Photojournalism Now: Friday Round Up – 14 September 2018

This week on Photojournalism Now: Friday Round Up the spotlight is on New York. If you’re looking for a nostalgic view of Greenwich Village check out Village Voice staff photographer Fred W. McDarrah: New York Scenes at Steven Kasher. In keeping with historical tropes is The New Beginning for Italian Photography: 1945-1965 at Howard Greenberg. And for a contemporary view of photography, the seventh edition of Photoville kicks off in Brooklyn.

Photography in New York:

Fred W. McDarrah: New York Scenes

Bob Dylan, sitting on a bench in Christopher Park (across the street from the offices of the Village Voice since 1960), either salutes or shields his eyes from the sun, January 22, 1965. Courtesy Steven Kasher Gallery, New York

For those who love the imagery of the sixties sub-culture, this exhibition is an absolute treat. McDarrah was the staff photographer for the Village Voice, Greenwich Village’s alternative culture magazine, for fifty years. He was in the right place at the right time in so many instances. His photographs are both important historical documents and offer a glimpse of what it was like to be a photojournalist when New York’s cultural scene was going off.

He wrote, “I was a groupie at heart. I wanted to be part of the action. My camera was my diary, my ticket of admission, my way of remembering, preserving, proving that I had been there when it all happened.”  

Allen Ginsberg at an anti-Vietnam War rally in Central Park in 1966. Courtesy Steven Kasher Gallery, New York

Eighth Street, looking east from Sixth Avenue, January 1, 1950 Vintage gelatin silver print, printed ca. 1950. Courtesy Steven Kasher Gallery, New York

Allen Ginsberg, his longtime companion Peter Orlovsky, and Orlovsky’s brother Lafcadio relax in their apartment at 170 East Second St., January, 1960. Courtesy Steven Kasher Gallery, New York

This collection of nearly 100 vintage photographs lets us into McDarrah’s world, a behind-the-scenes foray into New York life, when the Village was alive with artists, poets, musicians, all trying their hand at something new, pushing boundaries, being free to express and create. His photographs also capture the climate of protest, the anti-Vietnam war marches.

In one of the first protests in New York City against the Vietnam War, masked members of the Bread and Puppet Theater, led by artist, writer, and director Peter Schumann, march down Thompson St. from Washington Square, March 15, 1965. Courtesy Steven Kasher Gallery, New York

The Village Voice folded last week, the end of an era. This exhibition and a newly released book of the same name, shows the uniqueness of McDarrah’s visual language and its significance in making the Village Voice an icon.

Andy Warhol at the opening of his exhibition, “The Personality of the Artist,” at the Stable Gallery, 33 East 74th St., April 21, 1964 Vintage gelatin silver print, printed ca. 1964. Courtesy Steven Kasher Gallery, New York

To commemorate the fiftieth anniversary of women’s suffrage in the United States, an estimated twenty thousand women march along Fifth Ave., here past a banner that reads, ‘‘Women of the World Unite!”, August 26, 1970. Courtesy Steven Kasher Gallery, New York

Guests sit on a mattress and on the floor at a birthday party for Ted Joans, July 25, 1959. Courtesy Steven Kasher Gallery, New York

Fred W. McDarrah: New York Scenes, September 20 – November 3

Steven Kasher Gallery, 515 West 26th Street, Floor 2
New York

The New Beginning for Italian Photography: 1945-1965 

Mario Giacomello, Scanno (boy),1957 Gelatin silver print; printed
© Eredi Mario Giacomello, courtesy Howard Greenberg Gallery, New York

This exhibition of Italian post-war photography at Howard Greenberg centres on the two decades following World War II. These pictures capture Italy as it reshaped itself. Works include Carlo Bavagnoli’s photographs of Rome’s working-class neighbourhoods and portraiture and landscapes by Sante Vittorio Malli, who founded the photo group Il Naviglio in 1956. Other artists include Mario de Biasi, who began taking pictures in 1944 with a camera found in the rubble of Nuremberg; and Franco Pinna, who took his first photographs in Rome in 1944, during the arrival of the Allied troops.

Sante Vittorio Malli, Notturno n. 1 (Night #1),1957 Gelatin silver print
© Heirs of Sante Vittorio Malli, courtesy Howard Greenberg Gallery, New York

Stefgano Robino,Alla partenza della Cristoforo Colombo, Genova (At the Departure of the Christopher Columbus, Genoa),1957 Gelatin silver print.
© Archivio Stefano Robino, courtesy Howard Greenberg Gallery, New York

Stefano Robino, Bambini ai giardini (Children in the gardens),1959. Gelatin silver print
© Archivio Stefano Robino, courtesy Howard Greenberg Gallery, New York

Stefano Robino, Paolo e Fernando Gavi,1958
© Archivio Stefano Robino, courtesy Howard Greenberg Gallery, New York

“This period of the country’s rebirth was characterized by an attempt at collective identification, a venture in which photography could play an essential role. The vision of the photographers dealt with genuine people, real landscapes, collective stories that vibrated with skin and soul,” writes Enrica Viganò an independent curator and journalist in the new book, NeoRealismo: The New Image in Italy 1932-1960. Viganò has spent over a decade researching the phenomenon of Italian neorealism in photography and identifying important works and artists of the period.

Mario de Biasi, Napoli,1950s. Gelatin silver print
© Archivio Mario de Biasi, courtesy Howard Greenberg Gallery, New York

Until 10 November

Howard Greenberg Gallery, 41 East 57th Street, Suite 1406, New York.

Photoville

Photoville returns to its original location this year – Brooklyn Bridge Park. More than 600 artists feature in 90 photography exhibitions housed in freight (shipping) containers and outdoor installations.

Free to the public, Photoville provides a unique opportunity to immerse yourself in shows, workshops and talks and to take in the nighttime programme that turns Photoville into the ultimate photography party.

One of the highlights of the nighttime programme is National Geographic: A Year Reflecting on Race and Diversity in America featuring Lynsey Addario, Ismail Ferdous, Wayne Lawrence, Ruddy Roye and Jennifer Pritheeva Samuel. Saturday 22 September, 7.30pm.

The programme is expansive, but shows that caught my eye include:

A Way Home featuring work by Daniel Berehulak, Andrea Bruce, Bryan Denton, Kevin Frayer, Chris Hondros, Meridith Kohut, Sim Chi Yin, and Tomás Munita.

Bronx Documentary Centre’s Attacks on the Press: Mexico, featuring Emmanuel Guillen Lozano, Félix Márquez, Mauricio Palos, Francisco Robles, and Artículo 19.

Documenting China, Stories of Change an exhibition from Lishui Photography Festival with works from Chen Ronghui, Cheng Xinhao, Du Zi, Jiao Dongzi, and Wang Dansui.

The Meaning of Now: Living Life with Cancer by Kisha Bari, which documents two cancer patients who are embracing life despite their diagnosis.  

Nowhere Left But Here by Shiho Fukada tells the story of ageing in Japan and the increase in senior crime. 

Like a Dream, an exhibition by Print Swap, which is a platform for emerging photographers to “share and collect affordable art”. Launched in 2016 by Alison Zavos, the founder of Feature Shoot. Look out for my interview with Alison coming soon.

See the full programme here – Photoville, 13-23 September, Brooklyn Bridge Park