December 06, 2013

Friday Round Up - 6 December

This week on Friday Round Up Edward Steichen on show in Melbourne and Antanas Sutkus in Paris, Yellow Korner Sydney, Ormond Gigli's Girls in the Windows book and an update from A Day Without News?

Exhibition:
Edward Steichen and Art Deco Fashion

In the exhibition “Edward Steichen and Art Deco Fashion” more than 200 original vintage photographs are showcased with various Art Deco fashion items from the National Gallery of Victoria’s (NGV) collection. Edward Steichen was the primary photographer for Vanity Fair and Vogue in the 1920s and 1930s and is said to have “transformed fashion photography to capture the sophistication of the newly liberated modern woman”.














All images courtesy Condé Nast Archive

Tony Ellwood, Director NGV said, “Steichen’s evocative images are regarded as among the most striking in early-to-mid-20th century photography and his fashion work in particular revolutionised the genre of fashion photography. This exhibition provides a rare opportunity to view such a large body of his work”. If you are a fan of Steichen's work, as am I, then this exhibition is a wonderful tribute to a true pioneer.

Until 2 March 2014
National Gallery of Victoria
St. Kilda Road
Melbourne

Exhibition: Paris
Antanas Sutkus - The Unpublished

The Russiantearoom Gallery (RTR) presents the world premiere of “Antanas Sutkus – The Unpublished”, an exhibition that features 35 photographs from the expansive archive of one of Russia’s most prolific and highly regarded photographers. 


Throughout a career that has spanned decades Sutkus has turned his camera to the ordinary as well as the extraordinary. Sutkus’ archives contain more than half a million negatives and evoke humanity in all its guises. "I started taking pictures at the age of 13. When I put the paper in the developer for the first time, I saw a face appearing and I felt I was God,” says Sutkus.

He likens taking a photograph to sifting sand for gold. “You take a spade and shovel until you are completely exhausted…Sometimes you find a grain of gold in the first shovel, sometimes in the last. Sometimes all your efforts are in vain”. 



All images (C) Antanas Sutkus

Curated by RTR’s Liza Fetissova, "Antanas Sutkus – The Unpublished” delivers a unique opportunity to discover a master at work.

6 December to 26 February 2014
RTR
42 rue Volta
75003 Paris

Gallery:
YellowKorner Sydney

In 2006 Alexandre de Metz and Paul-Antoine Briat, self confessed photography devotees, began YellowKorner with the objective of taking great photography to a wider audience by offering photographic prints at affordable prices. 


Since their first gallery began in Paris the pair has rolled out the concept to more than 60 locations including Sydney’s Bondi Junction. YellowKorner carry photographs from iconic photographers such as Man Ray and Dorothea Lange through to new talent. They also publish portfolios and carry limited edition high-end prints and books. You can buy prints in the gallery or online. 

YellowKorner Sydney
Shop 5026, Level 5
Railway Station Bondi Junction

Book:
Girls in the Windows and Other Stories

In a career that spanned more than 40 years American photographer Ormond Gigli shot thousands of images and was widely published in titles such as Life, Paris Match, Collier’s, The Saturday Evening Post and Time. But the photograph for which he is remembered is “Girls in the Windows” an extraordinary image that has stood the test of time to become an iconic image of New York in the 1960s. 


The large Brownstone building which features in the photograph was opposite Gigli’s home in New York. When he learned that the building was slated for demolition he decided to photograph it before the wrecking balls swept it aside in the name of progress. He was given permission on the proviso that the wife of the demolition supervisor could be in the photograph. He had 24 hours to organize the women and his props and one hour to shoot.

Gigli began his career in 1941 working as a photographic assistant in New York. He was 17 years old. When America entered the Second World War Gigli joined the Navy as a photographer. By the time 1950 rolled around “I was living the life of a starving artist in Paris…and it was a beautiful place to be,” he said. But it wasn’t long before he was shooting for Life magazine and from then his career took off. 

Recounting his first meeting with Life in Paris Gigli said the editor asked him, “If I give you an assignment, will you give me what I ask for? I said yes, as long as I could inject my own thoughts into the picture”. “Girls in the Windows and Other Stories” is proof that Gigli never compromised on his unique visual signature. 



Of his most enduring image Gigli said in an interview earlier this year, “I have a big print of it up on my wall. I still smile whenever I look at it, even after all these years”.

Published by powerHouse Books New York
All images: From Girls in the Windows: And Other Stories by Ormond Gigli, published by powerHouse Books.

A Day Without News? – Update


Less than twelve months after the campaign, A Day Without News? (ADWN) was launched on the anniversary of the death of Marie Colvin and Rémi Ochlik in Syria (22 February 2012) the team reports another fantastic achievement.

Here’s a missive from ADWN’s Aidan Sullivan, Vice President Photo Assignment, Editorial Partnerships and Development
Getty Images:

“Since we launched the A Day Without News? campaign in February this year, we have been instrumental in achieving two important goals.

On 26 November the UN General assembly adopted resolution on journalists’ safety. This is a significant and important step towards ending impunity and follows on from an earlier success this summer.

As a result of our meetings with both the UK and US UN Security Council missions urging them, during their respective presidencies of the council, to adopt a motion to discuss the protection of journalists and debate the strengthening of resolution 1738, the UN Security Council held an open debate on the protection of journalists on July 17, 2013. A Security Council Report stated:

This was the first time the Council considered this issue in a separate meeting since the adoption of resolution 1738 on the protection of journalists on 23 December 2006. . . A key issue for the Council is whether further steps can be taken to enhance implementation of resolution 1738 and improve protection of journalists on the ground. . .

‘It appears that the idea of having a meeting on the protection of journalists initially came from the UK. For practical reasons it preferred not to schedule such a meeting during its own presidency in June and therefore proposed it for July instead.’

We are proud to have played a part under the guidance of Sir Daniel Bethlehem and to help The Committee to Protect Journalists, Reporters Without Borders and Human Rights Watch in their continuing efforts.

And the new Resolution as of 26th November -

UN General Assembly adopts resolution on journalists’ safety.

The General Assembly resolution condemns all attacks and violence against journalists and media workers in both conflict and non-conflict situations and underlines the important role played by all news providers by stating that “journalism is continuously evolving to include inputs from media institutions, private individuals and a range of organizations that seek, receive and impart information and ideas of all kinds, online as well as offline.”

It also underlines states’ obligations to prevent violence and to bring perpetrators to justice, by urging “Member States to do their utmost to prevent violence against journalists and media workers, to ensure accountability through the conduct of impartial, speedy and effective investigations into all alleged violence against journalists and media workers’ falling within their jurisdiction, and to bring the perpetrators of such crimes to justice and to ensure that victims have access to appropriate remedies.”

Finally, it “invites the relevant agencies, organizations, funds and programmes of the United Nations system to consider identifying focal points for the exchange of information about the implementation of the UN Plan of Action on the Safety of Journalists and the Issue of Impunity, in cooperation with Member States under the overall coordination of UNESCO.”

To find out more about ADWN? Visit the website here.

1 comment:

  1. Antanas Sutkus is actually Lithuanian.

    Here's his wikipedia entry:
    Antanas Sutkus (born 27 June 1939 in Kluoniškiai, Kaunas district) is a renowned Lithuanian photographer and recipient of the Lithuanian National Prize and Order of the Lithuanian Grand Duke Gediminas. He was one of the co-founders and a President of the Photography Art Society of Lithuania (Lithuanian: Lietuvos fotografijos meno draugija).
    Sutkus's series People of Lithuania is considered one of his most important works. It is a continuing project begun in 1976 to document the changing life and people of Lithuania. Working at the time when Lithuania (as the Lithuanian SSR) was part of the Soviet Union, Sutkus focused on black and white portraits of ordinary people in their everyday life rather than the model citizens and workers promoted by Soviet propaganda. Sutkus had an opportunity to spend time with Jean-Paul Sartre and Simone de Beauvoir in 1965 when they visited Lithuania. One image, taken against the white sand of Nida, is highly regarded as capturing Sartre's ideas.

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