Schulke’s famous photos of Ali taken in a Miami swimming pool in 1961. The shoot offered Schulke the opportunity to test out his experimental underwater camera setup.
In addition to a selection of rare photos from Gomel and Schulke, the exhibit features equipment from both photographers and related ephemera.
"One Night in Miami”: From Photo to Film runs until May 8, 2022. For more details on the exhibit, please go to: https://briscoecenter.org/exhibitions/one-night-in-miami/
The LBJ Library is open to the public. Admission tickets must be bought online in advance. For details, please go to: https://www.lbjlibrary.org/visit.
Via 1854 - British Journal of Photography
December 8, 2021
“I think some of the greatest photojournalism contains information that we were never meant to see”
In 1985, Michelle and Sid Monroe sat down with Alfred Eisenstaedt to discuss the possibility of exhibiting the famed LIFE magazine photographer’s work at a Manhattan gallery. Then in his 80s, Eisenstaedt regaled the young couple, then in their 20s and engaged to wed, with stories of an extraordinary life behind the camera. (direct link with slide show)
The Monroes experienced a powerful moment of revelation as Eisenstaedt recounted memories of fascism spreading across Europe and the harrowing realisation he would have to leave Germany to survive. “It was the meeting of a lifetime,” says Sid. “It was remarkable to see this person who had witnessed and photographed history. We were in the presence of something bigger than we had ever encountered before. This is our collective history — we didn’t live this but this is what formed the world we were born into.”
The encounter with Eisenstaedt opened their eyes to a new path, one that combined the realms of art, history, and reportage. At a time when photography was still striving to receive proper recognition from the art world, the young couple decided to devote themselves to uplifting, supporting, and preserving the work of photojournalists with the creation of Monroe Gallery in a classic street-level Soho loft on Grand Street. “It was like falling in love,” says Michelle. “It wasn’t a strategic decision that either of us made but more like listening to a piece of music that you were completely moved by.”
Sid concurs. “It became a passion that probably wouldn’t have made any sense if we had thought critically about it, but we decided: this is it. It was a remarkable time. We met many of Eisenstaedt’s colleagues for LIFE, who were all in their 70s or 80s. Although they had retired, they still had offices at the Time-Life Building and were treated like royalty. When we opened our gallery, we thought we hit the jackpot and assumed everyone was going to feel what we feel.”
But in the 1980s, photojournalism wasn’t sexy, it wasn’t conceptual, and although it was reasonably priced, it was a hard sell. At the time, dealers were focused on selling vintage prints, while the Monroes were breaking new ground selling multiples and limited editions. “It was a little bleak in the beginning because people didn’t understand,” Sid says. “But, on the flip side, that allowed us to develop our focus and it became our domain.”
After 9/11, the Monroes left downtown Manhattan and headed west, settling in Santa Fe, New Mexico. “It gave us more freedom,” says Michelle. “In New York, you’re always going to be a relatively small gallery and competing for attention. In Santa Fe, you stand out just by doing what you do.”
Santa Fe living also allows for a distinctive change of pace. “In New York, it’s ‘I’ve got five minutes, show me what you’ve got’,” says Sid. “Here it’s more relaxed. We can sit and talk with collectors — but it’s still a hustle.”
Indeed, the Monroes have worked diligently over the past 20 years to establish the gallery at the intersection between photojournalism and fine art, showcasing works embedded in our collective consciousness that shape our shared history. The gallery roster includes Bill Ray, Tony Vaccaro, Bill Eppridge, Eddie Adams, Nina Berman, Cornell Capa, Ruth Orkin, and Nina Leen — photographers who not only documented their times but have also transformed the very way we see.
“Eisenstaedt, Carl Mydans, Margaret Bourke-White, Gordon Parks, they taught us how to look at history, and the people we represent are part of the same family tree. Over the past 10, 15 years, we’ve seen more work that has the same visual impact,” says Michelle. The gallery roster has expanded to include more women and artists of colour such as Anna Boyiazis, Gabriela E. Campos, Whitney Curtis, and Sanjay Suchak.
“We are fortunate to have had direct personal relationships with these photographers from the very beginning,” Michelle says. “Initially it’s visual attraction but we’ve learned the consciousness of these photographers and it becomes one and the same with what they are driven to do. To sit across from them and bear witness to what they have seen gives us the motivation to show their work to the world. I think some of the greatest photojournalism contains information that we were never meant to see.”
Tony Vaccaro at 99 is on show at Monroe Gallery until 16 January 2022.
About the author
Miss Rosen is a New York-based writer focusing on art, photography, and culture. Her work has been published in books by Arlene Gottfried, Allan Tannenbaum, and Harvey Stein, as well as magazines and websites including Time, Vogue, Aperture, Dazed, AnOther, and Vice, among others.
December 7, 2021
The New York Times published another installment about the Democratic Republic of Congo's mining of cobalt and other metals used in the production of electric car batteries, wind turbines and other mainstays of the green energy revolution with photographs by Ashley Gilbertson.
On the Banks of the Furious Congo River, a 5-Star Emporium of Ambition
December 6, 2021
“Brink” will go down as an essential photographic document of a most unusual time in U.S. politics." (paywall)
Photographs from the new book were featured in the exhibition "Present Tense", June 4 - September 8, 2021 at Monroe Gallery of Photography
Via The Briscoe Center for American History
December 9, 2021 – May 8, 2022
LBJ Presidential Library and Museum, Austin, Texas
Great Hall
The LBJ Library is open to the public. Admission tickets must be bought online in advance. For details, please go to https://www.lbjlibrary.org/visit.
“One Night in Miami”: From Photo to Film showcases iconic photos from the Briscoe Center’s collections that inspired key moments in the 2020 film. It features a selection of images from Bob Gomel and Flip Schulke, famed photojournalists whose archives are housed at the Briscoe Center. The photos, many of which have never before been exhibited, depict a young Muhammed Ali (then known by his birth name, Cassius Clay) during the early years of his boxing career.
After his victory over Sonny Liston for the heavyweight championship in Feb. 1964, Ali celebrated with friends and supporters at the Hampton House, a motel in Miami that served as a gathering place for Black entertainers and celebrities. There, Ali was joined by his friends Malcolm X, singer Sam Cooke and football player Jim Brown, among others. The gathering inspired Kemp Powers’s 2013 play, “One Night in Miami,” which was adapted into Regina King’s award-winning 2020 movie. A key scene in the movie recreates Gomel’s photograph of Malcolm X and Ali in the Hampton House diner.
One of the opening scenes of the film was inspired by Flip Schulke’s famous photos of Ali taken in a Miami swimming pool in 1961. The shoot offered Schulke the opportunity to test out his experimental underwater camera setup.
In addition to a selection of rare photos from Gomel and Schulke, the exhibit features equipment from both photographers and related ephemera.
