October 2006 Archives

The French weekly illustrated magazine VU was one of the pioneering leaders of the still-current media revolution during its reign from 1928-1940. Following the mandate "the text explains, the photograph proves," it brought a super-modern view of the world to its readers with inventive photography, photo-essays, photo-montages, and high-impact graphic design. It served as a creative outlet for photographers such as Kertész, Man Ray, Krull, Lotar, and Brassaï.

Created by Lucien Vogel, a man of vision who knew how to stir things up, the magazine published nearly 700 issues, including some extra-sensational political features (Look at the Soviets, 1931; The German Enigma, 1932; Interrogation of China, 1934). The current exposition at the MEP in Paris displays more than 600 original covers and page-spreads. It shows how alive magazines and photography and design were in those times — and how little we have progressed since then in terms of media presentation and content.

Wow. Just about now, all of Paris and most of Europe bursts into month-long celebrations and festivals of photography. The latest update to Lens Culture includes guides and listings to more than 150 events happening in Paris alone.

With all of this activity, we are changing our publication timeline to allow Lens Culture to have MORE, MORE OFTEN. So, you will find a flurry of new information on the home page today, and more will be added every few days. So check back often.

Coming up soon: Interviews with photographers Joel Meyerowitz, Simon Norfolk and Klavdij Sluban. More interviews to follow shortly after that.

Also new is our section dedicated to photo book reviews. One of our other new goals is to become the premiere source for photo book reviews on the web.

Thanks for tuning in, and cheers!

New York City, 1975. © Joel Meyerowitz. Courtesy Edwynn Houk Gallery, NY

A new exhibition in Paris takes a close look at a critical decade in the creative development of American photographer Joel Meyerowitz. The photographer, who was one of the pioneers of color photography as a legitimate form of expression, shifted in this decade from using a handheld 35mm camera for on-the-run street photography (he often even shot out of moving cars), to using an 8x10 camera. The evolution is quite evident and appreciable in this exhibition of about 120 images from that decade.

We had an opportunity to talk in person to discuss his work, so look for an edited version of that wide-ranging conversation here in a week or so. In the meantime, here's a preview from the show, with some interesting comments by Meyerowitz himself.

His personal website, www.joelmeyerowitz.com, also has a wealth of information, including links to audio and video interviews, and an overview of his documentation of the aftermath of 9/11.

Richard Avedon died on 1 October, 2004, in San Antonio, Texas, while on assignment for The New Yorker magazine. He was, and is, a personal inspiration.

The Avedon Foundation is a good online resource for information about the man and his art. It also includes several, typically Avedon, quotes and interviews. Here's one:

"I've worked out of a series of no's. No to exquisite light, no to apparent compositions, no to the seduction of poses or narrative. And all these no's force me to the "yes." I have a white background. I have the person I'm interested in and the thing that happens between us."

-- Richard Avedon, 1994

And an interesting collection of photographs that Avedon kept for himself was on display at Pace/MacGill in New York this summer, and is now at the Fraenkel Gallery in San Francisco, 5 October through 25 November 2006.

The exhibition, and its catalog, are titled EYE OF THE BEHOLDER: Photographs from the Collection of Richard Avedon, and we are pleased to be able to share some of photos from Avedon's private collection here.