Quote o' the Day: Miriam Grossman Cohen

"He was not a Communist spy. He was not anything but a brilliant photographer, a beautiful teacher and a good guy to those who loved him."

—Miriam Grossman Cohen, widow of Sid Grossman, on her husband

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(Thanks to Oren Grad)

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Original contents copyright 2012 by Michael C. Johnston and/or the bylined author. All Rights Reserved.

Featured Comment by Oren Grad: "For those who can't make it to New York, here's the website for the show at the Jewish Museum. Lots of good stuff, including pictures and the touring schedule for the show."

Featured [partial] Comment by Www: "There's also a fine catalog, available through Amazon as well as at the show."

Mike adds: I'm really tempted by that book. That work is underserved in publication. Anyone seen it?

Scott Kirkpatrick replies: "Mike, I have The Radical Camera and you would certainly love it. Excellent articles (a good counterpoint to Jane Livingston's The New York School) by Mason Klein, Catherine Evans, Murice Berger, Michael Lesy and Anne Wilkes Tucker. Lots of information about the lesser-known photographers who learned and exhibited at the League. Wonderful pictures. A whole tenement block watching an Elks' parade, by Jack Manning. Many from the Harlem Document, with a good discussion in the articles of the weaknesses of that work (no awareness of van der Zee or De Carava...). Lovely pictures of groups by Lucy Ashjian. Sol Prom, George Gilbert and Sol Libsohn. Multiple plates by Hine, Model, Abbot, and Grossman himself, not always familiar."

Comments

[Www]

Thanks for this post, Mike. The Photo League show (Jewish Museum, NYC) closes this weekend, and is well worth the visit! It has much of Sid Grossman's work, as discussed in the referenced piece by David Gonzalez. The show will go on to Columbus, OH. There's also a fine catalog, available through Amazon as well as at the show.

Gonzalez quotes David Vestal saying that he started teaching to fill the hole left in the world by Grossman's passing.

Mitch

[George]

Thanks for this little gem of an article. I'm glad I live a short train ride from the city so I can catch this show. People should also check out more work from the Photo League: "The Radical Photographer" mentioned in the same article.

[Www]

Mike . . I have the book and it's excellent as such things go, about 250 pages, well printed and laid out, with some very interesting essays.

Mitch

[scott kirkpatrick]

I don't see a link to the article by David Gonzales, that Mitch references above, but maybe Google will be my friend. The comment about David Vestal got me thinking. I only spotted one Vestal in "The Radical Photographer." "The New York School" has a small selection of his images, one favorite being the furious downpour on the roofs seen from 10th street.

If any one with roots in the '50s deserves a serious retrospective while he can still appreciate it, it's David Vestal. He continues to teach and publish new images at postage stamp sizes in his newlestter. Several book length projects have never seen the light of day, so I am sure the material exists, and he's certainly better organized than, say, yourself. So who's working on that?

scott

[Www]

More on the Photo League . . Daniel Allentuck and Nina Rosenblum have produced a film on the Photo League, entitled "Ordinary Miracles: The Photo League's New York". A "sneak preview" is scheduled for Thu. March 29, 8pm, at IFC Center in NYC (downtown). From the post: (http://www.ifccenter.com/films/ordinary-miracles-the-photo-leagues-new-york/)

The film combines interviews with a dozen surviving League members with a spellbinding musical score. Campbell Scott’s superb narration and 350 unforgettable images paint a unique and unexpected portrait of New York City from the 1939 World’s Fair to Be-Bop and Abstract Expressionism.

Those who made it to the show (still there today, I think) may have seen a short excerpt from this fine film which was looping in a room near the exit. The interviews are particularly fascinating!

Mitch

[misha]

Remember, the same thing happened to Robert Frank:

http://thomashawk.com/2011/03/robert-frank-arkansas-state-police-arrest-report-december-19-1955.html