HAPPY BIRTHDAYS TO GREAT FRENCH PHOTOGRAPHERS LUCIEN CLERGUE AND WILLY RONIS

Willy Ronis

Lucien Clergue

We wish Lucien Clergue and Willy Ronis Happy Birthdays and congratulations on milestones - Clergue turns 75 and Ronis 99 - on August 14.

Lucien Clergue is a fine arts photographer, author, lecturer, educator, and filmmaker. He has enjoyed world-wide success with exhibitions across five continents. In 2003, Clergue was appointed a Chevalier of the French Legion of Honor for his work in the field of photography, and in 2005 he was the Lucie Award recipient for the Lifetime Achievement in Fine Art. In 2007, he was elected into the Academie des Beaux-Arts.

Willy Ronis was born in Paris in 1910, the son of Jewish immigrants from Russia and Lithuania. As a young boy, he worked with his father in the family portrait studio and studied piano. His love of music as well as his early photography work developed Ronis' sense of composition. He followed his passions into a career in photojournalism, and, as a result, Ronis became part of the great Parisian group of documentary photographers that also included Henri Cartier-Bresson and Robert Doisneau. The images created by Willis Ronis capture the simple pleasures of everyday life. Not one to focus on suffering, his' photographs are often light-hearted, humor-filled, and full of compassion even as they capture the delight of French "joie de vivre." As one of the great masters of twentieth century photography his work is in the collections of major museums and private collectors around the world. His work is being celebrated at the 4oth annual Les Rencontres d'Arles festival.

Happy Birthdays!

LIFE PHOTOGRAPHER JOHN DOMINIS' PHOTOGRAPHS OF WOODSTOCK

Life.com has just posted an on-line slide show of Woodstock photographs by John Dominis.

For a few days in August, 1969, on a dairy farm in upstate New York, a half-million young people got together to hang out, dance, and listen to music. Forty years later, for many people, the Woodstock Music & Art Fair is the defining event of the Sixties. For LIFE photographer John Dominis, covering the festival became one of the most moving adventures of an amazing 25-year career. "I was much more interested in the people who were there than the musicians," he tells LIFE.com. "I liked the music okay, but I really liked the kids, and what they were doing, and how they felt about it all. I just wanted to capture that." Here, Dominis' favorite photographs from Woodstock.

"We didn't know that it was going to be a huge event," Dominis remembers, "but I did take with me a wide angle camera for shooting big crowds, just in case. I put that in my kit, and of course I had the chance to use that camera a bit over the course of the three days I was there." To purchase a signed print of this photograph, or other classic John Dominis images, visit the Monroe Gallery of Photography online.

Another renowned LIFE photographer, Bill Eppridge was also at Woodstock. His photographs were recently featured in the New York Times.

NIXON RESIGNS - 35 YEARS AGO

Richard Nixon giving a victory speech, 1968Photograph by Lee Balterman ©Time Inc

It was 35 years ago this weekend that President Richard M. Nixon resigned, ending a bitter and turbulent presidency. It is interesting to re-visit the newspapers of the day, and hear his resignation speech.

As we remember the 40th anniversaries this summer of Apollo 11 and Woodstock, we took a look into the Monroe Gallery archives for a selection of Nixon photographs.


Chinese Premiere Chou En Lai and US President Richard Nixon toast each other, Peking, 1972
John Dominis ©Time Inc.

Photographing protestors at Anti-Nixon rally, Washington, DC, 1968 ©Steve Schapiro

Republican delegation from New Hampshire meet in Shelbourne Hotel's 007 1/2 GoGo Room, where politically attired Go-Go girl dances atop table, 1968 Lynn Pelham ©Time Inc.

AUGUST AT MONROE GALLERY IN SANTA FE

Photo ©Bill Eppridge

July was an extremely busy month in Santa Fe, with dozens of events and activities. August promises to be another active month, with many great events happening.

The current exhibition "A Thousand Words: Masters of Photojournalism" continues. The exhibit is one of the most-talked about exhibits of the year, and has already drawn tremendous acclaim. Monroe Gallery is also featuring a special online exhibition of photographs from 1969. The commemorations for the 40th anniversary of Woodstock have started, last week the New York Times featured the photographs and memories of Bill Eppridge. However, now the New York Times is reporting: "Peace, love, understanding and nostalgia do not seem to be quite enough to resurrect a 40th anniversary version of Woodstock. Michael Lang, one of the event’s original promoters told Rolling Stone magazine that he has dropped plans to put together a third anniversary concert – after ones in 1994 and 1999."

Other highlights in August: The Santa Fe Opera, the Mountain Man rendezvous, Whitehawk antique show, Indian Market (August 22 and 23), and more.

We hope to see you in August!

Missouri School of Journalism Honors Bill Eppridge With Medal

Missouri School of Journalism Honors 7 With Medals

By E&P Staff Published: August 04, 2009

NEW YORK Six prominent media professionals and an online news outlet will receive the Missouri Honor Medal for Distinguished Service in Journalism from the University of Missouri School of Journalism, the school announced Tuesday.

The 2009 medalists will be honored on Tuesday, Oct. 20, on the University of Missouri campus.

They include: Mazhar Abbas, a press freedom advocate in Pakistan; Rance Crain, president of Crain Communications Inc.; Doug Crews, executive director, Missouri Press Association; Photojournalist Bill Eppridge; Rod Gelatt, professor emeritus, Missouri School of Journalism; Deborah Howell, former Washington Post ombudsman and veteran Washington journalist; and Slate, a daily online magazine.

The medalists also will present classes to Missouri School of Journalism students and other guests during Oct. 20. That evening, they will be recognized at an awards banquet at the Donald W. Reynolds Alumni Center on the MU campus.

The medalists are selected by the faculty "on the basis of lifetime or superior achievement in journalism," a release stated.

Note: see previous post about Bill Eppridge's photographs and memories from Woodstock and the 1960's.

RENOWNED PHOTOJOURNALIST BILL EPPRIDGE RECALLS WOODSTOCK ON NEW YORK TIMES "LENS" BLOG

Photo ©Tim Mantoani

The New York Times' excellent photo-blog Lens is featuring a slide show of Bill Eppridge's photographs from Woodstock, along with audio of Bill's recollections. Bill Eppridge is one of the most significant photojournalists of our time, for over four decades he has covered a remarkable assortment of stories for renowned national publications such as National Geographic, LIFE magazine and Sports Illustrated.

His collective assignments read like a list of the most important historical and cultural events from the latter half of the 20th Century. Eppridge recorded the Beatles’ first momentous visit to the United States. He photographed a young Barbra Streisand—living in a tiny railroad apartment in Manhattan—on the verge of super stardom. He was the only photographer admitted into Marilyn Lovell’s home as her husband, Jim, made his nail-biting re-entry into the atmosphere in the crippled Apollo 13 spacecraft. He captured Clint Eastwood on the set of Dirty Harry. He was at Woodstock. And he was in Vietnam. He covered the funeral of civil rights activist James Chaney in Mississippi. His landmark photographic essay on Needle Park heroin addiction won the National Headliner Award and inspired the motion picture Panic in Needle Park, starring Al Pacino. That photo essay is included in Things As They Are: Photojournalism in Context Since 1955, the 2005 ICP award-winning book by World Press Photo.

Eppridge spent much of 1966 and 1968 on the road with Robert F. Kennedy, covering the presidential campaign for LIFE magazine. It was Eppridge who took one of the decade’s most poignant and iconic photographs: a stunned Los Angeles busboy, Juan Romero, cradling the candidate in the kitchen of the Ambassador Hotel, just seconds after he was shot.

Throughout his career Eppridge has been a respected force in training a new generation of photojournalists at the University of Missouri Photojournalism Workshop, as well as at the Eddie Adams Photography Workshop, and Photography at the Summit, in Wyoming. His work has been exhibited at the Smithsonian Museum of American History, the Museum of Television and Radio, the High Museum of Art in Atlanta, the Visa Pour L’Image in Perpignon, France and throughout the U.S. and Europe. A comprehensive exhibit of his photographs of the Beatles are currently on a worldwide tour, and, in the spring of 2008, went on exhibit in the Beatles’ hometown of Liverpool.

Monroe Gallery of Photography is honored to represent the photography of Bill Eppridge. Several of his photographs are featured in the current exhibition, "A Thousand Words: Masters of Photojournalism", on view through September 27.

PHOTOGRAPHER JOE McNALLY ON VISIT TO "A THOUSAND WORDS: MASTERS OF PHOTOJOURNALISM"

Photos courtesy of Joe McNally

We were very proud to have the great photographer Joe McNally in Santa Fe last week, and thrilled when he brought his workshop in to see the exhibit "A Thousand Words: Masters of Photojournalism". In his early days Joe worked at Time Inc., and like us, was fortunate to know many of the legendary Life magazine photographers.

He posted very kindly on his Blog:

"So you know what saved the day? What elevated us all? A visit to Sid and Michelle. The Monroe Gallery of Photography currently has a show called “A Thousand Words.” Walking into those four walls adorned with those pictures is to leave all the other crap behind, and be lifted up by the most beautiful breeze you can imagine. The images cut to the chase and the heart. You get goose bumps. Your eyes sting. You remember why you picked up a camera in the first place.

Sid and Michelle are so knowledgeable, and for them, the pictures on the walls are family, just like the people who made them, though a fair number of those shooters are gone, which makes preserving their legacy all the more necessary. They told my class stories and a bit about their wonderful philosophy, which is, simply put, that pictures are important, and have value.

Bill Eppridge’s pictures from RFK’s campaign are on the wall, and Sid showed the class Bill’s book. In A Time It Was, Bill’s visual record of Bobby’s campaign, is the charred master print of the busboy cradling the senator’s head. It was damaged in the Laurel Canyon fires that swept through Bill’s home, but the core of the image is still there, and the charred edges make that moment all the more searing and painful to look at."

"The lead photo of the show is Eisie’s famous drum major shot. I used to bump into Eisie all the time as he padded the hallways of the 28th floor of Time Inc. “Hello McNally,” accompanied by a fairly dismissive wave of the hand was generally as far as the conversation got. As the story goes, Eisie was waiting at the elevator on 28 with a bunch of other photogs. The doors opened and they all crowded in, the diminutive Eisie found himself in close quarters, surrounded by younger, taller photographers.

He looked around. “I used to be just as tall as all of you,” he said in his German accent. He made a couple dramatic shrugs of his shoulders, the kind of motion you would make if you were carrying something heavy. “The equipment, the equipment,” was all he said."

Thanks Joe!

PHOTO ARTS FESTIVAL IN SANTA FE

As the ninth edition of Art Santa Fe draws to a close, July 24 is the launch of Photo Arts Santa Fe, a ten-day festival, which includes city-wide photography exhibitions and special events in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Local galleries and museums will feature special photography exhibits. Other events include demonstrations, lectures, workshops, portfolio reviews and guided photo shoots. Monroe Gallery will be open daily throughout the festival, and in addition to the current exhibition will be presenting a selection of icons of photography.

Also, as we remember the 4oth anniversary of the events of 1969, Monroe Gallery has a special web-exhibit devoted to Apollo 11 and the other momentous events of the time, of course including Woodstock.

The Opera will continue in full swing. No wonder Santa Fe was again named one of the Top Ten Cities to visit by Travel and Leisure magazine. Hope to see you in Santa Fe!

http://www.monroegallery.com/

MONROE GALLERY AT ART SANTA FE

Monroe Gallery of Photography will be exhibiting again at this year's Art Santa Fe Fair July 23 - 26 at booth #29 .

Art Santa Fe returns in style this season with its 9th edition to be held July 23-26, 2009 at El Museo in the heart of Santa Fe's hottest new district, The Railyard. Art Santa Fe's boutique style offers a perfect balance of breadth and intimacy, allowing visitors to speak to dealers and artists while experiencing a full range of art in a comprehensible context.

Be sure to attend the special presentation by Michael Kimmelman, chief art critic for the New York Times, on Friday.

Monroe Gallery will be featuring a wide selection of photographs by Stephen Wilkes, in advance of his important retrospective at the gallery this October. We will also be featuring a selection of highly significant vintage masterworks of photojournalism in our booth.

We look forward to welcoming you during Art Santa Fe.

MONROE GALLERY EXHIBIT FEATURED ON "PHOTO OF THE DAY"

We were very pleased that Loomis Dean's photograph was featured as the "Photo of the Day" by Photo District News. The exhibit, "A Thousand Words: Masters of Photojournalism,”is a summer show at Monroe Gallery that runs through September 27. Prints of more than 60 iconic photographs are included in the show, including images of JFK, Winston Churchill, Martin Luther King, Steve McQueen, Marilyn Monroe, the Apollo 11 launch and World War II.

Thanks also to Joe McNally for his post on his terrific blog:

"Bound for Santa Fe, home of the Monroe Gallery of Photography, run by the wonderful, decent, and incredibly knowledgeable Sid and Michelle Monroe. The gallery is a breathtaking repository of historically important photojournalism that has transcended categorization and is regarded as art. Art that means something. Art that you can chew on. Whenever I am in Santa Fe, that mecca of all manner of art, and I can’t stand to hear another wind chime, or see another painted cow skull, or see another show of poorly shot photographs printed with the collodion print process (which makes them marred, chipped, aged looking and thus somehow “significant”) I go to Monroe and I wander the room.

And I find I’m looking at my memory, right there on the walls."

Joe is too modest to add that his photographs are represented by Monroe Gallery.