Remembering W. Eugene Smith on his birthday π
Self-portrait, 1954
"I feel Gene's photographs reflect a great turmoil. They are captured between the shirt and the skin; this camera, anchored in the heart, moves me by its integrity."
- Henri Cartier-Bresson
On W. Eugene Smith's birthday, my favourite portraits.
Heitor Villa-Lobos, New York, 1945
No one captured Villa's geniality, openness & enthusiasm better than Gene Smith.
On W. Eugene Smith's birthday, my favourite portraits.
Paul Robeson, 1951
From Smith's series "Recording Artists", which also includes jazz & pop musicians.
On W. Eugene Smith's birthday, my favourite portraits.
Charles Munch & Yehudi Menuhin, 1951
On W. Eugene Smith's birthday, my favourite portraits.
Gregor Piatigorsky listening to playback of his Brahms sonatas, 1947
On W. Eugene Smith's birthday, my favourite portraits.
Thelonious Monk, c. 1965
On W. Eugene Smith's birthday, my favourite portraits.
Charles Ives, 1945
On W. Eugene Smith's birthday, my favourite portraits.
Rudolf Serkin, c. 1947
On W. Eugene Smith's birthday, my favourite portraits.
Albert Schweitzer, Aspen, 1949
What a remarkable photograph!
On W. Eugene Smith's birthday, my favourite portraits.
Gregory Peck, 1950
On W. Eugene Smith's birthday, my favourite portraits.
Tennessee Williams, c. 1947
On W. Eugene Smith's birthday, my favourite portraits.
(The right place at the right time!)
Two great photographers by Elliott Erwitt, New York, 1955
W. Eugene Smith & Henri Cartier-Bresson
Henri Cartier-Bresson
W. Eugene Smith with one of his many cats in his New York studio, 1960
Consuelo Kanaga
W. Eugene Smith & Aileen, 1974
W. Eugene Smith, one of Life magazine's great photo correspondents, was a combat photographer in WWII. He was wounded taking this shot at Iwo Jima in 1945.
"Though heβd come up with a lyrical series title, 'As from my window I sometimes glance', this was a misleading description of what was going on: Eugene Smith was not sometimes glancing, he was looking compulsively, all the time, taking more & more pictures."
- Geoff Dyer
W. Eugene Smith
Nun waiting for the Andrea Doria, 1956
1,660 passengers and crew were rescued & survived, though 46 people on the ship died as a direct consequence of the collision with the Stockholm.
W. Eugene Smith
A pedestrian accident, 1958
"On the outside is Sixth Avenue, the flower district, with my window as proscenium arch, the street is staged with all the humors of man, and of weather too."
Arnold Newman's great portrait of W. Eugene Smith
New York, 1977.
This shot, with Gene's Loft representing the complex muddle of his genius, is certainly a fine example of the "environmental portrait."
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.