Posts from the “Photography” Category

Danny Lyon: Message to the Future

Posted on July 7, 2016

Artwork: Danny Lyon, “Tesca, Cartagena, Colombia,” 1966. Cibachrome, printed 2008. Image 25.7 × 25.7 cm (10 1/8 × 10 1/8 in.). Collection of the artist.

Danny Lyon does it like nobody else. Born in Brooklyn in 1942, he transformed photography into one of the most astounding arts of documentary possibilities. A self-described “dissenter in my own country,” Lyon took to the edges of American life to document the country from the inside out, removing the veils of appearance politics to reveal the truth about this country in black and white like no one before—or since.

A self-taught photographer, filmmaker, and writer, Lyon’s work exemplifies the best aspects of New Journalism. Forsaking the industry’s so-called “objectivity” in favor of using the media as a means to an ends greater than the story itself. Whether on the front lines of the Civil Rights movement or behind the bars of the Texas State Penitentiary, Lyon used photography to bear witness to causes, movements, and historical moments that were happening in the here and now.

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Categories: 1960s, 1970s, 1980s, 1990s, Art, Books, Crave, Exhibitions, Photography

Mel Rosenthal: In the South Bronx of America

Posted on June 23, 2016

Photo: The daily domino game in front of the Social Club. 1976-1982. Gelatin silver print. Museum of the City of New York, Gift of Roberta Perrymapp, 2013.12.28. © Mel Rosenthal.

Politicians leave a paper trail by which we can reflect on the historic record as it was put into play by policy decisions that are criminal minded. In 1970, New York Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan took a proposal to the Nixon White House that he described as “benign neglect.” Moynihan advocated for the government to withdraw from dealing with the systemic issues plaguing the African American community, and in doing so, services were suspended in neighborhoods where they needed it most. In its place Moynihan advocated for increased surveillance and “studies,” much like the nonsense he was pedaling here.

But this being Tricky Dick Nixon, the message was warmly received, ushering in more than a decade of psychopathic patriarchy—which included the blind eye turned as landlords hired arsonists to burn down buildings in order to collect the insurance money, leaving neighborhoods in ruins. A war was being waged in plain sight, but there was nothing that could be done until the land was ravished completely. Between 1970 and 1980, 44 census tracts in the Bronx lost more than half of their buildings to fire and abandonment, with seven tracts losing a staggering 97%.

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Life carries on in the War Zone. 1975-1981. Gelatin silver print. Museum of the City of New York, Gift of Roberta Perrymapp, 2013.12.1

Categories: 1970s, 1980s, Art, Bronx, Crave, Exhibitions, Photography

Bruce Davidson: Magnum Legacy

Posted on June 20, 2016

Photo: Bruce Davidson USA. New York City. 1980. Subway. ©Bruce Davidson/Magnum Photos, courtesy of Prestel.

“When I was a kid, I played baseball and you heard the sound the bat made when it really connected with the ball; you knew you had a great hit. It’s the same with photography: sometimes you hear that click of the shutter and you know you’ve caught something really special,” observes American photographer Bruce Davidson (b. 1933).

Davidson, a member of Magnum Photos since 1958, authored some of the most seminal monographs of the twentieth century including Brooklyn Gang, East 100 Street, and Subway. He is now the subject of a new book, Bruce Davidson: Magnum Legacy by Vicki Goldberg (Prestel), which explores the photographer’s life work in photography. Davidson speaks with Crave about his work and about the magic of photography that kept him hooked in a career that spans six decades.

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Categories: 1960s, 1970s, 1980s, Art, Books, Brooklyn, Crave, Manhattan, Photography

Who I Am: Rediscovered Portraits from Apartheid South Africa

Posted on June 16, 2016

Photo: S. J. Moodley, [Boy with sunglasses in a chair], ca. 1978. Courtesy The Walther Collection.

South African photographer Singarum “Kitty” Jeevaruthnam Moodley was born into an Indian family in the province now known as KwaZulu-Natal in 1922. At the age of 35, he left his job working as a machinist in a shoe factory to establish Kitty’s Studio, a family-run photographic studio in the mid-sized city of Pietermaritzburg, which he ran for three decades, until his death in 1987.

After his death, many of the studio’s negatives were purchased by the Campbell Collections in Durban, now part of the University of KwaZulu-Natal. Those deemed incompatible with the historical collection were culled from the archive and some 1,400 negatives were ultimately acquired by Columbia University professor Dr. Steven C. Dubin—and thus a legacy has been cultivated and preserved.

Dr. Dubin has co-organized a new exhibition of work, Who I Am: Rediscovered Portraits from Apartheid South Africa, now on view at The Walther Collection Project Space, New York, through September 3, 2016. The portraits were taken between 1972 and 1984, offering a new look at the history of South Africa. A passionate community activist and fervent opponent of apartheid, Kitty’s photographs speak to the love and high regard he held for his fellow wo/man.

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S. J. Moodley, [Three men dancing in a line], 1975
Read more at http://www.craveonline.com/art/996071-secret-histories-real-south-africa-seen-man-called-kitty#TEp93rt5prHJ3TQa.99. Courtesy The Walther Collection.

Categories: 1960s, 1970s, 1980s, Africa, Art, Crave, Exhibitions, Photography

Kareem Black: Roots

Posted on June 15, 2016

Photo: Michael James Shaw as Marcellus and Marcellus Anika Noni Rose as Kizzy. ©Kareem Black.

Alex Haley’s Roots: The Saga of an American Family was first published nearly forty years ago, on August 17, 1976. Weighing in at 704 ages, the book was a heavyweight moment in publishing, a triumph of American literature in the late twentieth century. Roots tells the story of Kunta Kinte, an African boy sold into slavery and brought to the United States in the 18th century, tracing the family’s lineage all the way to Haley himself. The story is a masterful work of reportage, one that earned Haley a Pulitzer Prize in 1977.

That year, ABC TV staged a landmark event. From January 23–30, it aired a twelve-hour mini series over eight consecutive nights. The nation was spellbound and followed the show to the very end. One hundred million people tuned in for the finale. That’s right. 100 MILLION—almost half the country! To this day, the finale of Roots holds the distinction of being third highest rated episode of any kind in television history. Never had American television taken on African American history like this. With a cast that included LeVar Burton, John Amos, Ben Vereen, Louis Gosset, Jr., Leslie Uggams, and Vic Morrow, Roots took a docudrama approach to filming, creating a singular style the influenced later productions. Winning 9 of its 37 Emmy Awards nominations, Roots set the bar for great television.

Forty years later, Roots has returned, with a remake that aired May 30–June 2, 2016, on History, A&E, and Lifetime. Starring Malachi Kirby, Forest Whitaker, Anna Paquin, Lawrence Fishburne, Jonathan Rhys Myers, Anika Noni Rose, and T.I., the remake 8.5 million people on the opening night, the biggest draw for a cable miniseries in three years. The remake dropped characters added to the 1977 series that were not in the book, like Ed Asner’s Captain Davies, the savior of white guilt, while adding layers of realism to the depictions of African tribes, life on plantations, and life for black soldiers in the Union army.

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Categories: Art, Crave, Photography

Unruly Bodies: Dismantling Larry Clark’s Tulsa

Posted on June 13, 2016

Larry Clark, Untitled, 1963, from the series “Tulsa,” 1963-71. © Larry Clark; Courtesy of the artist and Luhring Augustine, New York.

In 1971, America photographer Larry Clark published Tulsa with Lustrum Press, owned by Ralph Gibson, sparking a wave of controversy across the nation. The book, which features fifty black and white photographs taken by Clark in 1963, 1968, and 1971, reveal the dark side of American youth culture in the heartland of America. Drugs, sex, and guns were front and center, as much the subject of the book as the people themselves with Clark a participant, rather than a voyeur. He brought a new level of authenticity to his work, and in doing so Tulsa changed the very nature of documentary photography itself.

Forty-five years after the book’s release, a new exhibition of photographs adds a new layer of perspectives to the story of this work in Unruly Bodies: Dismantling Larry Clark’s Tulsa at the California Museum of Photography UCR ARTSblock, Riverside, now through January 28, 2017. Curated by graduate students from the History of Art and the Public History Program, Unruly Bodies speaks to the new generation reflecting on the past, reflecting on Clark’s watershed moment in contemporary photography, pairing his work alongside that of Danny Lyon, Bill Eppridge, and W. Eugene Smith to critical effect.

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Categories: 1960s, 1970s, Books, Crave, Exhibitions, Photography

Neil Leifer: Relentless

Posted on June 6, 2016

Photo: Photo: Neil Leifer (United States, b. 1942). Muhammad Ali reacts after his first round knockout of Sonny Liston during the 1965 World Heavyweight Title fight at St. Dominic’s Arena in Lewiston, Maine, May 25, 1965.

It was one of the most controversial fights in boxing history: Muhammad Ali vs. Sonny Liston, for the 1965 title of WBC Heavyweight Champion. It was a hotly anticipated rematch, one made all the more fervent by recent history. Just a year earlier, Cassius Clay beat Liston and taken the title with a technical knockout. Two days later, Clay publicly announced he was a member of the Nation of Islam and adopted the name Cassius X before taking the name that would make him one of the most famous men on earth on March 6, 1964.

When the rematch came along, it was more than a boxing match. It was an epic vision of self-liberation. By aligning himself with the practices and politics of the NOI, Ali was vilified. Perhaps that’s why the only thing they could do was deny the facts. Two minutes and twelve seconds. That’s all it took. Midway through the first round, Liston through a left and Ali countered with a right, an “anchor punch” he learned from actor Stepin Fechit, of all folks. Liston went down on his back, rolled over, tried to rise, and fell back again. It was a wrap for Sonny. But you couldn’t tell his fans nothin’. They called it “Phantom Punch Fight” and yelled, “Fix!” sounding like a 1960’s version of Donald Trump.

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Categories: 1960s, 1970s, 1980s, 1990s, Art, Books, Crave, Exhibitions, Photography

Kwame Brathwaite: Black is Beautiful

Posted on June 2, 2016

Photo: Untitled (Sikolo with Carolee Prince Designs). 1968, printed 2016Chromogenic print (C-print), matted and framed 11.25 x 11.25 in, 28.575 x 28.575 cm (image). ©Kwame Brathwaite Photo Credit: Ruben Diaz Courtesy of Cherry and Martin, Los Angeles.

“There shall be no solution to this race problem until you, yourselves, strike the blow for liberty,” Marcus Garvey (1887-1940) advised, reminding us that the power lies within. A political leader, publisher, writer, and orator, Garvey understood that words could change the world. “The pen is mightier than the sword, but the tongue is mightier than them both put together,” he rightfully observed.

Garvey’s ideas inspired generations to embrace a Pan-African perspective of the world, invoking the spirit of the Black Power movement decades in advance. The seeds he planted took hold after his death, finding their way on to the global stage in full glory.

Photographer Kwame Brathwaite was born in Brooklyn in 1938, to a politically active family hailing from Barbados. Together he and his brother Elombe Brath, now deceased, joined the African Nationalist Pioneer Movement (ANPM) in the late 1950s. By 1961, they created the South-West Africa Relief Committee in the South Bronx to support the fight for independence in Southern Africa. At the same time, the brothers were producing jazz concerts at legendary locales including Club 845 in the Bronx and Small’s Paradise in Harlem. Brathwaite began photographing the concerts, promoting them, and organizing cultural activities like art shows and African dance performances in tandem, dedicating himself to serving the cause.

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Photo: Untitled (Nomsa with Earrings). 1964, printed 2016Selenium tone silver gelatin print, matted and framed 15 x 15 in., 38.1 x 38.1 cm (image). ©Kwame Brathwaite Photo Credit: Ruben Diaz Courtesy of Cherry and Martin, Los Angeles.

Categories: 1960s, 1970s, Art, Crave, Exhibitions, Photography

Attitude: Portraits by Mary Ellen Mark, 1964–2015

Posted on May 31, 2016

Photo: Gloria and Raja, Great Gemini Circus, Perintalmanna, India, 1989. ©May Ellen Mark, courtesy Howard Greenberg Gallery.

“I’m most interested in finding the strangeness and irony in reality. That’s my forte,” American photographer Mary Ellen Mark (1940–2015) observed, very much aware of the gift she brought to the world. Her passion for the camera and the way in which it captured the curious sides of life can be seen in her life’s work. For five decades, Mark was a singular figure in the medium, producing a series of work that speaks to her love for humanity in its infinite forms.

Attitude: Portraits by Mary Ellen Mark, 1964–2015, now on view at Howard Greenberg Gallery, New York, through June 18, 2016, presents nearly 40 works from the artist’s singular archive. Melissa Harris, editor-at-large at Aperture Foundation, curated the show, selection works from Mark’s famous series, each of them sparkling with life and revealing an intense curiosity about the nature of our days and nights.

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Categories: 1960s, 1970s, 1980s, 1990s, Art, Crave, Exhibitions, Manhattan, Photography

Steven Hirsch: Gowanus Waters

Posted on May 26, 2016

Asteria (2014), Photo by Steven Hirsch.

The Gowanus Canal of Brooklyn is named for Gouwane, the chief of the local Lenape tribe called the Canarsee, who lived on the shorelines in the 1630s. Back then it consisted of a saltwater marshland and meadows filled with fish and wildlife, making it an ideal location for locals to live. The locale was well situated within the New York Bay, which is located snuggly between Brooklyn, Manhattan, Staten Island, and New Jersey. The newly arriving Dutch colonists immediately seized the opportunity to take ownership of their “discovery”; the Dutch government issued the first land patents in Breukelen for the area in the early 1630s, and by 1639, in one of the city’s earliest recorded real estate deals, the area was purchased for the construction of a tobacco plantation.

Over the intervening centuries, the Gowanus Bay grew into an economic hub. In 1849, the Gowanus Canal was constructed, transforming the creek into a 1.8-mile-long commercial waterway, making it a center for maritime and commercial shipping. The neighborhoods of Carroll Gardens, Cobble Hill, and Park Slope sprang up to support the rapidly growing industrial development, including stone and coal yards, cement works, chemical plants, factories, gas plants, and sulfur producers, all of which produced environmental pollution. The sewage in the new buildings drained downhill, directly into the Gowanus Canal, as well as being a waste channel for outside neighborhoods as well.

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Categories: Art, Books, Brooklyn, Crave, Photography

Con Cariño: Artists Inspired by Lowriders

Posted on May 25, 2016

Photo: Meridel Rubenstein. The Medina Family, Bad Company, ’68 Chevy Impala, Chimayó, New Mexico. 1980. Chromogenic print. Courtesy of the artist. © Meridel Rubenstein.

Santa Fe Mayor Javier Gonzales has declared 2016 “Lowrider Summer” with Sunday, May 22 the first official Lowrider Day, kicking off a series of exhibitions and events citywide including Con Cariño: Artists Inspired by Lowriders, on view at the New Mexico Museum of Art, now through October 10, 2016.

Featuring more than fifty works from the 1970s to the present, Con Cariño features photographs, paintings, sculptures, and videos from contemporary New Mexico artists including Lawrence Baca and Ron Rodriguez, Justin Favela, El Moisés, Meridel Rubenstein, Rose B. Simpson, Luis Tapia, and Don Usner, among others.

The beauty of the lowrider lies in the love for the automobile and the ability to customize it to become the ultimate personal driving experience. The first lowriders appeared in Los Angeles during the 1940s and ‘50s, as post-war prosperity swept through Los Angeles, finding itself in pockets of Mexican-American neighborhoods. The kids had style, and they had finesse. And they were going to cruise as low and slow as they could get.

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Categories: 1970s, 1980s, 1990s, Art, Crave, Exhibitions, Photography