Celebrate the Betty Freeman Centennial π―π
The great patron of modern music was also a very fine photographer.
"A camera is like a golf club: this inert thing until you use it."
Her 1988 portrait of Alfred Brendel
Celebrate the Betty Freeman Centennial π―ππ
"She was our Prince Esterhazy, & L.A. was her Grand Palais where, instead of Haydn, the likes of Boulez, Birtwistle, & Lachenmann displayed their wares."
- Russell Platt
π· With John Cage
Betty Freeman
John Adams rehearsing at Royce Hall, UCLA
February 1989 #Freeman100
Brian John Peter Ferneyhough by Betty Freeman
bromide fibre print, August 1988 @NPGLondon #Freeman100
"Beverly Hills Housewife"
David Hockney depicts Betty Freeman in her Los Angeles home in 1967. Freeman built an impressive modern art collection, including works by Still, Rothko & Lichtenstein, but then pivoted to commissioning new works of music. #Freeman100
John Adams & Morton Feldman by Betty Freeman
"I like complexity, challenge, ambiguity, abstraction." #Freeman100
Betty Freeman
Virgil Thomson at home
"I donβt know that many people, but all of us keep the little flame inside, & it keeps going, & thereβs no reason why it should go out just because it doesnβt reach the majority of the people." #Freeman100
Terry Riley by Betty Freeman, 1995
Freeman commissioned Salome Dances for Peace, Parts II and V, for the Kronos Quartet in 1986 #Freeman100
Harry Partch by Betty Freeman
"Outside of grandchildren, I photograph almost exclusively composers because I consider them the most important people in the world, much more important than any politician."
John Cage by Betty Freeman
"The more I like their music the better the photograph." #Freeman100
James Tenney by Betty Freeman
"I like contemporary clothes; I like Armani, Prada, Gucci⦠Oh no, my goodness this is music of my times. My music." #Freeman100
Betty Freeman
Merce Cunningham & John Cage at home
"True Love Forever" #Freeman100
David Hockney
Crayon Drawing of Betty Freeman, February 1, 1994
"From the first grants she gave in the 1960s, Freemanβs focus was always the people she supported above anything else."
- Victoria Miguel
β’ β’ β’
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Happy birthday to Nobel laureate Orhan Pamuk π
π· Ara GΓΌler
"His books are multi-layered, allegorical, sometimes fanciful, Proustian in their attention to detail and Borgesian in their dazzling complexity."
- Sarah Lyall
Orhan Pamuk by Sophie Bassouls, 1990
"Books, which we mistake for consolation, only add depth to our sorrow."
It's so great that other photographers have continued Philippe Halsman's #jump! tradition. Here's Orhan Pamuk by Alex Majoli.
This was taken at Cannes in 2007, when Pamuk was a member of the Festival Jury.
Celebrate the Richard Avedon Centennial ππ―
π· Irving Penn, Vogue, August 23, 1993
"He was small, dark & electric with his own sort of vitality. Crackling. Sparks seem to fly out of him. He flashes his fingers like tiny rapid moths."
- Ginette Spanier
On Richard Avedon's Centennial, my favourite portraits
Carson McCullers & Tennessee Williams, April 25, 1950 #Avedon100
On Richard Avedon's Centennial, my favourite portraits
Buster Keaton, 1952 #Avedon100
I'm listening to Concerto Italiano play Bach's Brandenburg Concertos, in their 2005 recording under Rinaldo Alessandrini.
I've always loved the cover photo; it's by Julia Fullerton-Batten. I'll start a thread of some of my favourites of her photos here. π§΅
Julia Fullerton-Batten
The Lady of Shalott, 2018
... which is, of course, a reinterpretation of John Waterhouse's 1888 painting of Lord Tennyson's poem.
Happy birthday Sofia Coppola π
π· Kate Barry
"Coppola is a true auteur β a filmmaker with a distinct worldview and sensibility and a personal set of quasi-autobiographical interests."
- J. Hoberman
Sofia with her dad on the set of Godfather 2
π· Steve Schapiro, 1974
The Coppola family by Ted Streshinsky, 1974
Eleanor & Francis Ford Coppola with their kids Sofia, Roman & Gian-Carlo
Celebrate the Red Garland Centennial ππ―
π· Bill Spilka, c. 1957
"Garland's style was understated and harmonically sophisticated; he would delineate a melody, then shade it with distinctively voiced block chords and hints of counterpoint."
- Jon Pareles #RedGarland100
Esmond Edwards' great album cover for Red Garland's "Red in Bluesville", from 1959. Edwards took the photo, & designed the album as well.
Remembering Bea Arthur on her birthday π
π· Martin Mills, 1972
"Those of us working with her knew we were working with a golden comedic touch." - Norman Lear
Beatrice Arthur with Bill Callaway & Carl Ballantine in Bruce Jay Friedman & Richard Adler's musical A Mother's Kisses
π· Jack Mitchell, 1968
Angela Lansbury & Beatrice Arthur in Mame
π· Friedman-Abeles, 1966
Arthur won the Best Featured Actress in a Musical Tony for her performance. She was Beatrice on the stage & Bea on TV.