LIFE Magazine and the Power of Photography

West’s work reimagines her earlier series of photographs of Dahlonega, GA (the artist’s hometown) through a reorientation of format and painting layers of impressionistic brushstrokes. The interplay of the glossy photograph and texture of paint creates a wholly new experience of subject and ground, and results in fantastical compositions that blur distinction between photography and painting. Utilizing inventive cameras he designed and built himself, Chiara shoots directly onto positive color photographic paper, leaving behind visible traces of his process. The artist was invited by the San Francisco Arts Commission in 2022 to document the redevelopment taking shape on nearby Treasure and Yerba Buena Islands, and the exhibition focuses on works from this new series. His images draw our attention to shifting elements of the landscape and tell a thoughtful, complex story about the changing urban terrain. Image: Facing another way, where I am, 2024 © Angela West

Jackson Fine Art is delighted to announce our Fall 2024 exhibitions with Michael Stipe, Angela West, and John Chiara opening on Tuesday, Oct. 1 at 6 p.m. with a reception celebrating the artists. Even the birds gave pause features work of artist and former R.E.M. frontman Michael Stipe and presents a sampling of the breadth of Stipe’s creativity - photographs of family and friends, an installation of folded portraits printed on delicate rice paper, brightly painted bronze fox sculptures, and book art portraits of his muses. In Conversation is an inspired pairing of John Chiara’s dreamy, richly colored camera obscura photographs with Angela West’s painterly mixed media works. Both West and Chiara play with reflection, light and abstraction to create deeply evocative landscapes that are less about depiction of place but rather the memory of it. Stipe, West, and Chiara each embody a contemporary sensibility that addresses memory, identity, and the evolving relationship between people and nature. Stipe’s exhibition, Even the birds gave pause, takes imagery from his most recent book published by Damiani of the same name as the foundation and expands from there. The artist’s continual exploration of portraiture is the show’s central theme. Stipe’s portraits reflect a variety of different approaches - candid, conceptual, and classical – but always with a poignant sensitivity to the vulnerability of his subjects. The curation of images and objects presents a view into how the artist sees and interprets the world around him. This is Stipe’s first exhibition with the gallery. Image: Megan & Lucy (Homage to Lee Friedlander), 2020 © Michael Stipe

Pace is pleased to present an exhibition of work by the celebrated photographer and filmmaker Robert Frank at its 540 West 25th Street gallery in New York, on view from November 15 to December 21. This presentation, titled Robert Frank: Hope Makes Visions, marks the centenary of Frank’s birth and coincides with several other major exhibitions of his work around the world. Pace’s upcoming Frank exhibition—organized in collaboration with The June Leaf and Robert Frank Foundation—will be accompanied by a new book from Pace Publishing, featuring an essay by Ocean Vuong. Robert Frank: Hope Makes Visions will focus on Frank’s later work from the 1970s onward: the decades he spent experimenting with various cameras, printing methods, and media. Curated by Shahrzad Kamel, Director of The June Leaf and Robert Frank Foundation, the exhibition takes its title from a sketch Frank made of his work Fire Below—to the East America, Mabou (1979), which was included in a bequest the artist made of his photographs and papers to The June Leaf and Robert Frank Foundation upon his death in 2019, and one of many discoveries that inspired this presentation of previously unseen works from his oeuvre. Pace’s show will feature groupings of multimedia works based on various motifs that Frank revisited throughout his career, offering a new way of seeing his work that will deepen viewers’ understanding of his artistic processes and motivations. The photographs on view, some of which feature multiple frames in a single image, hand drawn etchings, and inscribed phrases, will showcase his long-standing interest in re-presenting older photographs from his past as new compositions, or ‘variants.’ Frank’s 2004 autobiographical short film True Story will also be presented in its entirety at the gallery. The atemporality of his photography and filmmaking—for which he pieced together fragments of not only images but also his own memories, dreams, and ideas—will be on full view in the exhibition.

Pace is pleased to present Irving Penn: Kinship, an exhibition of work by the famed photographer Irving Penn, curated by artist Hank Willis Thomas, at its 508 West 25th Street gallery in New York. On view from November 15 to December 21, this show will spotlight works produced by Penn throughout his 70-year career, including selections from his Worlds in a Small Room series, his iconic portraits of artists, actors, and writers, and other genres of his images. These photographs will be exhibited within an installation designed by Thomas to replicate a structure that Penn used to photograph many of his high-profile subjects. Working for Vogue for nearly 70 years, Penn left an indelible mark on the history of photography. His inventive fashion photographs, which transformed American image-making in the postwar era, continued to appear in the magazine up until his death in 2009. The artist was also highly accomplished and experimental in the darkroom, having engineered, among other innovations, a complex technique for making platinum-palladium prints. A trained photographer, Thomas, widely known for his galvanizing public works around the US, is deeply interested in both the making and consumption of images. His investigations into subjectivity and perception inform his work in photography and other mediums, including sculpture, screenprinting, video, and installation. Penn’s Worlds in a Small Room works—for which he journeyed to Cuzco, Crete, Extremadura, Dahomey, Cameroon, San Francisco, Nepal, New Guinea, and Morocco to capture people’s portraits within a tent he used as a portable studio—have been particularly influential for Thomas, who was part of the artistic team behind the traveling, participatory installation In Search of the Truth (The Truth Booth), which debuted in 2011 and has since been presented around the world.

Daniel Cooney Fine Art is incredibly honored to present the work of the iconic Boston based photographer Jason Byron Gavann. The exhibition consists of 25 black and white and color images created between 1980 and 2006 in Boston, Provincetown and Paris. For over five decades Gavann has documented queer life in Boston and around the world. As a student at UMass Boston in the 1970’s a professor suggested that he “photograph what is most familiar." Gavann says, “A light went off in my head and I thought, I’ll photograph my friends.” The artist’s journey of finding inspiration in his friendships continues to this day. Growing up just outside of Boston, Gavann found sanctuary as a teen in the city’s Park Square. The area was a hub for young runaways, drag queens and sex workers. The formative environment influenced his photography as he developed a compassionate eye and yearned for a genuine connection. He learned to seek out compelling people radiating resilience that would create portraits that celebrate life. As a contemporary of the “Boston School” artists, Gavann created intimate portraits of Jack Pierson, Mark Morrisroe, Pat Hearn, Sharon Niesp and Tabboo! among others. The portraits will be included in the exhibition as Gavann’s influence on the group is significant, if not well documented. Pierson says of Gavann, “Jason’s spirit is a gift to us all. I don’t know anyone who makes working at your art and living a beautiful life look better.” Gavann’s portraits were recently included in Madonna’s “Celebration Tour” to honor artists lost to AIDS. He has exhibited his work domestically and internationally in both group and solo presentations. This year he was featured in Interview Magazine by curator Jackson Davidow.

Charles Clayton ("Todd") Webb III was born in 1905 in Detroit, Michigan. After achieving success as a stockbroker during the 1920s, he lost everything in the financial collapse of 1929. In the aftermath, during the Great Depression, Webb took on various jobs, including gold prospecting, working as a forest ranger, and writing unpublished short stories. It was during this time, in the 1930s, that he developed an interest in photography, which soon overshadowed his writing. Photography allowed him to combine his passions for travel, meeting new people, and capturing their lives through his lens. In 1938, Webb became a member of the Chrysler Camera Club in Detroit, where he met fellow photographer Harry Callahan. His participation in a workshop led by Ansel Adams solidified Webb's dedication to "straight photography," known for its crisp focus and sharp details. After serving in World War II, he relocated to New York City, where he befriended Alfred Stieglitz and Georgia O'Keeffe. This connection introduced him to Beaumont Newhall, who later curated Webb's first major exhibition at the Museum of The City of New York. Around this time, Webb also worked with Roy Stryker and the Standard Oil Company, further establishing himself in the photographic world. In 1949, Webb moved to Paris, where he met his wife, Lucille. The couple lived in France for the next four years. Webb was awarded two Guggenheim fellowships in 1955 and 1956, allowing him to document the pioneer trails that early settlers took to Oregon and California. Unlike his contemporary, Robert Frank, who drove across the country, Webb journeyed on foot, photographing as he went from the East Coast to the West. Webb continued to photograph well into the 1980s, creating a distinctive body of work that has earned a significant place in American photographic history. Often called "a historian with a camera," Webb's images offer rich documentation of life across the globe. His work has been exhibited nationally and internationally and is held in numerous major museum collections, including the Museum of Modern Art, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Minneapolis Art Institute, and the Art Institute of Chicago. Todd Webb passed away in May 2000 at the age of 94 in Central Maine. His life, much like his photographs, may have seemed simple at first glance but revealed increasing complexity and depth upon closer inspection.

CLAMP is pleased to present “Orange Blossom Trail,” an exhibition of photographs by Joshua Lutz, drawn from his recently published book of the same name, a collaboration with esteemed writer George Saunders. Lutz’s “Orange Blossom Trail” delves into the complex realities of life in Central Florida, a region often romanticized for its sunshine and theme parks, yet grappling with economic hardship, social inequality, and environmental fragility. Lutz’s lens captures this dichotomy, revealing a landscape imbued with both beauty and struggle. The exhibition features a selection of Lutz’s evocative photographs, offering glimpses into the lives of individuals navigating this challenging terrain. Images of lush landscapes interspersed with portraits of residents hint at the underlying tensions between the idyllic façade and the lived experiences of those who call it home. Lutz’s photographs capture moments of both quiet desperation and unexpected beauty. We see evidence of the region’s struggles in images of dilapidated buildings, neglected neighborhoods, and individuals grappling with poverty and isolation. Yet, amidst these challenges, Lutz also finds moments of resilience, hope, and human connection. Lutz’s work prompts viewers to consider the complexities of place and identity, and the human capacity for perseverance in the face of adversity. “Orange Blossom Trail” offers a nuanced and compassionate portrayal of a region often overlooked and misunderstood.

The Center for Photographic Art (CPA) is excited to announce the 2024 International Juried Exhibition with over $5,000 in awards! Forty-five juror-selected photographs will be exhibited from November 23, 2024 through December 29, 2024 in our historic gallery in Carmel, California, and vie for eight cash awards totaling more than $5,000. These photographs will also be featured in an online gallery on the CPA website along with an additional forty-five juror selected images. 2024 IJE Juror: CPA is pleased to announce this year’s International Juried Exhibition juror: Elizabeth Avedon. Elizabeth Avedon is an independent curator, and photography book and exhibition designer. She is a sought after consultant for photographers; editing, sequencing, and advising towards their exhibition, book, and portfolio projects. Former Director of Photo-Eye Gallery, Santa Fe; Creative Director for The Gere Foundation; Art Director for Polo Ralph Lauren national advertising; and Photo Editor for Ralph Lauren Media’s RL Magazine, Elizabeth has received awards and recognition for her curatorial work, exhibition design and publishing projects, including the retrospective exhibition and book "Avedon: 1949-1979" for the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Dallas Museum of Fine Arts, and High Museum, Atlanta; "Avedon: In the American West" for the Amon Carter Museum, Corcoran Gallery, and Art Institute of Chicago. Also from the Leica Gallery, New York; the Menil Collection, Houston, Texas; and for the Estate of Diane Arbus, among others. She is an instructor in the prestigious Masters in Digital Photography program at the School of Visual Arts, New York and proud to have received a “Lifetime Achievement Award” from the Griffin Museum of Photography. Elizabeth brings a deep understanding of photography and a broad appreciation of diverse photographic styles, genres and mediums to CPA's 2024 International Juried Exhibition. Congratulations to the artists chosen for both our gallery and online exhibition!

Photo-Secession: Painterly Masterworks of Turn-of-the-Century Photography celebrates an intrepid group of photographers, led by preeminent photographer Alfred Stieglitz, who fought to establish photography as fine art, coequal with painting and sculpture at the turn of the 20th century. The Photo-Secession movement took cues from European modernists–who seceded from centuries-old academic traditions–to demonstrate photographic pictures' aesthetic, creative, and skillful value as art. An homage to Stieglitz, Photo-Secession includes some of the very images that established the appreciation of photography's artistic merits. The UMFA will present this exhibition concurrently with Blue Grass, Green Skies: American Impressionism and Realism from the Los Angeles County Museum of Art to draw attention to the cyclical dialogue between painting and photography in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. During this period, photographers manipulated their images at various stages of production to imitate painterly effects, while painters worked and reworked their oils to imitate the immediacy of photography, demonstrating a remarkable reciprocity between these two art forms.

As the George Eastman Museum approaches and celebrates its 75th anniversary, we are featuring a group of exhibitions that highlight a wide range of holdings from the museum’s collection. With this selection of objects in the Collection Gallery, we continue our broad survey of works to draw parallels and connections between photography, history, and culture. The objects chosen for this exhibition will chart a course through this history, identifying notable movements and trends while giving context to a breadth of photographic practices, technologies, communities, and traditions. In this exhibition, direct comparisons are made between early photographic print processes, such as the daguerreotypes produced by Southworth & Hawes in the United States and the salted paper prints of Hill & Adamson in Scotland. These objects showcase the resources and technologies that were present at the time of their making, as well as the competing interests that propelled their development in the 19th century. Other pairings in this exhibition examine the development of photographic styles and aesthetics, each a response to specific cultural or artistic trends that emerged throughout the 20th century: Pictorialism, Group f/64, photojournalism and reportage, abstraction and experimentation, and the influence of postmodern practices in contemporary art. The response to these photographic traditions has been varied and complex, and not without critical discourse and debate. These evolutions, however, have increased access to photographic tools and technologies while expanding our understanding of photography and its wider cultural implications. The history of photography has grown to encompass a multitude of voices and diverse perspectives, each of them bringing forth new challenges and provocative assessments of that which came before. This selection includes works by Julia Margaret Cameron, Alfred Stieglitz, László Moholy-Nagy, Dorothea Lange, Gordon Parks, Robert Frank, Imogen Cunningham, Diane Arbus, Andy Warhol, Nan Goldin, and many others. Certain photographs in the exhibition will be alternated over the course of the next year, when the exhibition will coincide with the George Eastman Museum’s 75th Anniversary exhibition in the main galleries. Image: Capitol Police Officer Eugene Goodman stands firm as rioters push toward the Senate chamber during the Jan. 6 siege in the United States Capitol © Ashley Gilbertson

All About Photo presents an exclusive online exhibition featuring the work of the American photographer Ghawam Kouchaki. On view throughout December 2024, this captivating showcase includes twenty street photographs from his acclaimed series ‘Tokyo No- No’ "Tokyo No-No" by Ghawam Kouchaki: A Striking Exploration of Modern Alienation Tokyo No-No examines modern alienation through the family unit in Tokyo, Japan—a phenomenon that transcends cultural boundaries and affects societies worldwide. Everywhere you look, people are struggling to meet expectations that feel increasingly out of reach. When we try to fit into the narrow margins set by others, we often find ourselves profoundly lonely, even among those closest to us. These moments weren’t unique to Tokyo, but something about the city’s relentless energy made them stand out. Hustle culture has infected everything—this constant pressure to capitalize on every second of your time, to never stop moving. I felt it too. I never once thought I should slow down and take in my surroundings. Instead, my mind was always searching for the next photo, always moving, just like the city around me. This isn’t just about Tokyo or America; it’s everywhere. People are told to follow a certain script: work hard, get a stable job, settle down, have kids. But for so many, that script is broken. Economic instability and the rising cost of living have turned milestones like starting a family or owning a home into luxuries most can’t afford. I’ve seen what happens when people try to live up to these expectations. They keep going through the motions, not because they want to, but because it’s all they know. They stay in jobs that drain them, relationships that don’t fulfill them, lives that feel like they belong to someone else. We know it’s not working, but we’re too afraid to try something new. We fall back on tradition, clinging to it because it feels safer than the unknown. Looking closer at the images, there’s a tension that’s hard to ignore—a sense of people teetering on the edge. Whether it’s in the haze of public drunkenness, the defiant stares of commuters heading to work, or the raw, unfiltered emotions spilling out onto the street when someone can no longer keep up appearances, these moments reveal people at their breaking points. These photos capture what happens when we ignore our reality for too long, as people search for release in ways that feel explosive, desperate, or self-destructive. These aren’t isolated incidents but symptoms of a deeper, systemic problem. A great photographer once said that to capture an effective photograph, you need to be a human being first. While I can’t make a direct, one-to-one comparison between my life and the lives of my subjects, their energy reflected my own feelings back at me. That’s what Tokyo No-No is about: creating space for reflection. I hope these photos act as a mirror for some, reaching those who feel trapped by the same pressures. Even for those who can’t quite articulate why they’re dissatisfied, I hope these images inspire a moment of pause—a chance to make small changes toward something better, no matter how insignificant those changes might seem.

Berkeley-based photographer Jenny Sampson has spent many years photographing the Bay Area skater community. Skaters have long been seen as rebellious, marked by their fashion, the noise they make rolling down the streets, and their unconventional use of urban spaces. This non-conformist image reflects the depth and determination of skate culture, where skaters fall, rise, and persevere with resilience. Working with the 173-year-old photographic process of wet collodion or tintype, Sampson captures the beauty and spirit of the thoroughly contemporary culture of skating. Creating these intimate portraits requires time, interaction, and collaboration, mirroring the inclusive nature of skater culture. Each portrait reveals a unique honesty, offering a glimpse into the skater or sitter’s true character. Sampson was born and raised in San Francisco. She earned a B.A. in Psychobiology at Pitzer College and has since dedicated her time to her photographic endeavors. She teaches high school darkroom photography, writes and photographs for WithitGirl, is a Rolls and Tubes Collective member, and is the Board President of the East Bay Photo Collective. Daylight Books published her monographs, Skaters and Skater Girls, in 2017 and 2020, respectively. A History of Photography, by Rolls and Tubes, was published in 2021.