Was anxious to see the Vivian Maier photos on display at The Scott Nichols Gallery upon hearing that the show (which I knew nothing about) was closing the very next day. Sadly, a good half of the photos on display from the Jeffrey Goldstein Collection were definitely not her best
artistically or aesthetically, the others... OK. And I was really taken
aback by some of the printing, a good half of 'em looked like test
prints, way too heavy on the contrast; don't know if the negs were lacking, or what. Definitely not something a gallery would usually have shown- if not for the name. Still a major fan of the vast majority of her work, but will just have to wait for the definitive book, and show...
Did get to see an incredible exhibit of Bruce Davidson's civil rights era photographs at The Robert Koch Gallery which was something akin to a religious experience. First, the prints themselves were gorgeous, absolutely gorgeous- and keep in mind these are from 35mm negs. Many of the images reminded me of Renaissance subjects, all the beauty and color of old world portrait masters miraculously transcribed into grainy B&W. An early chapter from one of the greatest to ever hold a camera.
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| Photo: Bruce Davidson |
2 comments:
Davidson's photographs sure bring back a lot of memories. We in Canada had a different perspective watching all this unfold in the US. Canada had a long history of taking in black slaves before it was semi abolished after the civil war. Watching the visceral hatred of the blacks by the southern whites was both jarring and hard to relate to. Later the American vs American during the Vietnam war demonstrations was again very upsetting to watch. The DNC riot and Kent State profoundly changed my world view of the US. I was also in Los Angeles during the Watts riots. Got shot at while driving down a freeway. America's propensity to self destruct baffles me to no end. Hey it's not all wine and flowers up here either,I'm not trying to be smug. American's are so big into team sports it's to bad they can not learn some team work themselves and save themselves from themselves.
Eric- An awful lot to react to there. And I'm now quite tired- tired of trying to explain it, account for it, make sense of it. But mostly- for living it.
Blindly, repeatedly hell bent on taking two steps back for every step forward...
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