WITH HEDDA STERNE'S RECENT PASSING, NINA LEEN'S "THE IRACSIBLES" PHOTOGRAPH IS BACK IN THE SPOTLIGHT


Nina Leen: Life magazine’s portrait of the Abstract Expressionist artists known as ‘The Irascibles,’ 1951. Front row: Theodore Stamos, Jimmy Ernst, Barnett Newman, James Brooks, and Mark Rothko; middle row: Richard Pousette-Dart, William Baziotes, Jackson Pollock, Clyfford Still, Robert Motherwell, and Bradley Walker Tomlin; back row: Willem de Kooning, Adolph Gottlieb, Ad Reinhardt, and Hedda Sterne




Hedda Sterne, an artist whose association with the Abstract Expressionists became fixed forever when she appeared prominently in a now-famous 1951 Life magazine photograph of the movement’s leading lights, died on Friday at her home in Manhattan. She was 100.

Read the full New York Times Obituary here.


Sterne's passing has resulted in Nina Leen's photograph being published in numerous articles and obituaries about Sterne. In December, 2010 The New York Review of Books had this long essay by Sarah Boxer explaining her life, art and why she did not have the same career as the others in this famous photograph.


Opening May 6, Monroe Gallery of Photography presents "Composing The Artist". This exhibition of classic photographs portrays iconic Artists and Writer, and will include Nina Leen's historic photograph.

APRIL 12, 1945: FRANKLIN D. ROOSEVELT DIED

Ida Wyman: Men of the Garment District Read of President Roosevelt's Death, NYC, 1945

On the afternoon of April 12, 1945, President Franklin D. Roosevelt said, "I have a terrific pain in the back of my head." He then slumped forward in his chair, unconscious, and was carried into his bedroom. The president's attending cardiologist, Dr. Howard Bruenn, diagnosed a massive  cerebral hemmorrhage. At 3:35 pm that day, Roosevelt died.

Ed Clark: Navy CPO Graham Jackson Playing "Going Home" as President Roosevelt's Body is Carried, Warm Springs, GA, April 13, 1945

On the morning of April 13, Roosevelt's body was placed in a flag-draped coffin and loaded onto the presidential train. After a White House funeral on April 14, Roosevelt was transported back to Hyde Park by train, guarded by four servicemen from the Army, Navy, Marines, and Coast Guard. Roosevelt was buried in the Rose Garden of the Sprinwood Estate, the Roosevelt family home in Hyde Park on April 15.

Roosevelt's death was met with shock and grief across the U.S. and around the world. His declining health had not been known to the general public. Roosevelt had been president for more than 12 years, longer than any other person, and had led the country through some of its greatest crises to the impending defeat of Nazi Germany and to within sight of the defeat of Japan as well.


Less than a month after his death, on May 8, came the moment Roosevelt fought for: V-E Day.

An editorial by The New York Times declared, "Men will thank God on their knees a hundred years from now that Franklin D. Roosevelt was in the White House."

thewhitehouse.gov: Franklin D. Roosevelt

Preview: Richard C. Miller, Monroe Gallery, Santa Fe

Via BWGallerist : Black and White Fine Art Photography
April 11, 2011


Preview: Richard C. Miller, Monroe Gallery, Santa Fe

Richard C. Miller: ”James Dean at Juke Box during the filming of ‘Giant’”

One of the best galleries to find a combination of Black and White masterworks and photographs with a human focus is The Monroe Gallery in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

Currently they are featuring the work of Richard C. Miller :

From 1955 to 1962, Miller was on retainer at Globe Photos, covering the entertainment industry and more than seventy films. After this stint he returned to freelance and became friends with celebrities such as James Dean. Never one for self-promotion, Miller rarely exhibited his work; the work, he figured, should speak for itself. In the spring of 2009, Richard C. Miller’s photographic career was given long overdue recognition with an exhibition at the Getty Museum.

Feb 11 through April 24, 2011

For more information: Monroe Gallery of Photography

APRIL IN HISTORY: THE LIBERATION OF BUCHENWALD

Margaret Bourke-White: Buchenwald Prisoners, 1945 (©Time Inc.)

A detachment of troops belonging to the US 9th Armored Infantry Battalion, 6th Armored Division of the US Third Army, arrived at Buchenwald on April 11, 1945 under the leadership of Captain Frederic Keffer.

Impending victory was sobered by the grim facts of the atrocities which allied troops were uncovering all over Germany. Margaret Bourke-White was with General Patton's third army when they reached Buchenwald on the outskirts of Weimar. Patton was so incensed by what he saw that he ordered his police to get a thousand civilians to make them see with their own eyes what their leaders had done. The MPs were so enraged they brought back 2,000. Bourke-White said, "I saw and photographed the piles of naked, lifeless bodies, the human skeletons in furnaces, the living skeletons who would die the next day... and tattooed skin for lampshades. Using the camera was almost a relief. It interposed a slight barrier between myself and the horror in front of me." LIFE published in their May 7, 1945 issue many photographs of these atrocities, saying, "Dead men will have indeed died in vain if live men refuse to look at them."

Margaret Bourke-White prepares to take a photo of corpses, April 16, 1945

Photo Credit: USHMM

 The Buchenwald and Mittelbau-Dora Memorials Foundation

SOTHEBY'S PHOTO AUCTION UPDATE

Via I Like To Watch

Auction Hero: Calhoun Daguerreotype Sells for $338,500

John C. Calhoun by Mathew Brady, 1849

 

I don't get to do much breaking news here, but this morning I attended the morning session of Sotheby's spring photography auction in New York, where a 1849 daguerreotype of the great American politician John C. Calhoun sold for $338,000.


If you believe--as I sort of do--that art sales results reflect the overall state of the economy, then the morning session today indicates that we are well underway with recovery from the financial perils of 2008. Buyers seem to be sticking with the classics, though, just in case the rug gets pulled out again: A circa-1960s print of Ansel Adams's "Mount Williamson, Sierra Nevada, From Manzanar, California," sold for $182,500, and Edward Weston's "Dunes, Oceano," shot in 1936 and printed in the 1940s, went for $158,500.

"Mount Williamson, Sierra Nevada, From Manzanar, California," by Ansel Adams

"Dunes, Oceano," by Edward Weston

As is typical these days, the auction gallery at Sotheby's was sparsely populated--perhaps 50 to 75 bidders on hand. (My friend Stephen Perloff, who edits The Photograph Collector newsletter, likens auctions these days to a Mets game in September.) But there was plenty--plenty--of auction action phone bidders. Denise Bethel, head of Sotheby's photography department, handled it all with aplomb from her podium, her voice sometimes sounding like one of those police dispatchers in old movies (Lot 41...Timothy O'Sullivan...Canyon de Chelle...thank you...over and out...").

The big dag of the day was made by Mathew Brady in 1849. The image became one of his most famous portraits, noted for the way it captured Calhoun's penetrating gaze (or as my son Henry would say, his "crazy-ass eyes.") It was widely printed and was used as the basis of a painting by Henry Darby that is now owned by the U.S. Senate. The actual object for sale here--the daguerreotype--was only recently rediscovered, according to Sotheby's.

High prices at auction often simply reflect the competition between two motivated bidders, and that seemed to be the case with this lot. But objects like this, in their rarity, have intrinsic historical value. Calhoun was a giant of American politics, a cngressman, senator, secretary of war under James Madison and vice president under both John Quincy Adams and Adams's archrival Andrew Jackson. He was a great orator in an era of oratorical greatness, parrying with Daniel Webster and Henry Clay. He was a champion for his state, South Carolina, which at the time was pushing the idea of nullification--whereby states could ignore federal laws they didn't like. Jackson killed that effort, saving the union for another 30 or so years.

All in all, an interesting morning.

WSJ: A Star-Filled Spring of Photo Auctions

The Wall Street Journal

Auctions at three major New York houses next week are headlining some of photography's stellar names—as well as a collection that once decorated the walls of a giant trucking company.


The wealth of offerings follows the recent rebound of other parts of the art market from the 2008 recession, with potential sellers now sensing that they can get top dollar, says Sarah Hasted, co-owner of photography specialist Hasted Kraeutler Gallery.

The auctions, at Sotheby's, Christie's and Phillips de Pury & Co., feature landmark works from Robert Frank, Irving Penn, Richard Avedon, Man Ray, Ansel Adams and Robert Mapplethorpe. These auctions generally occur every spring and fall.

On the front and back of its 173-work catalog for its April 6 auction, Sotheby's has put two Man Ray photos from the 1930s noted for their abstract, contemporary feel. "Photomontage with Nude and Studio Light," using two negatives sandwiched together, is a classical study of a female torso combined with a distorted image of Man Ray's studio. One can see his camera, a naked light bulb dangling from the ceiling, and even the slippered feet of the artist, an American who spent most of his career in Paris. Sotheby's expects the photo to sell for at least $100,000.

Man Ray's "Solarized Male Torso" uses a method known as solarization, introducing light as part of the developing process, and is projected to bring at least $70,000.

Overall, Sotheby's expects to take in between $2.8 million and $4.3 million. These photos are open for public viewing starting Saturday.

At Christie's, a highlight is the 130-image Consolidated Freightways collection, put together in the 1980s by the trucking company now known as Con-way Inc.


The theme is America's love affair with the highway, photos that could have been taken from the cab of a truck, and it includes such classics as Ansel Adams's 1953 "Coastal Road," showing a lonely stretch of highway with hills in the distance, and Robert Frank's "U.S. 285, New Mexico," a 1956 photo focusing on the center strip of a highway at what appears to be dusk.

"This was the corporate collection, hanging on the walls of the company's offices," says Laura Paterson, a Christie's photography specialist. Christie's is selling the collection as individual photos and expects it to bring at least $975,000.

The Phillips sale includes some classic photos, such as the 1987 "Flag" by controversial artist Robert Mapplethorpe, known for his frank nudes, flower still lifes and celebrity portraits.

Another Phillips photo is "A Jewish Giant at Home With His Parents in the Bronx," a 1970 photo by Diane Arbus, who specialized in the abnormal. This one shows a mother and father looking up at their giant son, whose head almost reaches the ceiling of the room.




What is expected to be one of the highest-priced photos of the week, selling for at least $200,000, is Cindy Sherman's 1993 "Untitled #278," showing a dissolute-looking woman sitting in a leopard-skin chair, interpreted as a critique of the fashion industry. Ms. Sherman, as usual, posed for it herself.

Cindy Sherman's 1993 'Untitled #278' is expected to sell for at least $200,000.

Photos are proving increasingly attractive to collectors, Christie's Ms. Paterson says. "As the price of paintings have become incredibly expensive," she added, "a lot of people have moved into photography as something that's affordable and still decorative."


Click here for the article with video link:  John Arena, senior vice president at U.S. Trust, explains how ultra-high-net-worth investors can leverage their existing art collection to raise cash. Dow Jones Wealth Adviser's Veronica Dagher reports.

APRIL 4, 1968: DR. MARTIN LUTHER KING ASSASSINATED

Joseph Louw:  Dr. Martin Luther King assassination, Memphis,Tenn., April 4, 1968

Steve Schapiro: Martin Luther King Jr's Motel Room Hours After He Was Shot, Memphis, Tennessee 1968

Established in 1968 by Coretta Scott King, The King Center is the official, living memorial dedicated to the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

PEOPLE MAGAZINE ELIZABETH TAYLOR SPECIAL ISSUE CORRECTION!

The special issue of People magazine dedicated to Elizabeth Taylor had a wealth of great photographs of the iconic star, including this classic by Richard C. Miller:

James Dean and Elizabeth Taylor take a weekend break in Houston from filming "Giant", 1955

Unfortunately, as many of our friends have pointed out, much of the caption information in the special issue was wrong. Eagle-eyed readers noted that People was off on a few details -  it was not Dallas, it was Houston. It was not the set, since the set of Giant was in Marfa. It was at a friend's home in Houston.

This photograph is included in the current exhibition "Richard C. Miller: 1912 - 2010" through April 24. Come see it! 

Increased Attendance, Strong Sales Reported at the AIPAD Photography Show New York

Via artdaily.org

NEW YORK, N.Y.- Attendance was up at The AIPAD Photography Show New York at the Park Avenue Armory, which closed on Sunday, March 20, with strong sales and rave reviews. The Show, presented by The Association of International Photography Art Dealers (AIPAD), was held on four sunny days from Thursday, March 17, through Sunday, March 20, 2011. More than 10,000 visitors (up from 8,300 last year) viewed work -including contemporary, modern and 19th century photographs, as well as photo-based art, video and new media -- from 79 of the world’s leading fine art photography galleries.


The 31st edition of The AIPAD Photography Show New York opened with a well- attended Gala Preview on Wednesday, March 16 to benefit the John Szarkowski Fund, an endowment for photography acquisitions at The Museum of Modern Art in New York City. The Gala and the Show drew a glittering crowd that included celebrities, major art collectors and leaders from the worlds of art, business, entertainment, fashion, and the media.

Among the notable attendees of the show were Jessica Lange, Michael J. Fox and Tracy Pollan, Matt Dillon, Fisher Stevens, Anderson Cooper, Joel Coen, Vicente Wolf, Alec Soth, George Tice, Meghan Boody, Shirin Neshat, Larry Fink, Elliot Erwitt, Brian Wallis, Simon Baker, Roxana Marcoci, Britt Salvesen, Matthew S. Witkovsky, Christiane Fischer, Marie Brenner, Anthony Haden-Guest, Bruce Davidson, Beth DeWoody, Anthony d'Offay, Dan Greenberg, Richard Prince, Gerhard Steidl, Edward Robinson, Mark Seliger, Bill Cunningham, Vicki Goldberg, Sondra Gilman and Celso Gonzales-Falla,Robert and Richard Menschel, and Larry Gagosian.

In addition to The Museum of Modern Art, New York, many other major institutions were represented among those attending including The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; International Center for Photography, New York; Los Angeles County Museum of Art; The J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles; San Francisco Museum of Modern Art; The Art Institute of Chicago; George Eastman House, Rochester, NY; Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston; Rhode Island School of Design Museum of Art, Providence; Milwaukee Art Museum; Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City; Saint Louis Art Museum; Minneapolis Institute of Art; Corcoran Gallery of Art and the National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC; National Gallery of Canada, Ontario; and Tate, London.

Show Highlights

“The attendance was off the charts and the sales were great,” raved Robert Mann, Robert Mann Gallery, New York. “I think it’s the best show I ever had,” noted Keith de Lellis, Keith de Lellis Gallery, New York, echoing a number of other dealers. “The quality of the fair is up because people are taking it more seriously,” explained Michael Hoppen, Michael Hoppen Gallery, London.

Bryce Wolkowitz, Bryce Wolkowitz Gallery, New York, noted that AIPAD was “over the top. We did even better than we did at the pier show the week before last. We met new European and international collectors, and sold 12 works including a new media work by Jim Campbell for $75,000, and “lighting books” by Airan Kang for $5,000.” HackelBury Fine Art Limited, London, sold multiple works by Doug and Mike Starn in the $20,000 to $80,000 range.

Robert Klein, Robert Klein Gallery, Boston, said, “It was the best ever. There was a good balanced cross section of curators, old collectors and new buyers.” He sold silver prints by Irving Penn for $95,000 and Francesca Woodman for $50,000. “We did better than ever,” noted Roland Baron, Gallery 19/21, Guilford, CT. “Collectors were much more open to buying. Either the crisis is over are people are saying the heck with the crisis. We sold works by Mario Giacomello, of which we’re known to have a large stock.” Monroe Gallery of Photography, Santa Fe, sold a number of silver prints by Bill Eppridge and others top photographers depicting civil rights issues. The gallery also found success with photographs by Stephen Wilkes for $16,500 to $18,500.

“It was an incredible show,” said Bruce Silverstein, Bruce Silverstein Gallery, New York. “We are thrilled. We sold work by Frederick Sommer, Man Ray, Henry Moore, and Diane Arbus.” Weinstein Gallery, Minneapolis, reported that it was an excellent show and that their one-person exhibition of work by Alec Soth did very well. Richard Moore, Richard Moore Photographs, Oakland, CA, said it was a great show and sold more than 14 works ranging from $1,800 to $7,500, including a Walker Evans to an institution.

Galerie Priska Pasquer, Cologne, Germany, reported interest from museums and sold more than 10 works by Japanese artists including two prints by Lieko Shiga, of which 100 percent of the profits will be donated to a Japanese charity to aid victims of the earthquake and tsunami.

Deborah Bell, Deborah Bell Photographs, New York, felt AIPAD presented the best- looking show in memory and sold work by Andy Warhol, Marcel Broodthaers, and G. P. Fieret, ranging from $6,000 to $15,000. “There were serious collectors who have been active since the 1970s, as well as museum curators, consultants and new clients in their 30s and 40s.”

“We’re pleased with the buying atmosphere in New York,” noted Missy Finger from PDNB Gallery, Dallas. “It seems the city is out of the recession.” The gallery sold work by Esteban Pastorino Diaz, Peter Brown and John Albok. Verve Gallery of Photography, Santa Fe, noted that collectors were “knowledgeable and well rounded,” and sold more than 35 photographs. Winter Works on Paper, Brooklyn, sold nearly 70 works ranging from $100 to $2,500, including work to five museums.

“Exhibitors had high expectations for the AIPAD Show this year, which were all met,” noted Stephen Bulger, Stephen Bulger, President, AIPAD, and President, Stephen Bulger Gallery, Toronto. “It was one of the largest and most enthusiastic gatherings of serious photography collectors in recent memory. Attendance was particularly strong with first time buyers, as well as established collectors. People are already buzzing with anticipation for 2012.”

Pictures, Letters, and Case Files of Martin Luther King Assassin Shown in Online Museum

James Earl Ray is being transported in Memphis, Tennessee this 1968 photo released by the Shelby County Register's office on March 31, 2011. A Memphis county official has opened an online museum of case files, personal correspondence and little-seen black-and-white images chronicling the jail time of James Earl Ray, who killed civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. 43 years ago this Monday. REUTERS/Shelby County Register of Deeds.





By: Tim Ghianni
Via artdaily.org


NASHVILLE, TN (REUTERS).- A Memphis county official has opened an online museum of case files, personal correspondence and little-seen black-and-white images chronicling the jail time of James Earl Ray, who killed civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. 43 years ago this Monday.

"This is not just an incredible part of Shelby County history and Tennessee history, but national and world history," said Tom Leatherwood, 54, Shelby County register of deeds.

The Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. was gunned down by Ray at the city's Lorraine Motel, sparking unrest across the country and an international manhunt for the killer.

The "museum" can be visited at register.shelby.tn.us. Scroll down below the "archives" section to find the "Martin Luther King Assassination Investigation" link, highlighted in small yellow print.

Making these mostly unseen images and documents available to the public is part of Leatherwood's effort to get the city's historical and genealogical records online and accessible.

One section of the site contains a mammoth batch of documents of the killer's legal proceedings Leatherwood found in 2007.

"I was walking through with a county archivist to try to organize and identify material. We saw this package and we turned it over and we saw 'James E. Ray,'" Leatherwood recalled. "That was a pretty exciting moment for someone who likes history and archives."

He says it took this long to make the records accessible because he needed to get permission from the public defender's office to post files detailing efforts by Ray's attorneys.

Memphis photographer Gil Michael, 77, was caught off-guard when he saw that the site contained photos of Ray that he took on the night he was booked.

Michael, then director of photography for the University of Memphis, was asked by the sheriff's office to volunteer his time and take pictures to be distributed to news outlets. "It wasn't feasible to have tons of media in there," said Michael, who Ray tried to kick as he was shooting a picture.

Michael has asked about the photos and the negatives over the years and was told no one could find them. Now that some are on display, he wonders if he has any legal claim to ownership and if the negatives are anywhere to be found. Michael said he is mainly interested in being credited for his work.

Leatherwood was in grade school at the time of the assassination, and remembers the turmoil.

"I remember the National Guard had been called out. There were soldiers with rifles and soldiers going around in Army trucks... " Leatherwood said. "It was a very tumultuous time."

Ray pleaded guilty, though he recanted and unsuccessfully fought to clear his name. He died in prison in 1998.

(Writing and reporting by Tim Ghianni; editing by Mary Wisniewski and Greg McCune)