December 20, 2022 is Tony Vaccaro Day in NYC

 

Photographer Tony Vaccaro, 99, captures ‘beauty of life’ — from WWII to haute couture

 Via The NY Post

December 10, 2022

What began as a childhood pastime in Italy turned into a career that took Tony Vaccaro around the world Photo credit  Manolo Salas

Tony Vaccaro took his first picture when he was 10 years old and living in Italy. He soon started toting a camera everywhere — to school, on camping trips, a visit to the Vatican, and eventually to the frontlines of World War II, where, as an American soldier, he documented the Battle of the Bulge, the Liberation of France and the tragic deaths of his comrades.

After that, Vaccaro vowed he would devote himself not to the brutality of war, but to “beauty.”

“I said to myself, ‘You must photograph those people who give mankind something,’” the 99-year-old photographer, who lives in Long Island City, told The Post. “And I went after them — all of them.”

He sure did: Vaccaro has snapped everyone from Jackson Pollock to John F. Kennedy, Jr., Sophia Loren, Lee Krasner, Frank Lloyd Wright — who gave Vaccaro one of his canes, which the shutterbug still uses today — and countless other luminaries, who often became his friends.

Vaccaro turns 100 on Dec. 20, and a new exhibit celebrates his extraordinary life and career. “Tony Vaccaro: The Centennial Exhibition” runs Dec. 13 to 18 at the Monroe Gallery of Photography pop-up at 21 Spring St., Nolita. It features some two dozen images from a deep body of work, from harrowing war photos to whimsical fashion shoots to portraits of celebrities and artists, including Eartha Kitt and Georgia O’Keeffe.

“In the process of doing that, I hope I gave mankind something back,” Vaccaro said.

Now nearly 100, Vaccaro has snapped countless celebrities, creatives and other luminaries.

Phot credit  Manolo Salas

Vaccaro likes to joke that he has survived the Battle of Normandy and two bouts of COVID, but his entire life story is one of remarkable resilience. Born in Greensburg, Penn., on December 20, 1922, he spent his early childhood in Italy after his family had to flee the States under threat of the Mafia. By the age of 5, both of his parents were dead.

“I was raised by my uncle, who physically abused me,” Vaccaro said. “But he did give me my father’s box camera, and my love for photography was born.”

As fascism swept through Italy, a teenaged Vaccaro went back to the States, reuniting with his two sisters in Westchester County. As an immigrant who didn’t speak English, carrying his camera, which he used to document his classmates and their adventures, made him feel accepted.

As a young immigrant who didn’t speak English, Vaccaro found that his camera helped him feel accepted.  Tony Vaccaro with test strip, NY, 1960

Courtesy Monroe Gallery of Photography

At 21, he was drafted into the US Army. He carried his 35 mm Argus C3, along with his gun, to the frontlines. He used army helmets to develop his film at night and hung the prints on tree branches to dry. He was shot and injured twice and got a purple heart. Afterward, he used his experience shooting on the front lines to bring life and spontaneity to the staid world of fashion shoots, much like Richard Avedon and Gordon Parks.

Vaccaro retired in the 1980s, but he still takes pictures of his 8-year-old twin grandchildren, Luke and Liam (who live in the apartment across the hall from him in Queens), and even photographed the New York City Marathon in November. He also shares an incredible array of vintage snaps on Instagram — @tonyvaccarophotographer — with the help of his daughter-in-law, Maria.

Two weeks ago, he went to the hospital with a burst stomach ulcer, and was still recovering from surgery when he spoke with The Post last week. (His son, Frank, helped Vaccaro form his responses, jogging his memory.)

Still, he has not lost his boundless zest for life.

Vaccaro with a photo of Willem de Kooning — the abstract expressionist artist was one of many 20th century boldface names to befriend the photographer over the years.Manolo Salas

“I feel super,” he said over the phone from his hospital bed, adding that he credits “chocolate, red wine and determination” for his longevity.

“I have been lucky,” he said. “I want the world to know the beauty of life.”

Tony Vaccaro’s “White Death”   Tony Vaccaro, courtesy of Monroe Gallery

Vaccaro snapped this stark photo of a fallen soldier lying face down in the snow before he realized the body belonged to his friend, Pvt. Henry Irving Tannenbaum. More than 50 years later, Tannenbaum’s son Sam contacted Vaccaro to ask about his father, and the two ended up going to the field where he had been killed. “I was confused to find that the field had transformed into a forest — pine trees everywhere,” Vaccaro recalled. “The land owner told us that it wasn’t actually a forest, but that the field is used for growing Christmas trees to be sold in Spain. Can you imagine — tannenbaum means Christmas tree in German!”

Tony Vaccaro’s “Kiss of Liberation,” 1945.Tony Vaccaro, courtesy of Monroe Gallery

Vaccaro often credits this photo of American soldier Gene Costanzo kissing a small French girl in St. Briac, Brittany at the end of the war as his favorite picture. “The day we liberated this small town in France I will never forget,” he wrote in an Instagram post. It was an early summer morning and when news of the liberation broke, women and children flooded the streets. “I was lucky that the French kiss three times [instead of one]. Otherwise I may have missed this warm moment between the soldier and this little girl.”

Tony Vaccaro’s “Defeated Soldier,” 1947.Tony Vaccaro, courtesy of Monroe Gallery

After the war, Stars and Stripes magazine asked Vaccaro to stay in Europe to document the rebuilding of Germany. As he was leaving the US embassy in Frankfurt to pick up his passport, he stumbled upon a German soldier crying outside what was once his home. “He had lost his wife and children,” Vaccaro said. “He had apparently been released from a prisoner camp in Texas or Oklahoma.” The experience of getting to know the enemy made him realize “we all bleed the same blood.” “When we got to know each other we were not much different,” he said.

Georgia O’Keeffe at home in 1960.Tony Vaccaro Courtesy Monroe Gallery of Photography

Vaccaro was assigned to photograph then 72-year-old artist O’Keeffe at her home in New Mexico for Look magazine in 1960. But when he arrived, she refused to look at him. “She was expecting a different photographer,” Vaccaro said. After five days of ignoring him, she mentioned something about Manolette, considered the greatest bullfighter of all time. “I told her that I had photographed Manolette and that I could send her a photograph,” Vaccaro recalled. “So she turned towards me, and for the next two days, never looked, nor talked, to the writer [who had accompanied Vaccaro for the story], Charlotte Willard.” Willard left “in a huff,” and Vaccaro stayed nearly two weeks, snagging scores of intimate portraits.

Gwen Verdon on a New York City rooftop in 1953.Tony Vaccaro, courtesy of Monroe Gallery

The Tony Award-winning actress, dancer and choreographer Gwen Verdon was one of Vaccaro’s favorite fashion subjects. “She was a sensation,” he recalled. “She did anything and tried everything.” The photographer was shooting Verdon for a quickie fashion shoot and had to improvise something on the outside balcony of the 12th floor of LOOK magazine, so he tied a hammock and instructed Verdon to lounge on it. “I also had a basket of apples at the studio that day, and we ended up rolling them all on the floor of the photoshoot.”

Givenchy at home with partner Phillip in 1961.Tony Vaccaro  Courtesy Monroe Gallery of Photography

Vaccaro struck up a friendship with the French couturier Hubert de Givenchy after photographing him and his designs for various magazines. After one shoot, Vaccaro joined Givenchy and his partner Philip by their pool and taught the designer how to use a camera, which Vaccaro of course documented with his own point-and-shoot.

 

Eartha Kitt at Givenchy’s showroom in 1961.Tony Vaccaro, courtesy of Monroe Gallery

Vaccaro caught the frenzy chaos of a fitting with superstar Eartha Kitt at Givenchy’s Paris showroom. To the right, you can spot the shutterbug holding his camera, “just having fun.”
The Fashion Train, New York, 1960

Tony Vaccaro’s “The Fashion Train” 1961Tony Vaccaro  Courtesy Monroe Gallery of Photography

Vaccaro took this picture in 1960 for Good Housekeeping of a fashion model walking through a smoke-filled train. He strove for naturalism in his fashion shoots. “Over time I was able to remove anything artificial – even poses,” he said. “I put my subjects in an environment — their favorite environment — and then I took photos.”

Tony Vaccaro’s “Fun in Finland” 1965. The model on the left, Anja Lehto, would later become his wife.Tony Vaccaro  Courtesy Monroe Gallery of Photography

Vaccaro shot many campaigns for the Finnish brand, Marimekko, mainly because he was in love with one of the company’s models, Anja Lehto, shown here on the left. “I met her in 1961, when LIFE magazine sent me to 57th Street, between Park and Madison, to photograph [the brand],” he recalled. “Girl number one came in, did her walk, girl number three, girl number four — I looked at her and said, ‘That’s my wife.’” It took a couple years and photoshoots — Lehto was married to Finnish royalty at the time — but the two got hitched in 1963 and had two children. (She died in 2013.)
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Tony Vaccaro’s “The Guggenheim Hat” 1960 Tony Vaccaro  Courtesy Monroe Gallery of Photography

Vaccaro had incredible freedom in his photo shoots, and when LOOK magazine sent him this sculptural hat to shoot for a story, he immediately knew he wanted to photograph the model Isabella wearing it in front of his favorite museum, the Guggenheim in New York City.

Tony Vaccaro The Centennial Exhibition New York Pop Up December 13-18, 2022

21 Spring Street, NY

Tony Vaccaro The Centennial Exhibition Santa Fe ongoing through January 15, 2023

112 Don Gaspar Avenue, Santa Fe, NM

Gallery Photographer David Butow's Image from Uvalde Selected As One Of Time's Top Photos of 2022

 

Via TIME

Local children and their parents react to a makeshift memorial in downtown Uvalde, nearby Robb Elementary School, on May 26. David Butow—Redux

View David Butow's gallery prints here

Tony Vaccaro Centennial Events

Tony Vaccaro at LOOK magazine Studio, NY, 1957

 

Saturday, December 10 2:00 - 3:00 p.m. EST: Tony Vaccaro: A Centennial Tribute With The Pollock-Krasner House and Study Center

This special Zoom event celebrates the birthday of acclaimed photographer Tony Vaccaro, who will turn 100 on December 20. Best known for his images of Europe immediately after World War II, Tony later became a fashion and lifestyle photographer. He photographed Jackson Pollock and Lee Krasner in their home and studio in 1953. Family members will present a selection of Tony’s iconic photos, and Joyce will lead a virtual tour of the barn studio where his photos of Jackson and Lee are displayed. Participants are invited to pay tribute to Tony during open sharing.

Zoom registration here

Through Saturday, December 10: Tony Vaccaro 100: A Life of a Photographer from War to Culture at the Museum für Photographie Braunschweig, Germany. Finissage on Sunday, Dec. 10, 2022.

Two new exhibitions will celebrate the 100th birthday of acclaimed photographer Tony Vaccaro in New York City and Santa Fe

December 13 - 18: The Tony Vaccaro Centennial Exhibition NYC Pop Up

21 Spring Street, New York City; open daily 10-5

Ongoing through January 15, 2023: The Tony Vaccaro Centennial Exhibition, Monroe Gallery of Photography, Santa Fe, NM

Please contact the Gallery for further information.

Tony Vaccaro: A Centennial Tribute With The Pollock-Krasner House and Study Center

 

Via Pollock-Krasner House and Study Center

Tony Vaccaro: A Centennial Tribute

 

Saturday, December 10 

2:00 - 3:00 p.m. EST

This special Zoom event celebrates the birthday of acclaimed photographer Tony Vaccaro, who will turn 100 on December 20. Best known for his images of Europe immediately after World War II, Tony later became a fashion and lifestyle photographer. He photographed Jackson Pollock and Lee Krasner in their home and studio in 1953.

Family members will present a selection of Tony’s iconic photos, and Joyce will lead a virtual tour of the barn studio where his photos of Jackson and Lee are displayed. Participants are invited to pay tribute to Tony during open sharing.

Zoom registration here

Related: The Tony Vaccaro Centennial Exhibitions in Santa Fe and New York

Celebrating Tony Vaccaro’s cinematic photography Life behind the lens

 Via Huck

November 24, 2022

Text by Miss Rosen

Photography © Tony Vaccaro courtesy of Monroe Gallery

A new exhibition is marking the photographer’s 100th birthday with a look back at his extraordinary career.

Photographer Tony Vaccaro, who celebrates his 100th birthday on 20 December 2022, has lead a life as cinematic as the pictures he’s made. In honour of his 80-year career, gallerist Sid and Michelle Monroe are curating Tony Vaccaro: The Centennial Exhibition, two major shows in New York and Santa Fe, New Mexico.

Featuring works from the photographer’s storied career, The Centennial Exhibition brings together images made while Vaccaro was serving on the frontlines of World War II, and later as a portrait and fashion photographer for Life, Flair, and Harper’s Bazaar during the golden age of magazines.

Whether photographing fashion designer Hubert de Givenchy in the atelier with Hollywood icon Eartha Kitt or art collector Peggy Guggenheim relaxing in a Venetian gondola, Vaccaro crafted exquisite portraits of the 20th century’s most influential artists, actors, filmmakers, leaders, and luminaries.

Tony’s sensitivity to his subjects was derived from his early hardship as an orphan in Italy,” say the Monroes, who began working with the photographer in 2016. At the age of four, both Vaccaro’s parents died, and he was sent to live with an aunt and uncle. His early years were marked by physical and emotional abuse, and as soon as World War II erupted, he returned to the U.S., the nation of his birth.

Vaccaro took up photography in high school, a skill that served him well when he was drafted to serve in the 83rd Infantry Division, nicknamed ‘Thunderbolt’. As a scout, Vaccaro photographed the frontlines of battle in Normandy, Belgium, Luxembourg, and Germany – despite being wounded twice.

“After the war, Tony replaced the searing images of horror embedded in his memory by focusing on the splendour of life,” say the Monroes. “His experiences left a deep wound in his being, and in response he made a conscious decision to celebrate beauty and creativity.”

Eartha Kitt and Givenchy, Paris, 1961

Comfortable with a full range of cameras in the studio and the field, the photographer could easily adapt to whatever the moment might demand. “Whenever possible, he preferred to spend days, if not weeks, with his subjects, to create a natural relationship between him and his subject,” the Monroes say.

Vaccaro, who has survived two bouts of Covid, remains incredibly active, maintaining his running practice, which he established as a high school athlete in the 1940s. Now enjoying a career renaissance, he has been enthusiastically involved in the exhibition preparations and is excited to share his work with new audiences.

“To this day, Tony speaks passionately about man’s inhumanity to man,” the Monroes say. “He is among the few remaining veterans of an actual fight against fascism, Nazism, and dictatorships.”

They share a quote from Vaccaro, whose life experience has taught him the necessity of unity: “We call each other German, French, Italian. There is no Italian blood. There is no French blood. It’s human blood. On this Earth there is one humanity. In a way, photography was my way of telling the world, ‘We have better things to do that to kill ourselves.’”

Extras on the set of 8 1/2, Lazio, Italy, 1962

Givenchy Paris, 1961

Georgia O’Keeffe Abiquiu Portal, NM 1960

Tony Vaccaro: The Centennial Exhibition is on view November 25, 2022 – January 15, 2023 at Monroe Gallery in Santa Fe, New Mexico, and December 13–18, 2022 at 21 Spring Street in New York City. 

Tony Vaccaro photography exhibits celebrate his 100th birthday

 

Via See Great Art

November 17, 2022

Tony Vaccaro, The Guggenheim Hat, New York, 1960. © ALL PHOTOGRAPHS TONY VACCARO / ALL PHOTOGRAPHS COURTESY MONROE GALLERY OF PHOTOGRAPHY.

Monroe Gallery of Photography will present two major exhibitions celebrating Tony Vaccaro’s 100th birthday. “Tony Vaccaro: The Centennial Exhibition” opens in Santa Fe, NM on Friday, November 25, with Tony Vaccaro appearing remotely live from his New York home at 5:30 pm. The exhibition will continue through January 15, 2023.

A special satellite Tony Vaccaro photography exhibit presented by Monroe Gallery will be on view at 21 Spring Street in New York, December 13 – 18. Tony Vaccaro will be in attendance for a private reception Thursday, December 15, from 5-7 pm.; RSVP mandatory, please contact the Gallery if you’re interested in attending (505.992.0800; E-mail: info@monroegallery.com).

The exhibits span Tony Vaccaro photography 80-year career and feature several never-before-exhibited photographs.

Born in Greensburg, Pennsylvania on December 20, 1922, Tony Vaccaro spent the first years of his life in the village of Bonefro, Italy after his family left America under threat from the Mafia. His mother died during childbirth a few years before tuberculosis claimed his father. By age 5, he was an orphan in Italy, raised by an uncaring aunt and enduring beatings from an uncle. By World War II he was an American G.I., drafted into the war, and by June, now a combat infantryman in the 83rd Infantry Division, he was on a boat heading toward Omaha Beach, six days after the first landings at Normandy. Denied access to the Signal Corps, Tony was determined to photograph the war, and had his portable 35mm Argus C-3 with him from the start. For the next 272 days he photographed his personal witness to the brutality of war.

After the war, Tony remained in Germany to photograph the rebuilding of the country for “Stars and Stripes” magazine. Returning to the US in 1950, Tony started his career as a commercial photographer, eventually working for virtually every major publication: Look, LIFE, Harper’s Bazaar, Town and Country, Newsweek, and many more. Tony went on to become one the most sought-after photographers of his day.

As an antidote to man’s inhumanity, Tony Vaccaro photography focused his lens on those who gave of themselves: artists, writers, movie stars, and the beauty of fashion. By focusing on the splendor of life, Tony replaced the images of horror embedded in his eyes from war. This exhibition illustrates his will to live and advance the power of beauty in the life we all share.

As Tony nears his 100th birthday, he has survived two bouts with COVID-19, and is one of the few people alive who can claim to have survived the Battle of Normandy and COVID-19. He attributes his longevity to “blind luck, red wine” and determination.

“To me, the greatest thing that you can do is challenge the world,” he has said. “And most of these challenges I win. That’s what keeps me going.”

On December 20, Tony Vaccaro celebrates his 100th birthday, an inspiration to us all.

Tony Vaccaro with Test Strip NYC, 1960. Copyright Tony Vaccaro, courtesy Monroe Gallery.

CENTER: Grab a Hunk of Lightning Showing Saturday, Nov. 19

Dorothea Lange: Grab A Hunk of Lightning Teaser Trailer from Katahdin Productions on Vimeo.

 

Via CCA

November 16, 2022

Grab A Hunk of Lightning is narrated and directed by the legendary photographer Dorothea Lange’s granddaughter, award-winning filmmaker Dyanna Taylor, telling the compelling story of the passion, vision, and drive that made Lange one of the most important documentary photographers of the 20th century. On November 19 at 7:30pm, Dyanna Taylor joins us for an in-person Q&A in this special presentation of the film in conjunction with the 2022 CENTER Review Santa Fe Photo Symposium.


While Lange’s haunting image The Migrant Mother is one of the most recognized photographs in the world, few know the full range and depth of Lange’s work or the suffering and sensitivity that drew her to empathize with the people she photographed. Grab A Hunk of Lightning brings the wide scope of Lange’s work and sensibility to the screen.

Tickets here.

New Mexican photographer Gabriela Campos wins first place in Press Association Better Newspaper Contest

 'New Mexican' staffers capture Press Association's General Excellence honor

"Also winning first place was New Mexican photographer Gabriela Campos in the photo series competition."

Tony Vaccaro: The Centennial Exhibition

Via F-Stop

November 12, 2022

 

Tony Vaccaro: The Centennial Exhibition

Santa Fe: Nov. 25, 2022-Jan. 15, 2023

New York City: Dec. 13 - 18, 2022


“Vaccaro is known for his photographs of WWII, which were the subject of a 2016 HBO documentary, and his editorial work for Life, Look, Newsweek, Vanity Fair and countless other publications. The exhibitions coincide with Tony Vaccaro 100! on view at the Museum für Photographie in Braunschweig, Germany. In both locations, Tony Vaccaro: The Centennial Exhibition, will juxtapose the living legend’s powerful war images with the lyrical mid-century fashion, film, and pop culture photographs that came later. Vaccaro will be in attendance for a reception in New York. ”

Monroe Gallery

112 Don Gaspar, Santa Fe, NM
www.monroegallery.com