LIFE: Six Women Photographers

Margaret Bourke-White, photograph from “Franklin Roosevelt’s Wild West,” LIFE, November 23, 1936

© LIFE Picture Collection, Meredith Corporation

Via The New York Historical Society

For the editors of LIFE—the first magazine to tell stories with photographs rather than text—the camera was not merely a reporter, but also a potent commentator with the power to frame news and events for a popular audience. For decades, Americans saw the world through the lens of the magazine’s photographers. Between the late 1930s and the early 1970s, LIFE magazine retained few women photographers as full-time staff or on a semi-permanent basis. LIFE: Six Women Photographers showcases the work of some of those women and how their work contributed to LIFE’s pursuit of American identity through photojournalism. The exhibition features more than 70 images showcasing the extraordinary work created by Margaret Bourke-White, Hansel Mieth, Marie Hansen, Martha Holmes, Nina Leen, and Lisa Larsen.

How were these women part of a larger editorial vision? What topics did they cover, and how did their work reflect—and sometimes expand—the mission of the magazine? The exhibit reveals these photographers’ important role in creating modern photojournalism and defining what LIFE editor-in-chief Henry Luce called the “American Century.” Curated by Sarah Gordon, curatorial scholar in women’s history, Center for Women’s History, and Marilyn Satin Kushner, curator and head, Department of Prints, Photographs, and Architectural Collections; with Erin Levitsky, Ryerson University; and William J. Simmons, Andrew Mellon Foundation Pre-Doctoral Fellow, Center for Women’s History.

LIFE: Six Women Photographers is proudly sponsored by Northern Trust. Generous support provided by Joyce B. Cowin, with additional support from Sara Lee Schup and Jerry Speyer. Exhibitions at New-York Historical are made possible by Dr. Agnes Hsu-Tang and Oscar Tang, the Saunders Trust for American History, the Seymour Neuman Endowed Fund, the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council, and the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew Cuomo and the New York State Legislature. WNET is the media sponsor.

June 28 – October 6, 2019

New-York Historical Society
170 Central Park West
at Richard Gilder Way (77th Street)
New York, NY 10024

Phone (212) 873-3400

Related: The Guardian

'Just the tip of the iceberg': revealing Life's early female photographers

Art Shay Photography Exhibit Illustrates 1960s Civil Rights Movement

Via The University of Memphis

Art Shay

Martin Luther King speaking at Soldier Field in Chicago during a large "freedom rally" which focused on housing discrimination, 1966

June 20, 2019 - The Benjamin L. Hooks Institute for Social Change at the University of Memphis and the Art Museum of the University of Memphis (AMUM) will co-host an opening reception for the exhibit If I Had A Camera - Art Shay: Activism, Civil Rights and Justice Sunday, June 23, at the AMUM from 2-5 p.m.

The exhibition will be open to the media at the opening reception. Media will be permitted to photograph and/or film portions of the exhibit for broadcast purposes.

About the Exhibition

The exhibition, which is open to the public from June 24-Oct. 5, features the photographs of Art Shay (1922-2018), a Chicago-based freelance photographer whose work appeared in Time, Life, Sports Illustrated and many other national publications. In the 1960s, Shay photographed America’s landmark civil rights movement, reflecting a struggle that is not only history but also continues today.

The exhibition includes photographs depicting the 1965 voter registration effort in Fayette County, Tennessee, and the 1968 assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in Memphis.

In addition to the series on the civil rights movement, the exhibition includes photographs of celebrities and historical figures such as Robert Kennedy, James Baldwin and Richard Nixon, and historical events such as the protests surrounding the 1968 Democratic Convention.


Regular museum hours are Monday through Saturday, 9 a.m.-5 p.m.




View Art Shay's photography here.

WORLD REFUGEE DAY JUNE 20, 2019

Via The United Nations

In a world where violence forces thousands of families to flee for their lives each day, the time is now to show that the global public stands with refugees.

2019 Theme: #StepWithRefugees — Take A Step on World Refugee Day

Around the world, communities, schools, businesses, faith groups and people from all walks of life are taking big and small steps in solidarity with refugees. This World Refugee Day, we challenge everyone to join together and take a step with refugees. Join the movement.

Why Do We Mark International Days?

International days are occasions to educate the public on issues of concern, to mobilize political will and resources to address global problems, and to celebrate and reinforce achievements of humanity. The existence of international days predates the establishment of the United Nations, but the UN has embraced them as a powerful advocacy tool. More information available here.

International Rescue Committee

On World Refugee Day #StandWithRefugees.

New York Mets Honor Tony Vaccaro on 75th Anniversary of D-Day

Via US Department of Veteran's Affairs



On June 6th, the 75th Anniversary of D-Day, two WWII D-Day Veterans, Judge Bentley Kassal (103) and Photographer Tony Vaccaro (96) will be honored by the Mets during the mid-day game at Citi Field.


Tony Vaccaro served in the Army, attached to the served with the Intel Platoon of the 83rd Infantry Division, 331 Regiment, Headquarters company, to land as part of the D-Day invasion in Normandy. Vaccaro self-assigned himself the role of photographer while serving in the Army. He was a soldier through the occupation of Germany in 1949 and then transitioned from WWII combat photographer to fashion and personality photographer.

Vaccaro has always lived in the moment, prepared to capture the next human story with his camera. He’s also very good with words, vividly evoking scenes from various periods of his own life. He has known and photographed scores of celebrities and legendary people in the arts like the composer Shostakovich and the French Mime Marcel Marceau and stayed friendly with many of them for decades.

Vaccaro has taken thousands and thousands of photographs, his most famous are Kiss of Liberation (1944) and GI Dead in Snow (1945). In his Long Island studio, the walls are lined with folders of negatives that are in the process of being digitalized. Hanging on the wall are some of his personal favorites, that include a portrait --- of JFK taken at the White House.

Vaccaro went on to make images for the immensely popular LIFE and LOOK Magazines. He married a Finnish model and had two sons. Later, successful and well known, he worked independently.

Today, Vaccaro is kept busy with shows of his work. He is currently still working at his Archives in Long Island City and has many exhibitions all over the world. He let go of his Archives five years ago and let his family take care of his work. HBO did a documentary on Tony Vaccaro called ‘Underfire’ and it was nominated for outstanding documentary at the 2018 Emmy’s. The human stories of his images are timeless and appreciated now as much as they were a generation or two generations ago.


View Tony Vaccaro's photography here.

China sought to bury news of the protests. Jeff Widener’s images conveyed the bloody reality

Jeff Widener/© AP 

A lone man stops a column of tanks near Tiananmen Square, June 4, 1989, Beijing, China

Via The Washington Post


"It has been nearly 30 years since I witnessed the horrific events of June 4, 1989, when Chinese soldiers fired upon pro-democracy students in Tiananmen Square. Though many memories of the protests stir in my brain, it is the laughter that haunts me to this day.

On the evening of June 3, 1989, I stood with two other Associated Press photographers, Mark Avery and Liu Heung Shing, in a small dark office cluttered with humming picture transmitters and strewn camera gear. Low on staff, we had to draw straws to decide who would work the first night shift. I was the lucky victim.

The plan was to monitor the ongoing protests at Tiananmen Square in case anything unusual happened. Soon after, AP reporter Dan Biers and I pedaled our bicycles onto Chang’an Avenue. Though things were initially tranquil on the streets of Beijing, the stillness was short-lived. Small groups of men and women moved silently in the night, carrying large sections of steel road dividers to block the advance of any military threat.

I was traveling light, with my camera gear concealed in my clothing to avoid raising suspicion. From the shadows near the Great Hall of the People emerged an elderly Chinese man with a long white beard and an enthusiastic grin that flaunted two remaining front teeth. He proudly opened his heavy, dark coat and showcased a large silver hatchet that glimmered under the street lamps. Streams of blood trickled down the blade, forming droplets on the ground. In shock, I forced a fake smile and quickly moved on.

Just after midnight, an armored personnel carrier with a frontal machine gun cornered the avenue so fast that yellow sparks flew off the tread. As we ran for cover, I lost a camera lens.

Low on battery power, I was able to take only one flash picture every minute. This was a cruel joke for a photojournalist, and I was contemplating whether to return to the office and resupply when, in the distance, another personnel carrier lurched down the road completely engulfed in flames. Demonstrators were in hot pursuit of the vehicle, shoving large pipes into the treads. I had a single wide angle lens, which meant I had to risk getting dangerously close to the action and a possible exploding vehicle if I wanted to capture the images.

An angry protester stood over a dead soldier while holding a weapon in his hand. Then I spotted another man rolling around on the ground in flames. As a bystander tried to help the victim, all I could do was stare down at the small orange light on the flash that was attached to my camera, waiting for the signal that it was ready.

After what seemed to be an eternity, I finally lifted the viewfinder to my eye. Then, a terrific blow snapped my neck back. Laughter eerily rang out from the opposite side of the street as I struggled to stay conscious. I looked down in a daze at my shattered camera, which was covered in blood. The flash, lens and top plate had been ripped clean off by a piece of cement that was thrown at me.

Dazed and without a working camera, I grabbed a random bicycle from the ground and started heading back to the office.

The scene was chaotic. Buses were burning, and people were screaming while large-caliber machine gun tracers arched over the square. When I finally reached the office, Avery told me not to return to the streets because Chinese soldiers were “killing people.” In the darkroom, Mark salvaged the images I took by extracting the film from the smashed camera with a pair of pliers. Miraculously, the film chamber had remained light-tight.

In the days that followed, my pictures were transmitted around the world, appearing in Newsweek magazine and on the front pages of many other publications. As China sought to bury news about the protests and their violent end, my images conveyed to a global audience the bloody reality. And though my camera was destroyed, its reinforced titanium had absorbed the blow, sparing my life.

Though I still reflect on the protests, and particularly the day I photographed the iconic “Tank Man” image, it is the laughter right after the blow that I recall most.

Jeff Widener is a photojournalist, best known for his image of “Tank Man.”

Read the full article here.

WORLD PRESS FREEDOM DAY IS MAY 3

Via The United Nations

World Press Freedom Day was proclaimed by the UN General Assembly in December 1993, following the recommendation of UNESCO's General Conference. Since then, 3 May, the anniversary of the Declaration of Windhoek is celebrated worldwide as World Press Freedom Day.

It is an opportunity to:


celebrate the fundamental principles of press freedom;
assess the state of press freedom throughout the world;
defend the media from attacks on their independence;
and pay tribute to journalists who have lost their lives in the line of duty.


2019 Theme: Media for Democracy: Journalism and Elections in Times of Disinformation

The 26th celebration of World Press Freedom Day is jointly organized by UNESCO, the African Union Commission and the Government of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia. The main event will take place in Addis Ababa, on 1 – 3 May at the African Union Headquarters. This year's theme “Media for Democracy: Journalism and Elections in Times of Disinformation” discusses current challenges faced by media in elections, along with the media’s potential in supporting peace and reconciliation processes.

EXHIBITION: BOB GOMEL

Black Muslim Leader Malcolm X Photographing Cassius Clay Surrounded by Fans After He Beat Sonny Liston for the Heavy Weight Championship, Miami, February, 1964

 Opening reception with LIFE magazine photographer Bob Gomel

Friday, April 26  5-7 pm

The triumphs and tragedies of the 1960s provided photographer Bob Gomel and his LIFE magazine colleague’s extraordinary opportunities to advance American photojournalism. "LIFE was the world's best forum for photojournalists. We were encouraged to push creative and technical boundaries. There was no better place to work in that extraordinary decade." The exhibition includes images of presidents John F. Kennedy, Richard Nixon, The Beatles, Marilyn Monroe, Malcolm X, and sports figures such as boxer Muhammad Ali, baseball legend Sandy Koufax, and golfer Arnold Palmer. Several unpublished images - including one of 90 heads of state gathered around the catafalque at the Kennedy funeral and another of John F. Kennedy emerging from America's first space capsule at the Johnson Space Center in Houston - are in the exhibition.

Also featured is Gomel's perhaps most known photograph: of then 8 - year old John F. Kennedy Jr. standing solemnly at the funeral ofhis uncle, Robert Kennedy, in front of St. Patrick’s Cathedral in New York. This photograph appeared in a two-page spread in the June 1968 “Special Kennedy Issue” of LIFE magazine.

Bob Gomel was born (1933) and raised in New York City. After serving four years in the U.S. Navy, he was promptly offered a job at the Associated Press. But by then, he had changed his mind about what he wanted to do. “I just felt one picture wasn’t sufficient to tell a story,” he explains. “I was interested in exploring something in depth. And, of course, the mecca was Life magazine.”He turned down the offer from AP, and began working for LIFE in 1959, producing many memorable images. When LIFE ceased being a weekly in the early 1970s, he began making photographs for other major magazines. Also in the 1970s, he branched out into advertising photography. Among other accounts, he helped introduce Merrill Lynch’s Bullish on America campaign.

Bob says, “Each time I raised a camera to my eye I wondered how to make a viewer say, “wow.” What followed were the use of double exposures to tell a more complete story; placing remote cameras where no human being could be; adapting equipment to reveal what could not ordinarily be captured on film. My goal with people was to penetrate the veneer, to reveal the true personality or character. The ideal was sometimes mitigated by circumstances, a lack of time or access. But more often than not what the mind conceived could be translated into successful photographic images. Life Magazine in the 60s sold 8,000,000 copies a week. It was a great honor to be a part of that information highway.”

Two years on: a photographic tribute to Standing Rock

Two Dine woman hold strong in sovereignty, only speaking their 

ancestral language at Turtle Island, Thanksgiving, 2016

Via HUCK Magazine
April 3, 2019

Two years on: a photographic tribute to Standing Rock
‘The fight isn’t over’

Photographer Ryan Vizzions looks back on one of the largest protest movements in American history: what’s changed since, and what he hopes will come next. (click for full article)

Photographs from Ryan Vizzions: No Spiritual Surrender: A Dedication to Standing Rock will be view at Monroe Gallery during The Photography Show presented by AIPAD (April 4–7). He will be signing books on Friday, April 5 at AIPAD. A second signing will be held April 12 at Monroe Gallery in Santa Fe.

Monroe Gallery at the AIPAD Photography Show 2019

Ryan Vizzions: A church flooded by Hurricane Florence stands silently in its reflection in Burgaw, North Carolina, 2018

Santa Fe— Monroe Gallery of Photography will be exhibiting 20th and 21st Century photojournalists and documentary photographers in Booth #706 during the 2019 AIPAD Photography Show. 

Highlights include Ryan Vizzions dramatic photographs from the Dakota Access Pipeline protests at Standing Rock in 2016-7; Vizzions will be signing copies of his new book documenting the protest movement “No Spiritual Surrender: A Dedication to Standing Rock” in the Monroe Gallery of Photography booth on Friday, April 5, 5-7 pm alongside his photographs.

Vizzions photographs of the aftereffects of Hurricane Florence in North Carolina will be also on view together with Stephen Wilkes’ large-format color photographs documenting Hurricanes Sandy and Katrina. These hauntingly beautiful photographs draw the viewer into the larger story of climate change. 

Several photographs of the American civil rights era are coupled with contemporary images from the Black Lives Matter movement, Neo-Nazi protests, and President Donald Trump.

Completing the AIPAD exhibit will be a range of work by Tony Vaccaro, now 96 years old. We are especially excited to have Tony Vaccaro present in our booth for most days of the Show. After photographing WWII as a soldier Vaccaro went on to become one the most sought after photographers of his day and is enjoying a career renaissance.

The term “fake news’ is now commonplace; documentary evidence has been denied or disputed by those in power, and coupled with the US administration's attacks on the press, the work of photojournalists is a reminder that photojournalism is a vital and necessary component of a free society. For further information, please call: 505.992.0800; E-mail: info@monroegallery.com.

For more information including directions to the show, click here.

Ryan Vizzions: No Spiritual Surrender - A Dedication To Standing Rock

©Ryan Vizzions

Protesters face off with police and the National Guard on February 1, 2017, 

near Cannon Ball, North Dakota

Santa Fe--Monroe Gallery of Photography is pleased to announce the release of an important photobook by independent photojournalist Ryan Vizzions documenting the Standing Rock movement. “No Spiritual Surrender: A Dedication to Standing Rock” will be first released at a special book signing during the AIPAD Photography Show in New York at Pier 94. Ryan Vizzions will be signing copies in the Monroe Gallery of Photography booth #706, on Friday, April 5. A second book signing will take place Friday, April 12 in Santa Fe, New Mexico at the Monroe Gallery. (Books are only available for in-person sales at these event, no orders or reserves.) Monroe Gallery of Photography is the exclusive representative for Vizzions’ fine art photography. 

The 11” x 8.5” hardcover bound book comprises 5 visual chapters with 117 photographs across 166 full color pages. Vizzions’ takes the viewer inside the resistance camps, both showing frontline resistance to the pipeline and conflict with the over 50 law enforcement agencies from over 10 states, as well as the spirit and life of the camp itself. Featured in the book are writings by Joye Braun, Paula Antoine, Bobby Jean Three Legs, Waniya Locke, Jennifer Weston, and Morgan Brings Plenty, -   Oceti Sakowin women -  to provide context and history of the Standing Rock reservation.

Between April of 2016 and March of 2017 one of the largest social justice movements in American history took place in the plains of North Dakota on the Standing Rock reservation. With an oil pipeline threatening the drinking water of the Standing Rock Sioux and 17 million people downstream on the Missouri River, thousands of people ascended upon the resistance camps to stand in solidarity with the Lakota Sioux and oppose the construction of the pipeline. From early spring of 2016 to late winter of 2017, over 15,000 people camped in tipis, army tents and vehicles without the use of electricity in an attempt to raise awareness and prevent the possible contamination of Lake Oahe, the source of drinking water for the reservation. Over 300 tribes and indigenous communities traveled to the camps, as well as nearly 4000 veterans and 500 clergy, to stand in solidarity with the NODAPL movement. 

In September of 2016, Ryan Vizzions traveled from Atlanta, Georgia to stand in solidarity with the movement. Bringing his camera with him, but not intending to be a media source, Vizzions soon found himself using social media to reach over half a billion people with his photographic documentation of events unfolding over the months. With viral reach of one photograph in particular, "Defend The Sacred", Vizzions’ photography helped bring awareness around the world to the movement. Vizzions documentation of his 6 months at Oceti Sakowin camp was selected for the "Photos of the Year" by People Magazine, ABC News, The Guardian, Artsy.net; and as well his work has been featured in the Nobel Peace Prize forums, Adbusters, Huffington Post, Mother Jones, Amnesty International and many more publications as well as books such as "The Militarization of Indian Country" by Winona LaDuke & "An Indigenous Peoples History of The United States" by Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz. 

100 advance copies are being made available exclusively through the Monroe Gallery book signing events, and proceeds from these releases will be given to the Water Protectors to help against KXL Pipeline, another oil pipeline threatening the same indigenous lands as DAPL. From the total edition of 2,000 500 books are being donated to Water Protector families across the nation as a thank you for standing in support of the water. On April 1st pre-orders will open to allow the public to access the book.

Signed copies are available from Monroe Gallery of Photography.

Atlanta based photographer Ryan Vizzions first discovered his love for exploration and photography in 2010 while on a self discovery trip around the world. In Atlanta, Vizzions has been named Creative Loafing 2014 "Best Fine Art Photographer" (readers choice), 2015 Creative Loafing "Best Cityscape Photographer" (critics pick), worked alongside international brands such as Adidas and Pharrell Williams, along with local companies such as #WeLoveATL, The Atlanta Opera, Van Michael Salon, and covered many music festivals including Outkast's long awaited reunion series "Outkast ATLast". Hosting his own photo exhibition yearly entitled "Wander Never Wonder", Vizzions connects local photographers, and helps provide a platform for local artists to make money off of their craft. Ryan is also involved with the Atlanta community, often donating portions of his art sales to various local charities and foundations.