ELISABETH BIONDI | Beyond Words: Photography In The New Yorker

The Embrace, 1952
Photograph by Milton H. Greene

Costume Party, New York, 2002

Photograph by Mary Ellen Mark

Gertrude Stein and Alice B. Toklas at home on the Rue de Fleurus, 1921
Photograph by Man Ray

CURATED BY ELISABETH BIONDI

"Beyond Words: Photography in The New Yorker"

HOWARD GREENBERG GALLERY

"The New Yorker Magazine began to publish photographs in 1992, under the editorial direction of Tina Brown. At that time, the only photographer the magazine employed was Richard Avedon. The first Avedon photograph that the magazine ran was his iconic 1963 portrait of Malcolm X. The exhibition opens with this photograph and from that, an enlightening, visual history of photography in the magazine ensues.

In 1996, Elisabeth Biondi arrived at The New Yorker with a mandate to expand the presence of photography in the magazine. She contracted a small group of photographers to shoot on a regular basis, employed numerous others on an occasional basis and drew from a multitude of esoteric, often historical sources to locate images that richly illustrate the magazine’s multi-faceted content. For fifteen years, Biondi presented photographs that heightened the experience of reading the articles for which the magazine has been respected, treasured and enjoyed.

The work of staff photographers Ruven Afanador, Mary Ellen Mark, Gilles Peress, Platon, Robert Polidori, Steve Pyke, Martin Schoeller, and Max Vadukul, are all represented in the exhibition. From Afanador’s whimsical portrait of Mario Batali, published in the popular “Food Issue” to Polidori’s hauntingly beautiful Havana, Cuba interior and Gilles Peress’ wrenching coverage of Kosovo, these photographers produced pictures that, through publication in the magazine, became permanently etched in our collective, visual consciousness.

Also present in the exhibition are portraits by Irving Penn, William Klein, Duane Michals, Harry Benson, Brigitte Lacombe, Ethan Levitas, and others. The exhibition includes powerful images by some of the boldest photo-journalists of our time: Thomas Dworzak’s work from Afghanistan, Benjamin Lowy’s from Iraq, Marcus Bleasdale’s from Darfur, Samantha Appleton’s from Lagos, Joao Pina’s from Brazil and Ami Vitale’s from Kashmir. The historical section of the exhibition includes rarely seen photographs from the former Soviet Union, the Time Life Archive, Martin Munkacsi, Robert Doisneau, Lord Snowdon, Alexander Liberman, and Horst P. Horst, among others.

The third section of the exhibition includes images from the page at the front of the magazine’s opening section, “Goings on About Town,” which, each week, features a color photograph that in a delightful and quirky manner, illustrates an event occurring in New York City that week. Photographers in this section include Sylvia Plachy, Lisa Kereszi, Brian Finke, Landon Nordeman, Gus Powell, Yola Manakhov, Martine Fougeron and Martynka Wawrzyniak." –Howard Greenberg Gallery, thru October 22

About Elisabeth Biondi on La Lettre de la Photographie

PAOLO VENTURA: Automaton of Venice

The Automaton #2 , 2010

Courtesy of Paolo Ventura / Hasted Kraeutler

The Automaton #1 , 2010

"The fictional story centers around an elderly, Jewish watchmaker..."

Courtesy of Paolo Ventura / Hasted Kraeutler

The Automaton #7 , 2010
Courtesy of Paolo Ventura / Hasted Kraeutler

The Automaton #15 , 2010
Courtesy of Paolo Ventura / Hasted Kraeutler

The Automaton #16 , 2010

Courtesy of Paolo Ventura / Hasted Kraeutler

PAOLO VENTURA
THE AUTOMATON OF VENICE
HASTED KRAEUTLER GALLERY
September 8 - October 15, 2011

"The Automaton of Venice is a photographic narrative from beginning to end. It was created based on a story Photographer Paolo Ventura was told as a child. The fictional story centers around an elderly, Jewish watchmaker living in the ghetto of Venice in 1943, one of the darkest periods of the occupation of the Nazis and the rule of the fascist regime in Italy. The city where the watchmaker has lived his entire life, now desolate and fearful, is the stage where this story unfolds. The old man decides to build an automaton (an anthropomorphic robot), to keep him company while he awaits the arrival of the fascist police who will deport the last of the remaining Jews in the ghetto."

"Ventura’s creative process for The Automaton of Venice was first to write the story as he wanted to tell it through the photographs, then build elaborate models in his studio out of sets and miniature figurines. The final works are the photographs of the scenes created within the models. "

"Paolo Ventura’s work is currently on display in the Italian national pavilion at the Arsenale at the Venice Biennale and in the exhibition Otherworldly: Optical Delusions and Small Realities at the Museum of Art and Design. His works have been acquired by prominent public collections including the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, the Library of Congress in Washington D.C. and the Martin Margulies Collection in Miami, Florida. Two monographs of Paolo Ventura’s work have been published: War Souvenir (Contrasto, 2006) and Winter Stories (Aperture and Contrasto, 2009). He is also included in the new publication Photographic Memory: The Album in the Age of Photography (Aperture/ Library of Congress, 2011)." – Hasted/Kraeutler

HASTED KRAEUTLER GALLERY
537 West 24th St NYC
September 8 - October 15, 2011

HIROSHI WATANABE: 9/11 Remembrance

Ellis Island 2, New York  
Photograph donated by Hiroshi Watanabe

Contributing Artists: Bob Dylan, Pink Floyd, John Legend, Alanis Morissette, Dido, A. R. Rahman, Johnny Cash, Simon & Garfunkel, John Lennon, Jem, Vusi Mahlasela, Dave Matthews, Tim Reynolds, Stevie Wonder, Eva Cassidy, Cindy Lauper, Sarah McLachlan, Tori Amos, Nanci Griffith, Leonard Bernstein, New York Philharmonic, Suzzy & Maggie Roche, Patty Griffin, Nina Simone. 100% of profits go to the 9/11 Memorial. Available on iTunes, AmazonMP3 www.tenyearsonalbum.com (album link no longer seems to be worrying)

HIROSHI WATANABE

SHELBY LEE ADAMS: Salt & Truth

Salt & Truth (Candela Books, 2011)

Angela with Banty Rooster, 2004
Photograph (c) Shelby Lee Adams
Courtesy of the Fahey/Klein Gallery, Los Angeles

Eddies Wayne, 2010

Photograph (c) Shelby Lee Adams
Courtesy of the Fahey/Klein Gallery, Los Angeles

"A native of Kentucky, Shelby Lee Adams has been recording the individuals, families, and communities of Appalachia for nearly forty years. Following word of mouth introductions only, the subjects of Shelby’s portraits are comprised of Adams’ friends and acquaintances from the close-knit families in Appalachia, a historically tight-knit community. Adams approaches his subjects with respect, care, and grace as he is welcomed into their homes and lives."–Fahey/Klein Gallery

SHELBY LEE ADAMS: Salt & Truth
Fahey/Klein Gallery
September 8 – October 15

DANNY LYON: Backs Prison Photography Project

Ramsey Prison Cell Block, Texas Prison, 1968

Photograph (c) DANNY LYON

Signed: Danny Lyon, Six Wing Cell Block, Texas 1968 (verso)

Negative made 1968, 11x14" printed 1995

Prison Photography On The Road

"This is a 1995 modern print made by Kelton. The negative was made by me in 1968. Ramsey Prison Cell Block, Texas Prison, 1968 was published on p.121 of Conversations with the Dead, with the caption ‘Six Wing Cell Block’. List the selling price as $1,750.00. The whole point is to get money for your project.–Danny Lyon to Pete Brook

Join Danny Lyon
BACK THIS PROJECT
here

RALPH EUGENE MEATYARD: Classic Vintage Black and White Prints

Untitled, c. 1960
© The Estate of Ralph Eugene Meatyard,
courtesy Fraenkel Gallery, San Francisco and Gitterman Gallery, New York

Untitled (Zen Twig), 1961

© The Estate of Ralph Eugene Meatyard,
courtesy Fraenkel Gallery, San Francisco and Gitterman Gallery, New York

RALPH EUGENE MEATYARD
SEPTEMBER 14 – NOVEMBER 19
Gitterman Gallery, NY

This exhibition, from a private collection, includes work from Motion-Sound, Zen Twigs, Light on Water and Romances.

EXCLUSIVE: Hey, I Talked To MOBY!

La Lettre de la Photographie: Interview Here

Sept 10 – Oct 22
MOBY at the Kopeikin Gallery, LA

PETE BROOK: 'Prison Photography' On The Road Kickstarter Project

Photograph (c) Jan Sturmann,
from the series Juvenile Prison Sweat Lodge, 2005
8″x10″ color, archival inkjet print. Not editioned. Signed, $50

Photograph (c) Steve Davis
Untitled #1 (Girl with statue), from the series Captured Youth
8x10 on a 10x12 heavyweight archival paper, $300
Special Edition of 4. Signed, $300

Photograph (c) Steve Davis,
Untitled #2 (Boy in green), from the series Captured Youth
8x10 on a 10x12 heavyweight archival paper, $300
Special Edition of 4. Signed, $300

Photograph (c) Lori Waselchuk
Prison Guard Watches from the Levee, Angola Prison, 2007
from her series Grace Before Dying
12″ X 24″ B&W, archival pigment print.
Edition: #2 of an edition of 15. Signed, $400

Photograph (c) Jenn Ackerman
A Hand to Hold, 2008, from the series Trapped
11x14. B&W, archival matte. Edition #2 of an edition of 25. Signed, $600

Photograph (c) Tim Gruber
Sunset Behind Bars, 2008, from the series Served Out
14x11" B&W, archival pigment print on matte paper
Edition #1 of an edition of 25. Signed, $500

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ABOUT PETE BROOK'S KICKSTARTER PROJECT

Pete Brook

Photograph (c) Tim Matsui

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I was honored to be the inaugural Interview by Pete Brook for Wired Raw File's new series, Raw Meet, published six days ago. I first met Pete at the Rubin Museum in New York and over scribbled notes, we became friends.

Pete Brook is from Lancashire, England, now settled in Seattle, Washington. He's a freelance writer, lead-blogger for Wired Magazines Raw File, and author/editor of his own Prison Photography blog. This year Prison Photography was listed as one of the 10 Best Photoblogs by the British Journal of Photography and LIFE.com recognized it with a Best Photo Blog Award.

And now, Pete Brook needs our help funding his time-sensitive Kickstarter project, Prison Photography' on the Road: Stories Behind the Photos, "a 12-week road-trip across America meeting many of the leading photographers who, in the past 40 years, have documented the rise of the U.S. prison industrial complex. He'll also be speaking with some of the leading practitioners in prison arts, prison education and advocacy." Here is a complete list of the over 40 photographers to be interviewed including Danny Lyon, Deborah Luster and Lori Waselchuk, among others.

PLAY PETE'S KICKSTARTER VIDEO

Buy a Print • Pledge $10 up to $1,000

INCENTIVES: This Kickstarter is a little different to others as Pete secured many generous and talented photographers as collaborators who’ve put forth prints to help him raise money. In that there’s only one item for each of the incentive levels above $200, the thing operates like a “buy now”-priced auction. The incentives at $10, $20, $50, $75 and $125 are self-explanatory.

On his Kickstarter page, the prints available are between $200 and $1,000. Every supporter who buys a print more than $200 in value also gets a postcard, mix-tape and self-published photobook Prison Photography in the Era of Mass Incarceration (56 pages). ALL who donate – at any level – become official supporters and have their names listed on his website and in the acknowledgements of the self-published book.

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"This is a journalism project, the product of which is the approximately 40 interviews I will conduct. They’ll be made available, via Creative Commons license, to any and all in the photo and prison reform communities. In addition, my writings will be free to distribute with attribution to interested parties." – Pete Brook, 'Prison Photography' on the Road

LA to NY: New Orleans, NM, TX, CO, AZ, MA, WI, UT, WY...X's mark some of the over 40 stops Pete Brook will make across 8,000 miles of America "to conduct interviews with the most creative, unique and celebrated Photographers who, through their work in prisons, have shaped America's visual culture and the debate on U.S. criminal justice." – KICKSTARTER Prison Photography' on the Road: Stories Behind the Photos

ABOUT PETE BROOK'S KICKSTARTER PROJECT

Back This Project • Pledge $10 up to $1,000

CLINT McLEAN: The Girl Who Married a Snake

Bolivia Salt
Photograph (c) Clint McLean

Elephants, from the series Dubaï World
Photograph (c) Clint McLean

Kumari in Throne
Photograph (c) Clint McLean

Four Brothers and the Hyenas
Photograph (c) Clint McLean

The Girl Who Married A Snake
Photograph (c) Clint McLean

Clint McLean is a photographer and Director of Photography based in Dubaï/Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. Having worked in Canada for many of the major titles, McLean was brought to the UAE to help launch a new weekend magazine. The new magazine won many International Photography Awards before he moved into a role of content creation and launched The National's photography blog NationalView.ae.

McLean is also a fellow correspondent for La Lettre de la Photographie. He's contributed several great pieces from Dubaï, such as Gazelle Samizay’s series Upon My Daughter and Alixandra Fazzina's Escape from Somalia, among others.

Returning to freelance photography and directing, Mclean is working on multiple long-term exhibition projects including ones on Salt and Fables. So far, he's created fable based images in India, Nepal, Afghanistan, Ethiopia and Palestine. And, in case it's not evident, he doesn't use Photoshop for manipulation. There's no cut and paste, etc. The hyenas and the cobra are real and no images are combined.

I spoke with Clint recently and he explained about his ongoing projects:

"Salt is my first long term project. I have been working on it for over three years and there is no end in site. The series is a subtle way of looking at how simple things can have grand beginnings, or how great starts sometimes end humble. The often majestic Saltscapes make the end product seem somewhat pathetic, and emphasize the great changes through scale and context.

Dubaï World is a property development in the United Arab Emirates that never really got off the ground. The developer and the emirate have a great kitsch factor and no sense of irony which allows Dubai World to refer to both the development and the emirate.

The Kumari of Nepal are considered living goddesses and are chosen at about three years old to be spiritual leaders until they reach puberty at which time they return to being regular people. I have been following a number of current and former Kumari in this ongoing project. As in much of my work, there is an 'other-worldliness' to the Kumari which seems part real and part fairy tale.

The Girl Who Married a Snake (fables): This work is a series of staged images based on fables in various countries I have found myself in over the last couple years. The title of the series is taken from the first fable I staged which was in India. Folktales are an interesting insight into a culture, and the work becomes something between fact and fiction. Since the fables are part of the fabric of the society and culture, and the people, locations and props in the images are all authentic, there is a lot of true information in the staged images. Hopefully they help to add some context to places that people often have very narrow views of."

Clint McLean Website

EDWARD RANNEY: Monuments of the Incas

Saywite, 1971
Photograph (c) Edward Ranney

Machu Picchu
Photograph (c) Edward Ranney

Machu Picchu
Photograph (c) Edward Ranney

Ollantaytambo
Photograph (c) Edward Ranney

Machu Picchu
Photograph (c) Edward Ranney

"Edward Ranney has photographed the natural and man-altered landscape for over thirty years, specializing during that period in recording important aspects of pre-Columbian archaeological sites of Peru. His photographs of Inca sites of the Andean highlands were made during the 1970's and published in depth in Monuments of the Incas.

The photographs presented here reflect Ranney's ability to depict the rock shrines carved in situ at many sites, as well as his sensitivity to the Incas unique adaptation to the highland landscape around Cusco.

Individual showings of this work have been presented at the Museum of Modern Art, New York; The Art Institute of Chicago, the Stanford University Art Museum, and the Museum of Fine Arts, Santa Fe, New Mexico. In 1998 Ranney selected and supervised the photogravure printing of ten images of Machu Picchu to accompany the publication by The Limited Editions Club of Pablo Neruda's poem The Heights of Macchu Picchu."–photo-eye Gallery

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photo-eye Gallery, Santa Fe
First Wednesday Photography Salon
Artists Edward Ranney and
Christopher Benson presenting the work of Richard Benson
September 7th, 6:30-9:00

Photographer Edward Ranney will speak about his extensive career as a photographer working in the country of Peru and the American West. Painter, gallerist and custom book maker Christopher Benson will speak about his uncle Richard Benson's career as a photographer, photo historian and author, as well as discuss his own publication company The Fisher Press. In addition to the Salon, Axle Contemporary (mobile gallery) will be parked outside of photo-eye Gallery for a preview of their new exhibition, I Am Animal, Vegetable, Mineral.

SlowExposures PHOTO FESTIVAL: Book Design Workshop

Sept 17th • 9AM - 3PM • Zebulon, Georgia

Self-Publishing Your Photography Book with Elizabeth Avedon
The basic principles of designing your own Photography Book

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Now that artists are able to produce their own hardcover and softcover books online at a relatively low cost, self-publishing has become a popular alternative for photographers. My workshop, "Self-Publishing Your Photography Book," will cover the basic principles of designing your own photography book including; design decisions, sequencing, typography (Serif vs Sans Serif) and the cover. We'll explore what comprises good design from bad, creating a framework for the participant to build upon with their own book project, and briefly discuss the self-publishing companies available. We'll work together and as a group to evolve each of the individual projects. (The workshop will not cover technical questions - pdf-to-book workflow - or software questions). Contact SlowExposures

Be a part of a unique photography scene in the rural American South….

"...every year since 2003, tiny Concord, Georgia, population 336, becomes a photography mecca. “SlowExposures” lures photographers, curators, and editors to look at pictures from the South, to discuss and debate them, and to exchange experiences...Southern conviviality and hospitality create an ambiance that is most of all creative and communicative." –Elisabeth Biondi, New Yorker Magazine (read more)

SlowExposures Schedule of Workshops + Talks

• Sept 16: Opening Reception and Southern Memories Exhibition in the landmark Whiskey Bonding Barn (open to the public, free). Southern Memories is a satellite exhibition, curated by Alabama native and New York photography collector, John A. Bennette. 5-7pm

• Sept 16: Collector's Afternoon with Alex Novak. Photo Roadshow and Lecture 2-5PM

• Sept 17: Self-Publishing Your Photography Book with Elizabeth Avedon: the basic principles of designing your own photography book, including cover and interior design, sequencing, typography 9AM - 3PM

• Sept 18th: Lunch and Learn With Sylvia Plachy: Sylvia Plachy will show slides of her photography, followed by a discussion about what makes a good photograph 1-3:30PM

• Sept 18th: Juror’s Talk (open to the public, free)

MARIA TERESA FISCHER: And the Space Around

Photograph (c) Teresa Fischer

And the Space Around by Teresa Fischer (Blurb, 2011)

"My mother’s mother died in a very unexpected way. This happened a long time ago, and I never got to meet her, but she has always been very present in our family. My mother kept some of her belongings and through them memories were passed on and stories told. And the Space Around is my way of dealing with issues related to death and loss."–Teresa Fischer

"This body of work is a series of domestic landscapes in which Fischer focusing on "objects as containers full of meaning. It takes place inside senior citizen houses where she explores people’s personal space and memories."

Photographer Teresa Fischer is from Puerto Varas, Chile. She graduated with a major in Photography from ARCIS University in Santiago and recently completed her Master of Professional Studies (MPS) in Digital Photography at The School of Visual Arts in New York City. She specializes in Architecture and Interior Photography. Fischer's book, And the Space Around, has been selected as a finalist in Photography Book Now competition's People's Choice Award category.

Teresa Fischer Photography

This work will be exhibited in a group exhibition curated by Michael Foley, October 21 - Nov 12, 2011, SVA Gallery, 209 East 23rd St, NYC.

MELISSA HARRISON: Thesis Project "Muse"

Photograph (c) Melissa Harrison

Photographer Melissa Harrison earned her BFA from The Rochester Institute of Technology before recently completing her Master of Professional Studies in Digital Photography at The School of Visual Arts. While completing her MPS at SVA, she interned at Hearst Magazines photo studios and worked as a freelance assistant for professional photographers in Manhattan.

The SVA Class of 2011 will be exhibiting their work in an upcoming group exhibition, curated by Michael Foley, October 21 - Nov 12, 2011, SVA Gallery, 209 East 23rd St, NYC.

Muse by Melissa Harrison (Blurb, 2011)

"The style of the photographs, deliberately soft and lacking in sharp detail, is meant to represent the elusive nature of creative inspiration...often ineffable." –Melissa Harrison, Muse

MARIANA COOK: Stone Walls

Window and Walls, Machu Picchu, Peru
Photograph (c) Mariana Cook

Terraces. Ollantaytambo, Peru
Photograph (c) Mariana Cook

Limestone Field with Puddle. Inishmaan, Ireland
Photograph (c) Mariana Cook

Stone Walls: Personal Boundaries (Damiani, 2011)

Stone Walls: Personal Boundaries was conceived by Mariana Cook, the last protégé of Ansel Adams, at her home on Martha’s Vineyard on the day before Thanksgiving in 2002. After 56 cows strayed through a crumbling section of the stone wall she shares with her neighbor, Cook studied the tumbled wall and was struck by its beauty. With that inspiration, Cook spent eight years traveling to farms, towns, and temples in Peru, Great Britain, Ireland, the Mediterranean, New England, and Kentucky in pursuit of dry stone walls.

Work by Mariana Cook is in the collections of The Museum of Modern Art and The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; the Los Angles County Museum and the J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles; the Corcoran Gallery of Art and the National Portrait Gallery in Washington, D.C.; and the National Gallery and the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, among others. Previous books: Fathers and Daughters, Mothers and Sons, Generations of Women, Couples, Faces of Science, and Mathematicians. She lives in New York City with her husband and daughter.

Mariana Cook Photography

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Stone Forest
Shiprock, New Mexico
Rock Album Cover Artist
Petroglyph