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Exhibition: ‘Hunted and Gathered: Photographs’ from the Private Collection of Robert Flynn Johnson at Modernism, San Franciso

Exhibition dates: 9th July – 29th August, 2009

Many thankx to Modernism for allowing me to publish the photographs in the posting. Please click on the photographs for a larger version of the image.

Dr Marcus Bunyan

Anonymous photographer. 'The Dancer, Ted Shawn, Boston Dance Theater' 1929 from the exhibition 'Hunted and Gathered: Photographs' from the Private Collection of Robert Flynn Johnson at Modernism, San Franciso, July - August, 2009

Anonymous photographer
The Dancer, Ted Shawn, Boston Dance Theater
1929
Vintage gelatin silver print
9 5/8 x 7 1/4″

Gérard Decaux. 'Abbe Lane' Rome, c. 1955 from the exhibition 'Hunted and Gathered: Photographs' from the Private Collection of Robert Flynn Johnson at Modernism, San Franciso, July - August, 2009

Gérard Decaux
Abbe Lane
Rome, c. 1955
Vintage gelatin silver print
10 1/4 x 8 1/2″

Clarence Sinclair Bull (American, 1896-1979) 'Greta Garbo' c. 1935 from the exhibition 'Hunted and Gathered: Photographs' from the Private Collection of Robert Flynn Johnson at Modernism, San Franciso, July - August, 2009

Clarence Sinclair Bull (American, 1896-1979)
Greta Garbo
c. 1935
Gelatin silver print, printed later
14 x 11″

Clarence Sinclair Bull was born in Sun River, Montana in 1896. His career began when Samuel Goldwyn hired him in the 1920 to photograph publicity stills of the MGM stars. He is most famous for his photographs of Greta Garbo taken during the years of 1926-1941. Bull’s first portrait of Garbo was a costume study for the Flesh and the Devil, in September 1926.

Bull was able to study with the great Western painter, Charles Marion Russell. He also served as an assistant cameraman in 1918. Bull was skilled in the areas of lighting, retouching, and printing. He was most commonly credited as “C.S. Bull.” Bull died on June 8, 1979 in Los Angeles, California, aged 83.

Text from the Wikipedia website

Laure Albin Guillot (French, 1879-1962)
La Flamme (Woman’s Head)
c. 1935
Vintage gelatin silver print
6 3/8 x 4 3/8″

Anonymous photographer
Acrobats
c. 1920
Vintage gelatin silver print
8 5/8 x 5 5/8″

Pierre Nobel
Still Life
c. 1935
Vintage gelatin silver print mounted on paper
9 1/4 x 6 3/4″

Charles Jones (English, 1866-1959)
Plum, Laxton Early Red
c. 1910
Vintage gelatin silver print from a glass plate negative
6 x 4 1/4″

Modernism presents a wonderful and intriguing selection of photographs from the private collection of Robert Flynn Johnson. Robert Flynn Johnson is emeritus faculty in the Printmaking department. He is the curator in charge of the Achenbach Foundation for Graphic Arts at the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, a position he has held since 1975.

This exhibition coincides with the publication of his second book on vernacular photography, The Face in the Lens: Anonymous Photographs (University of California Press).

“When I am asked what it takes to become an accomplished collector, it is not the qualities of knowledge, judgment or that elusive term “taste” that comes to mind. Instead, it is the ability to be curious that is the crucial element in the makeup of a true collector – the ability to ask questions, to learn, and to get answers regarding works of art that catch your eye and move your emotions,” Robert Flynn Johnson said.

He added, “For more than thirty-five years I have followed my curiosity in passionately seeking out photographs that have stirred my imagination. Some of them have been by great artistic masters of the medium, while others have been anonymous photographic orphans that have nothing going for them but the image itself. Both types of photographs are included in this exhibition.”

“I have made a varied, and some may say eccentric, selection of images. From a heart-stopping snapshot of acrobats posed in a three-man handstand perched on the ledge of the 108th floor of the Empire State building, to a tender portrait of Marilyn Monroe and Joe DiMaggio that captures the instant before their lips meet in their first kiss as a married couple, They these pictures are a true reflection of my collecting philosophy that is attracted to profound, beautiful, humorous, and absurd aspects of life and art.”

“Nevertheless, I hope they these works convey some of the visual surprise and delight to you that I felt when I first saw each and every one of them.”

Oscar Wilde once said that the only person that liked all art equally was an auctioneer! I do not expect viewers to appreciate all the photographs in this exhibition, but through my visual curiosity in collecting them over time, I did, and that is why they are here together today.

Text from Artdaily.org website

Carelton Watkins (American, 1829-1916)
San Francisco
c. 1868
Vintage albumen print
8 x 12 1/8″

Mammoth-plate photograph of San Francisco taken from the top of Telegraph Hill showing the Golden Gate in the background.

Eugène Atget (French, 1857-1927)
Landscape, Environs of Paris (Étang, Ville-d’Avray)
1917
vintage albumen print
7 x 9 1/4″

Anonymous photogapher (Czechoslovakia). 'Train' c. 1930

Anonymous photographer (Czechoslovakia)
Train
c. 1930
Vintage gelatin silver print
9 1/4 x 11 5/8″

Anonymous photographer (United Kingdom)
Train
c. 1930
Vintage gelatin silver print
9 1/2 x 11 1/2″

Sasha
Archer Leaping Through the Air
c. 1930
Vintage gelatin silver print
7 3/8 x 9 3/8″

Leopold Hugo (American born Poland, 1866-1933)
Craters of the Moon, Idaho
1920
Tinted vintage gelatin silver print
7 3/8 x 9 3/8″

Anonymous. 'Acrobat Piroska at the Latin Quarter (Published in Life Magazine)' c. 1945

Anonymous photographer
Acrobat Piroska at the Latin Quarter (Published in ‘Life Magazine’)
c. 1945
Vintage gelatin silver print
9 5/8 x 9″

Felix Bonfils (French, 1831-1885)
Woman in Burka
c. 1870
vintage albumen print
8 3/4 x 6 5/8″

Modernism
724 Ellis Street
San Francisco, CA 94109

Opening Hours:
Tuesday – Saturday, 10am – 5:30pm

Modernism website

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Exhibition: ‘Cecil Beaton: Portraits’ at the Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool

Exhibition dates: 26th June – 31st August, 2009

Cecil Beaton (British, 1904-1980)
'Greta Garbo, Plaza Hotel, New York, April 1946' 1946 from the exhibition 'Cecil Beaton: Portraits' at the Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool, June - August, 2009

Cecil Beaton (British, 1904-1980)
Greta Garbo, Plaza Hotel, New York, April 1946
1946
Gelatin silver print
© The Cecil Beaton Studio Archive

Until you are reminded by the photographs you sometimes forget what a fantastic auteur Cecil Beaton was.

Marcus

Many thankx to the Walker Art Gallery for allowing me to publish the photographs in the posting. Please click on the photographs for a larger version of the image.

Cecil Beaton (British, 1904-1980)
Greta Garbo, Plaza Hotel, New York, April 1946
1946
Gelatin silver print
© The Cecil Beaton Studio Archive

Cecil Beaton (British, 1904-1980)
Greta Garbo
1946
Gelatin silver print
© The Cecil Beaton Studio Archive

Cecil Beaton (British, 1904-1980)
Audrey Hepburn
1960
Gelatin silver print
© The Cecil Beaton Studio Archive

Cecil Beaton (British, 1904-1980)
Barbara Hutton in Tangier, Morocco
1961
Gelatin silver print
© The Cecil Beaton Studio Archive

Cecil Beaton (British, 1904-1980)
Charles James Gowns by Cecil Beaton, Vogue, June 1948
1948
© The Cecil Beaton Studio Archive

A stunning exhibition of nearly 50 portraits by Cecil Beaton, one of the most famous photographers of the 20th century, captures the glamour and excitement of some of the world’s greatest celebrities.

Cecil Beaton: Portraits 26 June – 31 August 2009 brilliantly reflects the astonishing talents of the photographer who was also a writer, artist, designer, actor, caricaturist, illustrator and diarist.

He photographed a dazzling array of superstars and leading personalities ranging from the Queen to Mick Jagger, Marilyn Monroe to Audrey Hepburn and Winston Churchill to Lucian Freud.

Beaton (1904-1980) was himself a charismatic character who could charm and cajole, amuse and flirt, electrify and calm. He was known for his elegant sartorial style which exactly matched and reflected the circles he moved in. His long career covered an era of great change from the Roaring Twenties to the dawn of the New Romantics.

Jessica Feather, Walker curator, says:

“Cecil Beaton had a remarkable gift of bringing out the personalities and flair of his sitters so that he created some of the great iconic images of the age. The portraits still cast a spell with their timeless appeal, giving deep insights into the extraordinary people who came before his camera.”

Beaton’s career as a photographer began with his earliest portraits of his sister Baba taken in 1922, when he was a teenager.

After Cambridge, his early photographs were published in society magazines The Sketch, Tatler and Eve from 1925 onwards. In 1927, 23-year-old Beaton secured a contract with Vogue to provide portraits, caricatures and social commentary. His career – with the exception of two short breaks – continued with Vogue for the rest of his life.

In the 1930s he published books packed with glamorous portraits and artwork and photographed the wedding of the Prince of Wales to Wallis Simpson. Beaton also took a striking series of romantic studies of Queen Elizabeth (later the Queen Mother).

His work took on a grittier aspect during the war and post-war years when he worked for the Ministry of Information and as an official war photographer.

Beaton reached the height of his powers in the 1950s and 60s when he became a household name. As well as creating great portraits of a new generation of film actresses such as Audrey Hepburn and Marilyn Monroe, he won Oscars for his design work in the blockbuster films Gigi and My Fair Lady.

Knighted in 1972, Beaton had a stroke in 1974 but returned to photography three years later. Among his subjects in his final years were fashion designers and international celebrities.

Press release from the Walker Art Gallery website [Online] Cited 05/08/2009. No longer available online

Cecil Beaton (British, 1904-1980)
Francis Bacon
1951
Bromide print on white card mount
© The Cecil Beaton Studio Archive

Cecil Beaton (British, 1904-1980)
Marilyn Monroe, New York, February 22, 1956
1956
Gelatin silver print
© The Cecil Beaton Studio Archive

Cecil Beaton (British, 1904-1980)
Maria Callas
1957
Gelatin silver print
© The Cecil Beaton Studio Archive

Cecil Beaton (British, 1904-1980)
Kyra Nijinsky
1935
Gelatin silver print
© The Cecil Beaton Studio Archive

Kyra Vaslavovna Nijinsky (19 June 1913 – 1 September 1998), was a ballet dancer of Polish and Hungarian ancestry, with a Russian dance and cultural heritage. She was the daughter of Vaslav Nijinsky and the niece of Bronislava Nijinska. In the 1930s she appeared in ballets mounted by Ida Rubinstein, Max Reinhardt, Marie Rambert, Frederick Ashton, Antony Tudor.

Her father Vaslav (1889-1950) was a truly world-famous dancer with Ballets Russes in Paris. Her aunt Bronia (1891-1972) also excelled in dance and was a leading choreographer, initially with Ballets Russes. Her mother Romola de Pulszky was a socialite and author. Romola’s mother, Kyra’s grandmother, was Emilia Márkus, a popular Hungarian actress. …

“We also met Nijinsky’s daughter, Kyra, who is fascinating. Sturdily built and full of exuberance, she has the most engaging smile and what must be her father’s eyes, of an unusual grey-green, or is it green-brown? She is an artist and uses bright colours. Her father is a frequent subject, but I noticed all her paintings show him in ballet roles, never as himself. When she was describing a Russian dance she made a momentary gesture of her right arm across her brow, and I could see Nijinsky exactly. There was something in her movement and her face that expressed all there is to say about dancing in that one instant, and I can never forget it.”

Dame Margot Fonteyn on meeting Kyra in San Franciso in 1951

Text from the Wikipedia website

Cecil Beaton (British, 1904-1980)
Marilyn Monroe
1956
Gelatin silver print
© The Cecil Beaton Studio Archive

Cecil Beaton (British, 1904-1980)
Mick Jagger, Marrakesh
1967
Gelatin silver print
© The Cecil Beaton Studio Archive

This major retrospective exhibition brings together captivating images from Cecil Beaton, one of the most celebrated photographers of the 20th century. Renowned for his images of elegance, glamour and style, Beaton’s work has inspired many famous photographers including David Bailey and Mario Testino.

The exhibition reflects the astonishing talents of the photographer who was also a writer, artist, designer, actor, caricaturist, illustrator and diarist. There are four sections in the exhibition covering Beaton’s career and capturing 50 years of fashion, art and celebrity:

The Early Years: London to Hollywood, 1920s and 1930s

Photographs of Hollywood stars such as Marlene Dietrich and Fred Astaire and artists including John (Rex) Whistler, Pablo Picasso and Salvador Dali.

The Years Between: The War and Post-War Arts, 1940s

Featuring Greta Garbo, Vivian Leigh and Laurence Olivier as well as Princess Elizabeth and Sir Winston Churchill.

The Strenuous Years: Picturing the Arts, 1950s

Portraits of Queen Elizabeth II, Francis Bacon, Jackie Kennedy Onassis, Lucian Freud and Marilyn Monroe.

Partying and the Partying Years: Apotheosis and Retrospection, 1960s and 1970s

Includes images of Audrey Hepburn, Prince Charles, Harold Pinter, Katherine Hepburn, Mick Jagger, Barbara Streisand and Elizabeth Taylor.”

Text from the Walker Art Gallery website [Online] Cited 23/03/2019 no longer available online

Cecil Beaton (British, 1904-1980)
Miss Nancy Beaton as a Shooting Star
1928
Gelatin silver print
49 x 38.8cm
© The Cecil Beaton Studio Archive

Cecil Beaton (British, 1904-1980)
Fred and Adele Astaire at a piano
1930
Gelatin silver print
© The Cecil Beaton Studio Archive

Cecil Beaton (British, 1904-1980)
Gary Cooper
1931
Gelatin silver print
© The Cecil Beaton Studio Archive

Cecil Beaton (British, 1904-1980)
Gwili Andre
1932
Gelatin silver print
© The Cecil Beaton Studio Archive

Gwili Andre (born Gurli Andresen, 4 February 1908 – 5 February 1959) was a Danish model and actress who had a brief career in Hollywood films.

Cecil Beaton (British, 1904-1980)
Salvador Dali and Gala
1936
Gelatin silver print
© The Cecil Beaton Studio Archive

Cecil Beaton (British, 1904-1980)
Cecil Day-Lewis
1942
Gelatin silver print
© The Cecil Beaton Studio Archive

Cecil Day-Lewis (or Day Lewis) CBE (27 April 1904 – 22 May 1972), often writing as C. Day-Lewis, was an Anglo-Irish poet and the Poet Laureate of the United Kingdom from 1968 until his death in 1972. He also wrote mystery stories under the pseudonym of Nicholas Blake.

During World War II, Day-Lewis worked as a publications editor in the Ministry of Information for the UK government, and also served in the Musbury branch of the British Home Guard. He is the father of Sir Daniel Day-Lewis, a noted actor, and Tamasin Day-Lewis, a documentary filmmaker and television chef.

Text from the Wikipedia website

Cecil Beaton (British, 1904-1980)
Orson Welles resting on a sculpture
1942
Gelatin silver print
© The Cecil Beaton Studio Archive

Cecil Beaton (British, (1904-1980) 'Marlon Brando' 1954

Walker Art Gallery
William Brown Street
Liverpool L3 8EL

Opening hours:
Tuesday – Sunday 10am – 6pm

Walker Art Gallery website

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Exhibition: ‘Gilbert & George: Jack Freak Pictures’ at Arndt & Partner, Berlin

Exhibition dates: 16th June – 18th September, 2009

Artist duo George (left) and Gilbert (right) pose in front of their work “The Church of England” in Berlin, Germany

That pair of agent provocateurs are at it again!

Marcus

Many thankx to Arndt & Partner for allowing me to publish the photographs in the posting. Please click on the photographs for a larger version of the image.

Gilbert & George (Gilbert Prousch, English born Italy, b. 1943) (George Passmore, English, b. 1942)
DATING
2008
Mixed media

Gilbert & George (Gilbert Prousch, English born Italy, b. 1943) (George Passmore, English, b. 1942)
BRITISHISM
2008
Mixed media

Gilbert & George (Gilbert Prousch, English born Italy, b. 1943) (George Passmore, English, b. 1942)
JESUS JACK
2008
Mixed media

Gilbert & George (Gilbert Prousch, English born Italy, b. 1943) (George Passmore, English, b. 1942)
ROUND FLAG
2008
Mixed media

As the international tour of the last Gilbert & George retrospective (2007-2009) did not include Berlin, Arndt & Partner are now presenting a solo exhibition of the celebrity artist duo in its gallery rooms behind the Hamburger Bahnhof. It is the first Gilbert & George solo show in Berlin for 14 years. The exhibition features a selection of 20 large-scale pieces from the Jack Freak Pictures, the largest Gilbert & George group of pictures to date. The thrust of the content is given by the colours and shapes of the Union Jack flag that dominate the bulk of the pictures as well as the recurring motive of medals, emblems and trees. In the Jack Freak Pictures the artist duo explores aspects of nationhood and of the sentient individual in the nets of society. In his essay published in the catalogue accompanying the exhibition the British writer Michael Bracewell describes these pictures as “the most iconic, philosophically astute and visually violent works that Gilbert & George have ever created …”

Gilbert & George, who met as students of sculpture at St. Martin’s School of Art in London 42 years ago, embarked on a joint artistic career that was to encompass a wide range of media from drawing to video and their trademark pictures. Further, the pair revolutionised the concept of sculpture by presenting themselves as “living sculptures” dressed in the quintessentially British tailored suit, shirt and tie. But it was their monumental trademark pictures composed of a grid like array of smaller images which they began to create in the early 70s that first brought them international fame. Figures, cityscapes, symbols, plants, bodily fluids, excrements and text interlock in pictorial messages as visually powerful as their content is provocative. The pictures, which started out in black and white and later assumed increasingly luminous, bold colours, generally also depict portraits of the artists themselves and seize on taboo subjects like sexuality, race, religion and national identity with a brash and fearless candour.

The Jack Freak Pictures again feature the bodies and/or faces of the artists. In these compositions, their bodies function as stylised representatives of the individual in society, whose relationship to social norms and categories, to national, religious and sexual identification processes is relentlessly explored and commented upon. Departing from their earlier oeuvre, some of their new pictures split the raw images into much smaller fragments before merging them into new forms. The result is a fascinating kaleidoscopic mix of the monstrously grotesque with an intricate ornamental structure reminiscent of sacred art. In ever new variations, Gilbert & George order the signs and fragments of social life they find in their neighbourhood – the multicultural East End of London – where solidarity and friendship are as visible as intolerance and marginalisation.

Press release from the Arndt & Partner website [Online] Cited 04/07/2009. No longer available online

Gilbert & George installation photograph of their exhibition 'Jack Freak Pictures' at Arndt & Partner, Berlin

Gilbert & George installation photographs of their exhibition Jack Freak Pictures at Arndt & Partner, Berlin

Gilbert & George (Gilbert Prousch, English born Italy, b. 1943) (George Passmore, English, b. 1942)
JESUS SUITS
2008
Mixed media

Gilbert & George (Gilbert Prousch, English born Italy, b. 1943) (George Passmore, English, b. 1942)
CHURCH OF ENGLAND
2008
Mixed media

Gilbert & George (Gilbert Prousch, English born Italy, b. 1943) (George Passmore, English, b. 1942)
POSTER DANCE
2008
Mixed media

Gilbert & George (Gilbert Prousch, English born Italy, b. 1943) (George Passmore, English, b. 1942)
REALM
2008
Mixed media

Gilbert & George (Gilbert Prousch, English born Italy, b. 1943) (George Passmore, English, b. 1942)
SPIDER
2008
Mixed media

Gilbert & George (Gilbert Prousch, English born Italy, b. 1943) (George Passmore, English, b. 1942)
UNION WALL DANCE
2008
Mixed media

Arndt Fine Art

This gallery has now closed.

Arndt website

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