Ken Light: American Stories: 1969-1995

“Iconic Photographs: Pictures that Stand the Test of Time” showcases a diverse selection of images, demonstrating what can be achieved with skillful photography, creativity, and the right tools. These photographs serve as windows to a larger world, connecting us to a grander cosmos through their visual narratives. They weave together a complex and rich fabric of shared existence, linking the past to the present and providing a universal connection to both our eyes and our souls.. All photographs are markers in time. The instant the camera shutter closes, the present gives way to the past, leaving behind a vivid impression of a singular glimpse in time. This preserved moment belongs to a time gone by. Yet, when we view a photograph, we do so from the present. Our perception is anchored in the now—our eyes acting as conduits to the present moment, where neither the future nor the past can be fully lived. In the relatively brief span of photography’s history, hundreds of millions of images have been captured through various processes. Yet, the fact that only a tiny fraction remain memorable or notable underscores the fleeting and elusive nature of most photographs. Like the written word, only a select few compositions leave a lasting impact, resonating with the wider public and standing the test of time. The transformation of a photographic representation—whether of an object, person, or landscape—into something iconic occurs when it is imprinted upon our eyes, hearts, or minds. Only a select few photographs enter the collective memory, remaining relevant and notable over time. Photographs communicate in countless ways, their two-dimensional surfaces subtly hinting at the depth and complexity of the three-dimensional world they depict. For an image to become truly memorable, it must be more than a mere record; it must be ‘breathed back’ to life, making the past present in a tangible way. This exhibition features 24 iconic photographs that are both compelling and unforgettable. In this exhibition, photographs can be broadly categorized into several distinct groups. Ansel Adams and Edward and Brett Weston focused on the natural world, capturing its grandeur and intricacies. Moving from the natural to the human realm, Bill Brandt, Arthur Rothstein, and Joe Rosenthal documented the social and economic upheavals that shaped our history. Arthur Elgort, Melvin Sokolsky, Terry O’Neill, and Frank Horvat then shift the focus to fashion and privilege, exploring these themes through memorable images. Harry Benson and Ruth Orkin highlight the era of photojournalism, capturing both survival and the fascination with larger-than-life figures. Lastly, Diane Arbus, Elliott Erwitt, and Neil Leifer showcase the ability of a skillful photographer to reveal the human spirit in its most compelling moments. “Iconic Photographs: Pictures that Stand the Test of Time” showcases a diverse selection of images, demonstrating what can be achieved with skillful photography, creativity, and the right tools. These photographs serve as windows to a larger world, connecting us to a grander cosmos through their visual narratives. They weave together a complex and rich fabric of shared existence, linking the past to the present and providing a universal connection to both our eyes and our souls. Image: A Young Waitress at a Nudist Camp, NJ © Diane Arbus

The Memory of Our Skin is a long-term photography project that connects two distinct communities: One in Half Moon Bay and the other in Santiago, Chile. By visually exploring their human responses to traumatic events, the project reveals the shared processes of grief and healing. Artist Statement: “The Memory Of Our Skin is a reminder that our histories are not only from our past, but they are lived within ourselves. Our memories are an act of remembering, we can find fragments in vigils, protests, community, art, music, gardening, and the creation of memorials that make space to heal.” –Pablo Unzueta Image: © Pablo Unzueta

For the first exhibition of the fall art gallery season, PDNB Gallery presents a solo show of photographs by Al Satterwhite (b. 1944, Biloxi, Mississippi), who has worked professionally in photography since he was a high school intern taking photographs for the St. Petersburg Times. The passion of capturing the decisive moment has never left him. His talent for photography led him to the job of personal photographer for the then Governor of Florida, Claude Kirk. He later worked as a freelance photographer, doing magazine work for major publications including Life, Newsweek, Sports Illustrated, Fortune, and Car & Driver. Satterwhite then started a production company in New York in 1980 where he became widely known in the advertising world working with corporations including American Express, Coca Cola, Eastman Kodak, Oldsmobile, and Sony. In 1992 he moved west to Los Angeles to work in filmmaking as a Director of Photography. Many books were published on Satterwhite’s photography, and he lectured often at universities and workshops around the country. His photographs are in major museum collections including the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery, the Museum of Fine Arts Houston, and the Santa Barbara Museum of Art. Satterwhite met many fascinating people while working on assignments. One meeting with Hunter S. Thompson resulted in some of his most popular photographs when he traveled to Cozumel, Mexico to meet the infamous Gonzo journalist . He photographed Muhammad Ali while training in a gym in Miami Beach, Florida. Some of these images are iconic of Ali, showing him young, powerful, and full-of-life. Satterwhite had a great opportunity to photograph Paul Newman as an authentic race car driver at the important Sebring 12-Hour race in Florida. In 1978 Satterwhite photographed him in his racing gear, revealing the iconic ‘Paul Newman’ Rolex Daytona watch that his wife, Joanne Woodward, gave him with an inscription on the back, “Drive Very Slowly, Joanne.” This watch later sold in 2017 for a record $17,752,500! PDNB Gallery will show a suite of photographs from Satterwhite's early, personal work taken in Florida. His vintage images of young surfers in the 1960’s have become very nostalgic because they represent a more innocent culture reminiscent of the beach party teen films like Beach Blanket Bingo and How to Stuff a Wild Bikini.

ROSEGALLERY is pleased to present The Alchemy in Materiality, an exhibition of works by John Chiara as part of PST ART: Art & Science Collide. The Alchemy in Materiality offers an enthralling journey through John Chiara’s innovative career. It presents a comprehensive retrospective of his work, inviting viewers to contemplate the elusive essence of the present moment, seamlessly bridging the realms of art and science with a captivating, visceral aesthetic. Seamlessly fusing art and science, John Chiara’s practice forges a unique process which combines photography, sculpture, and immersive experience. At its core are his meticulously crafted cameras; essentially large scale yet portable camera obscuras. Within the dark chamber of these cameras, Chiara choreographs a precise interplay of light and chemistry on positive color photographic paper, deftly controlling light and manipulating the emerging images with an innate touch. The resulting pieces are profoundly perceptual bearing traces of their unconventional origin, rendered in soft, ephemeral hues that evoke materiality and transience. More importantly, they are all unique. With color positive photographic paper, no photo negative is created or needed, creating an image that is ultimately impossible to reproduce or duplicate. Chiara’s works are truly individual instances His artistry showcases the convergence of ingenuity, invention, and patient craftsmanship, transcending conventional photography to embody the interplay of light, time, and human perception.

The Fahey/Klein Gallery is pleased to present SINK / RISE: The Day May Break, Chapter Three and THE ECHO OF OUR VOICES: The Day May Break, Chapter Four, an exhibition of new works, made as part of an ongoing global series of images portraying people and animals that have been impacted by environmental degradation and destruction. SINK / RISE: The Day May Break, Chapter Three highlights South Pacific Islanders in Fiji grappling with rising ocean levels. THE ECHO OF OUR VOICES: The Day May Break, Chapter Four focuses on Syrian refugee families battling water scarcity in the deserts of southern Jordan. This dual exhibition underscores the diverse ways climate change affects communities around the world, revealing the universal threat to our lives and homes. Brandt’s cohesive bodies of work offer a unique approach to climate-conscious photography and celebrates the resilience of the human spirit and the stabilizing effects of community in the face of adversity. Throughout the series, local subjects represent their individual communities and highlight the strength and solidarity that emerge in challenging times. Captured in camera underwater off the coast of Fiji, the photographs in SINK / RISE: The Day May Break, Chapter Three depict local people, representatives of the many people whose homes, land and livelihoods will be lost in the coming decades as the water rises. In serene, everyday poses—sitting on sofas or standing on chairs—amidst an otherworldly aquatic environment, the photographs convey a striking contrast between the familiar and the surreal, while foreshadowing a possible reckoning as sea levels rise. The subjects in THE ECHO OF OUR VOICES: The Day May Break, Chapter Four, almost all Syrian refugee families, are posed together atop stacks of boxes against the vast painterly deserts in southern Jordan. These individuals are forced to relocate multiple times a year in search of destinations with adequate rainfall for crops in one of the most water scarce regions in the world. The portraits from the series monumentalize a loss of place and show connection and strength in the face of adversity, that when so much else is lost, in theory you still have each other. THE ECHO OF OUR VOICES: The Day May Break Chapter Four was partially funded by Gallerie d’Italia Museum, Turin, Italy. Born in England, Nick Brandt studied film and painting at St. Martin’s School of Art in London. He turned to photography in 2001 with his trilogy On This Earth, A Shadow Falls, Across the Ravaged Land – to be followed up by Inherit the Dust and This Empty World. He began The Day May Break series in 2020. Nick Brandt co-founded Big Life Foundation with one of the most respected conservationists in East Africa, Richard Bonham. Image: Women with Sleeping Children, Jordan, 2024 © Nick Brandt

PDNB Gallery is excited to present two exhibitions this summer: Portraits of Frida will include extraordinary photographs of the celebrated painter, Frida Kahlo, by two artists, Lucienne Bloch and Nickolas Muray. Lucienne Bloch (1909 – 1999, b. Geneva, Switzerland) met the married artist couple, Frida and Diego in 1932 when hired to work with the very notable painter, Diego Rivera, in Detroit. This project at the Detroit Institute of Art became the most important Diego Rivera mural in the United States. Lucienne and Frida became fast friends and cared for Frida during her tragic miscarriage while in Detroit. Some of Lucienne's portraits of Frida in Detroit will be exhibited in this show. Nickolas Muray (1892 – 1965, b. Szeged, Hungary) was a successful commercial photographer and two-time Olympic fencer based in New York. He was known for his portraits of actors, playwrights, ballet dancers and other notable figures in the arts. Muray was a pioneer in color photography advertising. Ladies Home Journal produced the first natural color advertising photograph in 1931, Muray's grand Miami image of a swimming pool with 17 models in swimwear. He was a master printer, using the three-color carbon printing process, revealing deeply saturated color, which became a signature of his photographs. Muray met Frida in Mexico through their mutual friend, the artist, Miguel Covarrubias. Nick and Frida became lovers for the next ten years, resulting in some of the most important portraits of Frida, featured in this show. Image: Lucienne Bloch, Frida Biting Her Necklace, 1933

When I arrived as a young Frenchman in 1964, New York City was chaotic, dirty, gritty, loud and dangerous, but it was also attractive, provocative, brave, enchanting, joyous and free. “New York Noir” is inspired by the 1940 Film Noir. It is filled with a sense of danger, it is violent and upbeat, simple and timeless like my New York. Everything seemed possible and vibrant. I hated it one day and loved it the next. I responded to the city with my heart and never stopped capturing the monumental mess that it is and the exhilaration it provokes. All my wildest dreams came true in New York, and I hope my photos captured a city that I viewed critically but affectionally and to which I bear an immense gratitude.

In honor of the 100th anniversary of Surrealism we are pleased to present an exhibition “Out of this World” featuring vintage photographs that honor some of the leading figures of the Surrealist movement along with some lesser-known artists that were contributing to the art of surrealism with surprising images many of which have rarely been exhibited. The Museum of Modern Art presented its’ landmark exhibition “FANTASTIC ART DADA SURREALISM” in 1936-1937, an ambitious textbook survey documenting the art of that category and its precedents and distillation to other cultural art forms and mediums. The hefty MoMA catalog identifies the genre of art as “The fantastic and the marvelous in European and American Art” and further described this art in terms of the “the irrational, the spontaneous, the enigmatic and the dreamlike.” Surrealism permeated the culture in portrait photography, advertising photography, fashion photography, dance photography and almost any other form of photography that permitted the artist the leeway to experiment with images that piqued their imagination. Louise Dahl-Wolfe, one of the foremost fashion photographers of the post World War II era, collaborated with Russian artist Pavel Tchelitchew in the early 1940s to create a wildly imaginative surrealist set for a color-infused fashion layout for Harper’s Bazaar. This dreamy technicolor lit tableau features three models surrounded by drapery, fabric and news papered walls amongst the iconography of a fashion designers’ studio. Another interior and one of the most important pictures in the exhibition is a diptych photomontage by Frederick Kiesler (photography by Percy Rainford) of the interior of Marcel Duchamp’s 14th Street New York studio festooned with all the detritus that this trailblazing artist could manage to populate his studio with. This image was published in Charles Henri Fords 1945 issue of the art magazine View that was dedicated to Marcel Duchamp. Portrait photographers gravitated to surrealism to create complex and innovative images that went far beyond static portraiture. George Platt Lynes’ portrait of the actress Ruth Ford, (sister of Charles Henri Ford), created a delightful study of the actress who was often referred to as “the hummingbird” by her many artist friends. In Lynes’s image a hummingbird sits on top of Ford’s veil-wrapped visage while three eggs are floating on the upper right margins of the picture frame. Hi Williams was the go to photographer in the American food industry in the 1930s famous for his mastery of the carbro printing process, an early color printing technique, that was both laborious and expensive to produce. He created a still life photograph of utilitarian rubber items: a toy duck, a gas mask, a ball shoe and glove etc. all sitting on a sandy platform with a painted backdrop featuring blue sky and clouds. If it wasn’t clear that this was an homage, he titled this colorful 1941 photograph “Rubber Dali”. Image: Harry Richardson Cremer (American, active c. 1920–1949), Untitled, c. 1930, Gelatin Silver Print

Dina Mitrani Gallery is pleased to present a pop-up exhibition of photographs by Peggy Levison Nolan as part of the Miami Design District's Art in the District cultural program. This exhibition features color as well as black and white photographs from the 80s to the present and commemorates the 2nd edition of her book Juggling Is Easy published by TBW Books. Nolan’s first monograph Real Pictures: Tales of a Badass Grandma, published by Daylight Books in 2018 will also be available. This exhibition coincides with Nolan’s participation in the exhibition Shared Documentary Narratives at the History Miami Museum curated by Aldeide Delgado. A second reception and book signing will take place on Saturday October 26th at 4 pm during the WOPHA Congress (Women Photographers International Archive), which, this year is entitled How Photography Teaches Us to Live Now. With her constant and conscious act of looking, Nolan makes pictures that reveal the beauty in everyday scenes, capturing life’s ordinary details in her photographs. Quotidian stills that normally go unnoticed are brought to light by Nolan’s frame, highlighting the home and members of her family in daily activities, whether sleeping, hanging out or making out. The black and white work mostly features her teenage kids, their friends and activities. Nolan began using color film in the early 2000s and depict images of her grown children with their spouses and grandchildren. Nolan's work is in collections such as the MOMA in New York, the San Francisco MOMA, the National Museum of Women in the Arts in Washington DC, the MOCA in North Miami and the Crystal Bridges Museum in Arkansas, the Margulies Collection, the Girls Club Collection and the Norton Museum to name a few. Her work has been reviewed and published in the New York Magazine, Vogue, The Guardian, Juxtapose, Lenscratch and Art Forum. Nolan has received numerous grants and awards including the South Florida Cultural Consortium Fellowship and taught photography at Florida International University for over 15 years. She claims her students were the ones teaching her. She raised seven children and now has eight grandchildren. Dina Mitrani opened her gallery in Wynwood in 2008 specializing in international contemporary photography representing emerging and mid-career artists, offering artists talks and lectures as well as photo-based objects and books. The gallery’s mission is not only to exhibit, promote and sell photo-based art but to also serve as an educational resource for the community. Dina has been working in the art world for 30 years, spending the first years of her career in New York, after studying art history at the University of Michigan. Moving back to Miami in 2002, together with her sister Rhonda, they were pioneers in creating the Wynwood Art District by organically converting their parent’s clothing factory into art galleries and studios for artists, designers, and architects. They are currently designing and building a center for photography, film and video art in Little River which will open in 2025.

The Hulett Collection in collaboration with FAS44 Gallery in Las Vegas and Michael Frey are pleased to present Pieter Henket's series, Congo Tales, September 26 - November 16, 2024. This series embodies the stories passed down from generation to generation, magnificently personifying fable and myth through portraits of people from the Mbomo District residing deep in the Congolese rainforest. These boldly authentic photographs transform the subjects into painterly creations filled with raw emotions and character depictions. Pieter Henket is a Dutch photographer living and working in New York City. Known for a photographic style inspired by the 17th century Dutch Golden Age of painting, his work has been exhibited at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, the Museum de Fundatie in The Netherlands, and the Museum Barberini in Germany. A mastermind of integrating people and place, Henket has an innate storytelling ability that provides an authentically emotional experience for all who view his work.

Iconic front-page news photography from the 20th century will be on view at Howard Greenberg Gallery from September 12 through November 16, 2024. Extra! Extra!: News Photographs from 1903-1975 presents unforgettable images from a wide range of historical events including the arrival of the first Ford car, voting rights protests by the suffragists, the detonation of the atom bomb, baseball highlights, Civil Rights activities, political assassinations, Woodstock, and the Vietnam War. Together the photographs form an extraordinary visual history of the United States during the last century. In most cases, the works on view represent the earliest known published prints, with each print featuring detailed provenance meticulously inked and stamped, documenting its historical journey from newsroom to printed page. This careful record provides invaluable insight into the print's origins, including its initial publication, subsequent ownership, and any historical events it has been associated with. Such thorough documentation enriches our understanding of its significance and the context in which it has been preserved over time. The exhibition will feature the notations on the backs of the images as well. Extra! Extra!: News Photographs from 1903-1975 features more than 60 photographs and draws on a collection of nearly 250 prints assembled by Dan Solomon and Howard Greenberg. A number of the prints are by well-known photographers including Robert Capa and W. Eugene Smith; many of the photographers are unknown. Major news makers of the 20th century are shown including Muhammad Ali, Neil Armstrong, The Beatles, Amelia Earhart, Martin Luther King Jr., Patricia Hearst, Jackie Robinson, Babe Ruth, and the Wright Brothers. Solomon began collecting the images more than 20 years ago by working with media outlets who were digitizing their archives, including The New York Times, Time-Life, The San Francisco Examiner, and The Cleveland Plain Dealer. He was initially inspired by the shocking 1963 image of a self-immolating monk in Saigon by Pulitzer Prize-winning photographer Malcolm Browne. Solomon turned over a print of the iconic image and noticed numerous stamps and information on the back. “The print had a presence and the aura of a powerful object connected to history and the dissemination of information. I immediately asked how I could see more,” he said. “This collection of iconic images includes many rare and important prints and is distinguished from all others,” said Howard Greenberg. “We had the good fortune to be able to acquire important first and second generation ‘press’ prints at a time when certain archives were beginning to sell photos from their files.” Far from pristine, each photograph in the exhibition has been handled and exhibits a rich history on the front and back including crop lines, grease pencil markings, date stamps of when the photograph was run, captions used by the newspaper, credit information, and other background notes. Together the prints in the exhibition show photojournalism in action. For example, a 1968 photograph by the Associated Press’s Eddie Adams of a South Vietnamese officer executing a Viet Cong prisoner has numerous credits and notations including a clipping from a newspaper noting “TOO VIOLENT? The question of whether scenes such as this, showing the execution in Saigon of a Vietcong prisoner, should be shown on television was deleted at the hearing.” Similar prints in Extra! Extra!: News Photographs from 1903-1975 were included in Pictures of the Times: A Century of Photography from The New York Times, an exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in 1996 based on a gift of news photography from The New York Times to MoMA. New York Times writer Wiliam Safire wrote an essay in the catalogue noting, “Photojournalism confronts an unfolding drama and freezes the frame, refusing to let the fleeting instant flee. It stops the world at that moment of history and lets us get on.” Image: Saigon February 1, 1968 © Eddie Adams

For 30 years, the photographs of artist An-My Lê have engaged the complex fictions that inform how we justify, represent, and mythologize warfare and other forms of conflict. Lê does not take a straightforward photojournalistic approach to depicting combat. Rather, with poetic attention to politics and landscape, she meditates on the meaning of perpetual violence, war’s environmental impact, and the significance of diaspora. “Being a landscape photographer,” she has said, “means creating a relationship between various categories—the individual within a larger construct such as the military, history, and culture.” An-My Lê: Between Two Rivers/Giữa hai giòng sông/Entre deux rivières is the first exhibition to present Lê’s powerful photographs alongside her forays into film, video, textiles, and sculpture. Never-before-seen embroideries—some large scale, others the size of a laptop screen—and rarely shown photographs from her Delta and Gabinetto series explore the relationship between mass media, gender, labor, and violence. And an immersive installation created especially for the exhibition attests to the artist’s long-standing consideration of the cinematic dimensions of photography and war. Born in Vietnam in 1960, Lê came to the United States in 1975, after the fall of Saigon, as a political refugee. The two rivers in the exhibition’s title refer to the Mekong and Mississippi river deltas, to Vietnam and the United States. The phrase also gestures toward other subjects that Lê has inflected with her own experiences of war and displacement, from the Seine, to the Hudson River, to the Mexican-American border along the Rio Grande. It is a metaphor that invites viewers to reflect on the circularity of time and history, the layering of disparate geographies, and the intimacies that paradoxically grow out of conflict.